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Freelance508
Tinkerer
Username: Freelance508
Post Number: 7
Registered: 01-2007
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, January 22, 2007 - 06:52 pm: | 
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Hello everyone!
i purchased a few Yashica TLR's recently and just now discovered after cleaning them up and doing the leathered over the lens are badly scratched! i think its the coating scratched? has a blueish color.
am i dead in the water with these 2 TLR's, or can the scratches or coating be removed? or will it make a difference at all in my photos anyway.the reason why i did not notice them before was because the lens look nice looking strait on. but after opening the cameras and looking threw with shutter open WOW what happened.
any information would be thankful.
thank you
bill |
Rick_oleson
Tinkerer
Username: Rick_oleson
Post Number: 154
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, January 22, 2007 - 08:28 pm: |
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Anything you do is likely to make it worse. The usual effect of fine scratches on a lens is to cause flare. Removing the coating will also cause flare, since the purpose of the coating is flare suppression. Chances are that the flare increase from removing the coating would exceed that caused by the scratches.
That assumes that the scratches are no deeper than the coating.... which is unlikely. If the scratches are deeper, polishing them out will reshape the lens and basically render it useless.
Neither looking at a lens straight on, nor looking through it with the shutter open, creates photographs. Have you tried this lens out with film to see how it performs? |
Freelance508
Tinkerer
Username: Freelance508
Post Number: 8
Registered: 01-2007
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, January 22, 2007 - 08:55 pm: |
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Hi rick and thank you!
no, medium format will be new to me, i have been shooting 35 for about five years and wanted to explore some vintage medium cameras. i am no pro!
i am also building a dark room to try my hands in printing, but not till spring because there is no heat in my garage (dark room). so i do not think i will be shooting with these cameras for a few months yet.
so i gather i may be ok? i must say when you look threw the lens its pretty scary...
thank you.
bill |
Freelance508
Tinkerer
Username: Freelance508
Post Number: 9
Registered: 01-2007
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, January 22, 2007 - 08:58 pm: |
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Rick
can you give me some idea how i can tell if the scratches are deep? if they are not may i have a chance.
bill |
Rick_oleson
Tinkerer
Username: Rick_oleson
Post Number: 156
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, January 22, 2007 - 09:24 pm: |
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Don't tamper with the lenses until you have shot film through them. Period. If that means waiting a few months, so be it.
It is not realistic to expect removal of coating (even if you can do it without damaging the lens, which is unlikely) to improve the performance of a lens.
Can you take a digital photo of the view through the lens? I don't encounter scary ones very often...
The thickness of the coating on a lens is 1/4 of a wavelength of light. That's about an eighth of a millionth of a meter, or 5 millionths of an inch. That's a pretty shallow scratch, I don't know a good way to measure that.
In any case, it is not the depth of a scratch that affects your photos, it's the amount of surface area of the lens consumed by the scratches. The way to find out whether it's okay or not is to take pictures with it, there really isn't a plan B for this. |
Pablomartinez
Tinkerer
Username: Pablomartinez
Post Number: 22
Registered: 09-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, January 23, 2007 - 08:15 am: |
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Removing the scratches and throwing your camera to the garbage is the same thing. You are going to ruin the lens.
The lens on a yashica TLR look blueish. That's OK!
My daily camera is Yashica A and the lenses are far from mint. I can even see small circular scratches on the lens. This might affect slightly the picture quality, but I've not perceived any weird effect.
Use it, you'll see that it's fine! |
Rick_oleson
Tinkerer
Username: Rick_oleson
Post Number: 159
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, January 23, 2007 - 04:33 pm: |
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One other little detail about lens coatings: the effect of a coating is a function of its thickness... so if you remove part of it, you will functionally destroy it even if you haven't taken it all off. I have a little explanation of coatings at http://rick_oleson.tripod.com/index-166.html
the hardness of coatings varies tremendously. some early ones (i've found some even into the late 60s) can be ruined by the slightest touch, while others (most of them) are as hard or harder than the glass underneath and are impossible to polish off without changing (read: destroying) the contour of the lens surface. those can only be removed by chemical processes. |
Freelance508
Tinkerer
Username: Freelance508
Post Number: 10
Registered: 01-2007
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, January 23, 2007 - 05:39 pm: |
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wow, coating are a science in them selfs!! thank you for the link, i understand i bit better now about this stuff.
but just wanted to let you know after better inspection i beleave its just the coating that is badly scratched everywhere on the lens. i am wondering if this is a good thing? i think this because the lens in very blueish witch looks like maybe hundreds of circular scratches (faint and can only see when directly under a lite).
thank you so much for the input!
bill |
Ben_hutcherson
Tinkerer
Username: Ben_hutcherson
Post Number: 27
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, January 23, 2007 - 06:25 pm: |
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You'd be surprised at how much abuse a lens can take and still give good results.
