polishing out chip on front lens

graycbr

graycbr

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hi guys
Is it possible to polish out a very small chip on the front lens element ..?
Can just feel it with fingernail ..
 
Jewellers rouge but it will take kin ages ! And possibly not do it well enough
 
a small chip is unlikely to impact the image but a low spot may, so I wouldn't touch it if I were you.
 
Send it off to have a new front element put on and then buy a uv filter
 
A new front element seems a bit excessive for a tiny chip. As above, I wouldn't recommend trying to polish it out and it probably won't make any impact to the final image but that's a decision for the OP I guess
 
Phil V said:
Black sharpie to fill it, will help to alleviate the risk of extra flare.
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This has always been the recommended option. People have done it that way since lenses were invented.
it stops scatter and only reduces the light by an immeasurable amount.
 
I had two small visible chips on the front of my 24-105 lens. They were there for years. Never caused any problems at all. My suggestion to OP is to do nothing.
 
Super glue perhaps that's clear! Be more like a smudge ! Black sharpie sounds good though yeah
 
Struggling to see it on the images so I would forget about it and carry on shooting :)
 
many thanks guys so just leave it ...
 
Phil V said:
Shoot into the light and you'll see that your flare is worse than before the mark. The fix is the black marker.
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cheers for the tip
 
Yeah, superglue would be idiotic.

You don't know the refractive index, you don't know you'll be able to form a perfect surface against the chip (which will just create more scatter) and you won't be able to polish it flat without risk to the rest of the element.
 
Another option is to fill it with black Indian ink so it no longer passes light in that area.


Steve.
 
I would say use a sharpie to stop light flare or just leave well alone if it is not impacting on image quality, certainly do not take anything abrasive to it because you could end up with a totally unusable lens because once the coating is buggered you cant fix it.
 
Super glue would be an instant disaster and devalue the lens to nothing, as well as spoiling every future image. it is virtually irreversible.

repair to a lens chip is not about the cosmetic look it is about efficiency in use.
 
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if you polish it out you would chance the shape of the element-not good
 
Nawty said:
I agree, a chip like that will have zero impact on image quality unless maybe shooting with very strong oblique light sources but even then it will probably be ok.

Trying to fix it will just do more harm than good.

Have you seen this?

https://www.lensrentals.com/blog/2008/10/front-element-scratches/
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I do find it hilarious to contrast this with the attitudes of the "no filter" zealots. So a totally smashed front element makes little difference but an intact piece of high quality optical glass will noticably degrade image quality. Riiiiiight.
 
My 17-55mm 2.8 has a mark on the front e!ement not had any issues with it showing iin the images or flare, I'd rather leave it alone rather than risk any further damage.
 
If you think it worth it get an estimate from Canon, front elements aren't "that" expensive.
Matt
 
Vertigo1 said:
I do find it hilarious to contrast this with the attitudes of the "no filter" zealots. So a totally smashed front element makes little difference but an intact piece of high quality optical glass will noticably degrade image quality. Riiiiiight.
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The image degradation that a filter causes is down to reflections between it and the front element rather than the filter and is a very real problem in some circumstances, whatever the quality of the filter.
 
Vertigo1 said:
I do find it hilarious to contrast this with the attitudes of the "no filter" zealots. So a totally smashed front element makes little difference but an intact piece of high quality optical glass will noticably degrade image quality. Riiiiiight.
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To add to Nod's response to this, as a 'no filter zealot' o_O, this mark exists on the front element, we're talking about how to minimise the effect of it.

Adding another 2 glass surfaces to the front of a lens will sometimes make a difference to a shot, the fact that's an 'unnecessary' thing to do is what baffles us 'zealots'.
 
I was kind of kidding :) I do understand the arguments against filters. Personally I use them on my shorter lenses as protection against knocks and scrapes and I've found using a high-end one only adds a slightly increased risk of flare. I don't use them on longer lenses as they seem to have a more adverse effect at longer focal lengths plus the larger hoods afford sufficient protection anyway.
 
None of my shorter lenses can accept front mounted filters (of the screw on variety at least, although Lee might make adaptors for one of them.)
 
MatBin said:
If you think it worth it get an estimate from Canon, front elements aren't "that" expensive.
Matt
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yep just got a quote back looking around £130 all in ...
 
stevelmx5 said:
So can you actually see it on any of your images?
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yes had 4-8 images with a mark/spot on them but hundreds without any signs ...
 
graycbr said:
yep just got a quote back looking around £130 all in ...
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A B+W 77mm 77 F-Pro Digital MRC UV Haze Filter £54.00
for some people not good to use one, but with this piece of glass in front, no chip in the lens....
 
Or lots of tiny (but equally image degrading) scratches in the coating or on the front element and still a chip in the lens (an impact enough to chip the front element is likely to shatter any filter and still make it to the lens itself.)
 
graycbr said:
yes had 4-8 images with a mark/spot on them but hundreds without any signs ...
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Spots or marks on images aren't caused by a chip in a lens, as above a chip in a lens can cause some flaring, but nothing you'd see in focus (due to physics, stuff at those distances isn't likely to be sharp)

Check the aperture of the images, I'll bet it's on the sensor (small aperture).
 
A small scratch will just lower the contrast of the image slightly but will not result in marks or spots on the image. Just think nearly every astronomical telescope ( including the Hubble one) has a fairly large secondary mirror obscuring the middle of its optical path - the resulting images are fine, just a slight drop in contrast that is easily corrected in post processing.
My advice - leave the scratch alone and forget about it.
 
Mark twiglet said:
Send it off to have a new front element put on and then buy a uv filter
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Don't bother with the UV filter. Whatever did that would have destroyed the filter and likely caused more damage to the lens.

Plus it would have a negative affect on all images taken on said lens before it was destroyed...
 
Vertigo1 said:
I do find it hilarious to contrast this with the attitudes of the "no filter" zealots. So a totally smashed front element makes little difference but an intact piece of high quality optical glass will noticably degrade image quality. Riiiiiight.
Click to expand...

Not really a fair or realistic comparison.
 
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