just a quick question: it has never crossed my mind about a scratched lens. Always protect mine with either a hood or a filter. A friend of mine showed me a lens he has and it has a...

john.punky1 Loc: Catskill NY

it has never crossed my mind about a scratched lens. Always protect mine with either a hood or a filter.
A friend of mine showed me a lens he has and it has a scratch on the lens.
Can a scratch be fixed or is the lens just toast.
Thanks all

CHOLLY Loc: THE FLORIDA PANHANDLE!

You can of course... pay BIG money to replace the element.

IF the lens is worth it.

Depending on the size and depth of the scratch it MAY not effect or affect picture quality under most conditions....

Dngallagher Loc: Wilmington De.

john.punky1 wrote:

it has never crossed my mind about a scratched lens. Always protect mine with either a hood or a filter.
A friend of mine showed me a lens he has and it has a scratch on the lens.
Can a scratch be fixed or is the lens just toast.
Thanks all

A scratch on the lens MAY not effect image quality. Even seeing a scratch on the lens, does it affect the quality of the image?

If the scratch is causing image quality issues, or if it is just a bother, you could send it off for a replacement front element.

john.punky1 Loc: Catskill NY

thank you

SonnyE Loc: Communist California, USA

It's like the car adage...
Open the hood, remove the radiator cap, take the radiator cap to a new car, while driving away throw the old radiator cap out the window.
Problem solved.

You can't really generalize a problem and get a fix just like that.

steve_stoneblossom Loc: Rhode Island, USA

john.punky1 wrote:

it has never crossed my mind about a scratched lens. Always protect mine with either a hood or a filter.
A friend of mine showed me a lens he has and it has a scratch on the lens.
Can a scratch be fixed or is the lens just toast.
Thanks all

Has your friend examined any photos he has taken with this scratched lens? You would be surprised how little a scratch on the front element might show up.

john.punky1 Loc: Catskill NY

I should have asked this question before I posted this. He is rather new to the hobby. In fact I should of asked him if the scratch was on a filter.

rpavich Loc: West Virginia

john.punky1 wrote:

it has never crossed my mind about a scratched lens. Always protect mine with either a hood or a filter.
A friend of mine showed me a lens he has and it has a scratch on the lens.
Can a scratch be fixed or is the lens just toast.
Thanks all

Well...that's the wrong question.

The question is: does it matter if a lens is scratched?

You'd be amazed at how scratched up a lens can be before it makes a difference in the images.

Doyle Thomas Loc: Vancouver Washington ~ USA

a scratch or dust on the backside of the lens after the light has been collated has much more impact.

steve_stoneblossom Loc: Rhode Island, USA

rpavich wrote:

Well...that's the wrong question.

The question is: does it matter if a lens is scratched?

You'd be amazed at how scratched up a lens can be before it makes a difference in the images.

:thumbup:

john.punky1 Loc: Catskill NY

thanks so much. I will have to take a look at the lens. He said he dropped it

doduce Loc: Holly Springs NC

john.punky1 wrote:

it has never crossed my mind about a scratched lens. Always protect mine with either a hood or a filter.
A friend of mine showed me a lens he has and it has a scratch on the lens.
Can a scratch be fixed or is the lens just toast.
Thanks all

Check out this link. Very interesting.

http://www.lensrentals.com/blog/2008/10/front-element-scratches

Dngallagher Loc: Wilmington De.

john.punky1 wrote:

thanks so much. I will have to take a look at the lens. He said he dropped it

Cracked is different from a scratch ;)

What is important is not what it looks like, but what effect the damage has on the image & operation of the lens.

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

An old trick with a scratched lens is to fill the scratch with black India ink... the main thing that a scratch will cause is a little additional flare and the ink prevents that from happening.

It sort of depends on the lens, but generally takes a whole lot of scratches on a lens before anything significant shows up in images.

A wide angle lens with great depth of field is more likely to show some image degradation from a scratch, than will a telephoto lens.

And another, previous response is correct.... a scratch on the rear element of the lens is much more likely to cause problems than one on the front element.

I always use a lens hood when shooting and a lens cap when storing the lens. I only rarely use "protective" filters.... but have them available for my lenses if needed for a particularly risky situation (i.e., I'm out shootin' in a sand storm, etc.) This has worked out pretty well for over 30 years... knock on wood.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

john.punky1 wrote:

it has never crossed my mind about a scratched lens. Always protect mine with either a hood or a filter.
A friend of mine showed me a lens he has and it has a scratch on the lens.
Can a scratch be fixed or is the lens just toast.
Thanks all

Lens scratches are more aesthetic than anything. Here's another article.

http://kurtmunger.com/dirty_lens_articleid35.html