I have a Vivitar Series 1 70-210 3.5 in which one of the internal elements has a thick coating of fungus. I happily shot two or three rolls of film with it and was extremely satisfied with the results before I even noticed the fungus problem.
I'd suggest just getting yourself a roll of cheap color print film(Kodak 160NC or VC is good) and shooting it. Most send-off processors, including Fujicolor(which handles Walmart) will process 120 rollfilm.
If you're happy with the results, don't worry about it. |
Freelance508
Tinkerer
Username: Freelance508
Post Number: 11
Registered: 01-2007
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, January 23, 2007 - 06:37 pm: |
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Thank you everyone!
this is a fantastic site..
bill |
Freelance508
Tinkerer
Username: Freelance508
Post Number: 12
Registered: 01-2007
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, January 23, 2007 - 06:47 pm: |
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i was just wondering, i have seen a product for eye glasses that takes scratches out of optics. this is probably a stupid question but has anyone ever tried this on optics of a camera lens? probably distorts badly figure.... |
Rick_oleson
Tinkerer
Username: Rick_oleson
Post Number: 160
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, January 23, 2007 - 08:00 pm: |
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No, I haven't seen it. Tell me what it is and I'll see if I can find some and test it. Don't you try it though: I have lenses that I can throw away, I'll let you know if it works.
However, I really really really think your lens is okay. Certainly it's worth the cost of a roll of film to check.
And I am equally certain that if you go messing with it, it will NOT be okay when you're done. PLEASE leave it alone. |
Freelance508
Tinkerer
Username: Freelance508
Post Number: 13
Registered: 01-2007
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, January 24, 2007 - 03:39 am: |
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i will leave it be, i have seen this scratch remover for eye glasses on television and looked it up on ebay, there are a # of sellers offering the same or similar stuff.
thank you once again.
bill |
Freelance508
Tinkerer
Username: Freelance508
Post Number: 14
Registered: 01-2007
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, January 24, 2007 - 03:44 am: |
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below is the scratch remover i mentioned, it is listed on ebay. just copy item # into search.
AS SEEN ON TV EYE GLASS LENS SCRATCH REMOVER FREE SHIP
Item number: 140077522323 |
John_cribbin
Tinkerer
Username: John_cribbin
Post Number: 5
Registered: 08-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, January 24, 2007 - 07:32 am: |
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My guess is the product does not actually remove the scratch. Rather it's some kind of polymer with the same refractive index as glass. It probably fills the scratch giving the impression it has been removed.
Still however it achieves the end result, if it does not alter the original optical formula for the glass, then it may a great product for collectors and dodgy dealers ............ |
Ben_hutcherson
Tinkerer
Username: Ben_hutcherson
Post Number: 28
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, January 24, 2007 - 08:00 am: |
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"DOES NOT ADHERE TO LENSES THAT HAVE A PROTECTIVE GLARE COATING"
Looking at the auction listing, I found the above line.
Considering that a good majority of camera lenses made in the past 50 years are coated, I can't see this product having very much use with camera optics.
Also, most eyeglasses today are plastic(just see how your local optical shop reacts when you ask for glass lenses). I don't know whether or not this would make a differenc, but it may. |
Pablomartinez
Tinkerer
Username: Pablomartinez
Post Number: 25
Registered: 09-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, January 24, 2007 - 10:07 am: |
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The lenses on my Yashica A has the SAME bleuish aspect and the same circular scratchings that you describe and IT'S OK. The quality of the pictures el GREAT.
Do not stress... |
Eugen_mezei
Tinkerer
Username: Eugen_mezei
Post Number: 16
Registered: 08-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, January 24, 2007 - 04:25 pm: |
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If the scratch is really big and deep, you could try to paint it black for miminising flare.
Eugen |
Freelance508
Tinkerer
Username: Freelance508
Post Number: 15
Registered: 01-2007
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, January 24, 2007 - 05:10 pm: |
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Wow, thank you everyone for the advice! i may try it for the heck of it. who knows it may be a miracle for old cameras as john had noted.
thank you.
bill |
Rick_oleson
Tinkerer
Username: Rick_oleson
Post Number: 161
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, January 24, 2007 - 05:27 pm: |
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If it works it certainly would be handy. My right eyeglass lens gets scratched up by viewfinder frames, it's the main reason I have to replace my glasses..... |
