Lenses with brand names blacked-out?

Kino · Nov 25, 2019

Over the years I have found or have seen brand name lenses like Minolta, Pentax and Nikon with some or all of the lens nomenclature blacked-out on the front lens ring. It appears to be done on purpose and sometimes only covers part of the information.

Is this a Gray-market thing?

Arklatexian · Nov 25, 2019

Kino said:
Over the years I have found or have seen brand name lenses like Minolta, Pentax and Nikon with some or all of the lens nomenclature blacked-out on the front lens ring. It appears to be done on purpose and sometimes only covers part of the information.

Is this a Gray-market thing?

I have never seen this and don't know why it was done unless the lenses were used in a advertisement of some sort. I have seen it done to chrome parts of automobiles by members of a church so as not to be ostentatious. I don't think it was "Gray-market". The only time I have heard of "gray-market" in photography, it referred to film that was cheaper as "gray-market" than it was from regular sources. .........Regards!

jim10219 · Nov 25, 2019

I've known some people to do stuff like this. They tell me it's so that they're not such a target to thieves. I tell them that thieves don't usually know anything about camera brands, and generally steal what's easiest, not what's most valuable. That doesn't track with them. These are the same people who'll buy an expensive Italian leather handbag to hide their cameras in claiming that thieves will be attracted to a cheap backpack because it says Canon on it, and won't be attracted to an expensive Italian leather backpack because it looks like it's more likely to carry money and credit cards than a camera.

tomkatf · Nov 25, 2019

I seem to remember this being done back in the '70's when buying Nikon lenses at a discount from Hong Kong dealers. Nikon or Nippon Kogaku would be painted over in black. I would say it was to "deface" gray market lenses being shipped to the US... YMMV...

John Koehrer · Nov 25, 2019

When EPOI* imported Nikon, the Nikon name was their trademark and gray market lenses would often have the Nikon name be defaced or removed coming through customs.
If they were Done carefully it was OK but I've seen them where the brand name was scratched off with something pretty crude.
I have a 24mm Nikkor where whoever did the modification(?) and defaced the Nikkor-N rather than the Nikon.

*Eherenreich(sp) Photo something EPOI They also refused to service any of these lenses in or out of warranty even if you waved at them with cash in hand. Any warranty would be provided by the dealer. If you brought it in yourself
you were SOL

ic-racer · Nov 25, 2019

Can you post a picture of the lens?

Kino · Nov 25, 2019

I don't have one; I just saw one when cruising the internet a few days ago and it made me wonder...

logan2z · Nov 25, 2019

Interesting, I've never seen that. The closest thing I've seen is people putting gaffers tape over the red dot logo on their Leicas so as not to attract attention.

BobD · Nov 25, 2019

I bought some Mamiya gear at a yard sale that was owned by an elderly man who I was told was a pro years ago. After I got it home I noticed that "Mamiya" was blacked out on some of the lenses and on the caps too (?). I 've seen it a few times on some other brands too. I don't know why.

Kino · Nov 25, 2019

OK, I found the lens I saw the other night. Very deliberate and not too terribly sloppy painting-out; or is that machined out? By George, that appears to be cut out!

logan2z · Nov 25, 2019

Kino said:
OK, I found the lens I saw the other night. Very deliberate and not too terribly sloppy painting-out; or is that machined out? By George, that appears to be cut out!
View attachment 235388

Yikes, that's butchered.

summicron1 · Nov 25, 2019

i had a friend once who did this because he was worried the white lettering would cause flare.

I've never done it -- and I'm a HUGE fan of the "crappy camera bag for expensive camera" strategy...nobody wants a beat up swiss army gas mask bag.

DWThomas · Nov 25, 2019

Back in the late 1970s(?) I worked with a guy who used a technical fountain pen with India ink to blacken the white lettering on his Nikon gear to purportedly reduce theft risk.Well at least done carefully it's neater than a milling machine!

Bill Burk · Nov 25, 2019

Here’s what my dad’s 50/1.4 SMCT looks like. He told me an overzealous customs agent did that. A friend of his went to Japan and brought back a Spotmatic-II, they scratched the prism logo too.

John Koehrer · Nov 26, 2019

ic-racer said:
Can you post a picture of the lens?

