Is there any way to remove scratches/abrasions from a lense?

[fuzz]

I was testing my macro(5050) out on my home aquarium & to my great disappoint, I found that the lense wasn't as recessed as I previously thought & now there's an abrasion spot in the very center of my lense!!!!!!! I guess the lense rubbed against the aquarium glass or acrylic.




Is there any way to fix it?

 

[cdavis]

Hi Fuzz,

Jewelers have very fine abrasive polishes and polishers. I used to get my watch crystal polished after beating it up diving. Small stuff disappeared entirely and even deep scratches became unnoticable. I don't know for certain if this would work on something as precise as a camera lense, but seens like it should, especially one that will be used underwater.

Good luck

 

[fuzz]

It's really not that bad - just a fine abrasion circle on the coating of glass - I'm just really anal & convinced it'll affect something....

Thanks for your advice - I'll look into it.

 

[Jon]

Fuzz,

I have had this scratch in one of my lenses for a few years now and you don't notice a thing once you get underwater as the scratch fills in with water- thank God!

THe same isn't true if the scratch is on the inside of a housing, but for the outside you have some leeway.

Jon

 

[Frank O'Donnell]

Unfortunately this characteristic of the Oly 5050 has been discussed by photogs on other boards. Don't press your lens up against aquarium glass or a window! The lens does protrude slightly from the front of the barrel when the camera's turned on.

A good camera repair shop can probably advise on whether it can be polished out or whether it would be better to get a replacement element from Oly. Jon is right that scratches on a surface that contact water will become invisible, but given that this is against dry air inside the housing I suspect there may be an impact (albeit slight) on the image if the scratch is significant enough.

 

[unirdna]

I don't know if this will help, Fuzz. But I stumbled into it on eBay, and thought you'd at least like to take a look.

[ame]http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2954608527&category=30038[/ame]

It ends in about an hour though...

Ted