Re: Lens scratches

----- Original Message -----
From: "John Cremati" <johnjohnc@core.com>
To: <alt-photo-process-l@sask.usask.ca>
Sent: Thursday, March 10, 2005 12:32 PM
Subject: Lens scratches

>I just bought a Kodak Ektar 14 inch lens on FeeBay..... The
>seller said the
> lens was in good working order, but when I received it the
> lenses on both
> the front and rear are just a mass of cleaning
> scratches........ There are
> no deep scratches just the fine cleaning one....... The
> lens appears to be
> coated...... Is there any polymer cleaning polish solution
> that can minimize
> these scratches? I am looking for a easy cheap fix.......
> John Cremati
>
   Get your money back and complain to eBay. The lens was
misrepresented. There is no polish that will remove the
scratches. John van Stelten offers a service of re-polishing
and recoating lenses. Its expensive and the figure of the
lens is going to be changed. It may well be that the
performance will still be OK but there are plenty of these
lenses around and I would not accept a damaged one.
Scratches like this come from carelessness. Its not that
easy to scratch the lens or the coating. The scratches
severely degrade lens performance, it will be like putting a
bit of ground glass in front of the thing.
  A single scratch will not hurt anything but the multiple
fine scratches from careless cleaning and handling will ruin
a lens.

---
Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles, CA, USA
dickburk@ix.netcom.com