I've been having trouble uploading to the site. No problem for years and a few months ago Trouble, right here in river city.

CMoore · Nov 27, 2019

logan2z said:
Yikes, that's butchered.

What about this is butchered.?
To me it look like they simply Covered the name.

reddesert · Nov 27, 2019

Those are ground out as a couple of people have described earlier. Apparently US Customs used to do this to obliterate trademarked names on items brought in outside the authorized importer. It still surprises me that Customs bothered with this at the level of individual people bringing things in. The practice stopped a long long time ago.

logan2z · Nov 27, 2019

CMoore said:
What about this is butchered.?
To me it look like they simply Covered the name.

See reddesert's reply above. The name isn't simply covered, it's ground out.

AgX · Nov 27, 2019

reddesert said:
Those are ground out as a couple of people have described earlier. Apparently US Customs used to do this to obliterate trademarked names on items brought in outside the authorized importer. It still surprises me that Customs bothered with this at the level of individual people bringing things in. The practice stopped a long long time ago.

First time I hear of such. Am quite puzzled.

The problem in Europe was to prove to have already bought a camera in land before leaving the country for a trip abroad, not to pay tax and VAT for it on return.
I got an Agfa Family (that S-8 camera with a grip to throw it away...) that got a certificate with ID data given at a local Antwerp customs office declaring its origin in Belgium and got at its grip a strip with a belgium customs seal as further proof. Looks really weird and I never came across such again.

CMoore · Nov 27, 2019

logan2z said:
See reddesert's reply above. The name isn't simply covered, it's ground out.

Not sure that qualifies as "butchered".
It was done fairly well (from the picture) and if it does not impair the function of the lens. .......unless removing the name ruins the lens somehow.
'

dmr · Nov 27, 2019

reddesert said:
Those are ground out as a couple of people have described earlier. Apparently US Customs used to do this to obliterate trademarked names on items brought in outside the authorized importer. It still surprises me that Customs bothered with this at the level of individual people bringing things in. The practice stopped a long long time ago.

The one above looks like it was done with a Dremel tool or something similar.

Back about the time I got into serious photography, I seem to recall seeing a few Asahi Pentax cameras where the black "Asahi" was defaced, with varying degrees of success and cosmetic value. These were those brought back by civilians. The guys in the service could apparently bring them back without such antics.

AgX · Nov 27, 2019

dmr said:
The one above looks like it was done with a Dremel tool or something similar.

No, these were not made by hand, but at least on a drill stand, with a guide for rotating the lens.
The milling was even done much too deep and even reached a flange or recess, creating a slit.

reddesert · Nov 27, 2019

AgX said:
First time I hear of such. Am quite puzzled.

The problem in Europe was to prove to have already bought a camera in land before leaving the country for a trip abroad, not to pay tax and VAT for it on return.
I got an Agfa Family (that S-8 camera with a grip to throw it away...) that got a certificate with ID data given at a local Antwerp customs office declaring its origin in Belgium and got at its grip a strip with a belgium customs seal as further proof. Looks really weird and I never came across such again.

The issue here was ostensibly not import duties, but trademark. The licensed importer owned the trademark in the US, and so the trademarked words like Nikon, or in the case above Asahi and Takumar, would be obliterated. Perhaps to prevent someone from importing the camera and then reselling it outside the licensed channel. I've always found it odd that US Customs bothered with this on individuals bringing back single items; I could understand if they would confiscate a container full of unlicensed imports, but grinding off one lens at a time seems like a waster of everyone's time. Later, unlicensed imports would happen on a bulk scale with the "gray market" imported products sold by big camera stores.

This is all long before my time, but I read about it, perhaps discussed on the Usenet photo newsgroups 25 years ago.

Back in the 80s I remember people talking about the issue you describe of needing to prove you had bought the camera before the trip, but by then I think it was already a non-issue in the US for amateurs. Maybe if you had expensive equipment it would matter. In the 90s I used to carry an expensive piece of scientific equipment in and out of the country, and got a letter from my university stating it had already been legitimately imported from the UK to US, but Customs never looked at it closely enough for me to need the letter.

tomkatf · Dec 30, 2019

Found this one... Looks like paint or perhaps epoxy...

Lenses with brand names blacked-out?

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