Which black paint to touch up scuffs on lenses

sperera · Jan 20, 2025

Hi all, which black paint do you recommend to touch up scuffs on lenses, just to make em look nicer....metal lenses. I am in Europe so nothing from USA please haha.
Thanks for reading!

JerseyDoug · Jan 20, 2025

I've used Tamiya paint, sold in hobby shops, with mixed results for jobs like that. It comes in both gloss and flat finish. I tried the flat black on some wear of the finish on a Nikon SLR lens. It looked very good when done but within a few months a lot of it had flaked off the places where it was handled. I put that down to not being able to prep the surface rather than to the paint itself.

koraks · Jan 20, 2025

I've used Indian ink and acrylic paint for this sort of thing (although not specifically this thing).

JerseyDoug said:
Tamiya paint

That's an acrylic paint, apparently. Should work fine; be sure to allow it to cure well before putting the item back to use. Acrylics remain soft for a few days until they fully harden.

xkaes · Jan 20, 2025

Depends on the lens and the scuff. If it's small, a black Sharpie often works.

StanMac · Jan 20, 2025

Leave them as they are - scuffs give the gear character.

George Collier · Jan 21, 2025

This has been recommended to me by an independent camera reseller (I get my Leica stuff from him). I have it but haven't tried it yet.

Amazon.com : birchwood touch up pen

GregY · Jan 21, 2025

StanMac said:
Leave them as they are - scuffs give the gear character.

Yes!

Taylor Nankervis · Jan 21, 2025

Not sure if Humbrol (enamel) paints are available in Europe (or Gibraltar, for that matter!); I've used their satin black paint on a couple of SMC Pentax 67 lenses and really, you would not be able to see the touch-ups! Technique is critically important. An extremely fine, pointed sable-hair brush and thinnest of applications, built up over 6 to 12 hours, is usually more than sufficient. Chips will require filling (fill, then wipe over with your finger to make flush), priming and then painting.

250swb · Jan 23, 2025

Tamiya Acrylic (TC+number) paints aren't very tough and are water based, but great for modelling. But Tamiya have a newer range of lacquer paints (LP+number) that are far more durable and stick to clean metal even without an undercoat and are easy to brush on. I think you'd need semi-gloss black and remove grease first with isopropyl alcohol.

baachitraka · Jan 23, 2025

Just leave them alone and it gives a great beater look...

beemermark · Jan 23, 2025

Doesn't matter if the paint is the same color, it will always look as "touched up". The "touch up" will look worse than the scuffs.

xya · Jan 23, 2025

xkaes said:
Depends on the lens and the scuff. If it's small, a black Sharpie often works.

+1. I use "permanent" sharpies. Nevertheles you can wash it off with a little bit of alcohol in case that you change your mind. To me it looks much better touched up a little...

Which black paint to touch up scuffs on lenses

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