What effect would a scratch at the rear element of the lens have?

A Nikkor 105/2.5 lens I bought from Ebay arrived with a 3mm scratch at

the rear element of the lens. How bad would it affect the picture?

sharpeness? contrast?

It might depend on where the scratch is located.

hey chisso,

if it were on the front element, you may experience flare. apart from resale value, or lens value in general, i don't think you have anything to worry about. i've used lenses with marks/scratches on the rear, with nothing to notice in the final neg. throw a roll of film through it.

Thanks Matt. I am going to try it out before deciding to do anything. Bought a bunch of 800 ASA 12 exposure film for 58 cents lately just for the purpose of trying out lenses. Anyway, the scratch is in the middle.<div></div>

That's a very strange looking Leica M bayonet mount on your 105mm Nikkor lens.

I was going to say if was near the edge, no problem. I think a scratch in the center is the worst place. However (and a big however), try it with a roll and in different lighting situations and at different distances. That will really tell you. You might that it has very little effect on the photos.

 

I agree that it degrades the resale value and probably by quite a bit.

At the very edges no problem. But, in the centre... I think I said f*** when I saw it in the

middle. Try it out, but I think you should ask for your money back

some of the older Zeiss lenses use to have bubbles in them. Made no difference to the image. I'm sure your scatch won't effect anything. But if it bothers you maybe you can get it polished out and the rear element recoated. Didn't the fee-bay sell disclose this scratch? Did you ask first?

Try it, it may be just fine, anyway, you can always sell it on eBay! :^)

Unless you knew there was a scratch when you bought the lens I'd suggest returning it. The seller shouldn't be allowed to get away with misrepresenting an item. Nikkor 105mm f/2.5 SLR lenses are very common...you won't have any trouble finding another one. (Your question really belongs in the Nikon forum, BTW.) Optically it's hard to say what effect the scratch will have. Probably little or no effect.

 

-Dave-

I once had a Rollei 35S which had a teeny chip out of the rear element near the center, not a linear scratch. It looked just like a mini-version of a small chip on an auto windshield (windscreen). My Kodachrome 64 slides even when projected showed no noticeable effects.

Colour it in with a felt pen, black can't scatter light.

You won't notice it except on a very careful lens test.

 

It will reduce contrast slightly due to scattering. The black paint or black felt marker idea is a good one. They do that on large telescopes to keep a small defect from degrading image quality.

Did you buy it expecting an unmarked rear element?

I would most certainly send it back. Regardless if it affects your pictures or not, you will never be able to sell it (unless sight unseen as in your case).

I agree. Send it back! Remeber the old adage: where there is

smoke (or an optical scratch) there is fire!

Bill, Dave, yeah..it is a Nikon mount lens. Part of the reason I put it up here is because of the expertise of the forumers here. Moderators, please feel free to delete this thread at your discretion. I am not sure yet as what to do, I will try it out.

I hope you paid with a credit card, via Paypal. This is the only protection you have, unless the seller is honorable, in which case s/he wouldn't have sold such a lens without disclosing such a flaw.

Yikes, too many such's in a sentence. The English language police will be after me.

The seller offered a full refund if I return the lens, and partial refund if I decide to keep it. It's a really great seller, he did apologize for it, though.

CD, I was in such a situation a few months ago. There was a ding smaller than a quarter grain of sand on the rear element of a Nikon SLR lens. The seller paypal'd me over $100, more than 20% of the lens cost, more than I had asked him as fair compensation (or else I would have returned the lens). I decided to keep the lens, and the pictures are perfect.

 

I hope you are protected. If you like the lens you can negotiate a settlement, otherwise return it immediately. Before doing that, call your credit card company, they offer protection for such situations at no charge to you.

Most lens manufacturers go to considerable lengths to produce smooth optical surfaces, without scratches. I suspect there is a reason for this.