Ah man, my first really gutting moment in photography

Most of my lenses have been battered and scratched - never go lower then f2.8, never noticed it. If it doesn't impact performance, don't worry about it. 

Thanks everyone for the helpful advice. Sorry I haven't replied until now, I've just been feeling really gutted about it.

I think probably because it was a very very expensive gift from my partner and I feel like I've been a little ungrateful by not getting a filter or hood for it.

I just didn't think but it isn't really an excuse with something so expensive especially as I use it so much.

In addition it's the fact that it's only a year old. It maybe wouldn't have hurt so much if it was 5 or 10 years.

I never had any plans to resell it so am not bothered about resale value, it's just really really irritating and I'm probably more annoyed at myself than the scratches themselves which are tiny.

I've spoken to a couple of companies about restoring it but I suspect they'll probably say leave it well alone and suck it up as they are so small and light but I guess it is a lesson learnt and I'll look to buy a filter today for it to protect it against further damage.

Am as annoyed as hell though which you can probably tell. Annoyed at myself 😬

Margo Jost said

Thanks everyone for the helpful advice. Sorry I haven't replied until now, I've just been feeling really gutted about it.

I think probably because it was a very very expensive gift from my partner and I feel like I've been a little ungrateful by not getting a filter or hood for it.

I just didn't think but it isn't really an excuse with something so expensive especially as I use it so much.

In addition it's the fact that it's only a year old. It maybe wouldn't have hurt so much if it was 5 or 10 years.

I never had any plans to resell it so am not bothered about resale value, it's just really really irritating and I'm probably more annoyed at myself than the scratches themselves which are tiny.

I've spoken to a couple of companies about restoring it but I suspect they'll probably say leave it well alone and suck it up as they are so small and light but I guess it is a lesson learnt and I'll look to buy a filter today for it to protect it against further damage.

Am as annoyed as hell though which you can probably tell. Annoyed at myself 😬

It is a bummer but dents and scratches are IMO just part of the process of ownership. 

Still, one of the reasons I often buy secondhand or ex-demo things is so I am not the first person to put a scratch on something! My current, simple but nice acoustic guitar is an ex-demo unit that a customer left a small but quite noticeable ding on. It was fifty quid cheaper, which was great. But also it isn't pristine, and that helps me actually play it.

It has its first marks. It's only a tool; it's not rare and unique. You are the rare and unique bit :-)

Edited by Unfocussed Mike

This is the offending scratches if anyone wants to take a look and see if it'll affect photo quality.

Have spoken to a few companies who have all given me similar advice that it's better to just leave it be rather than try and fix so this might be a mental thing to get over rather than anything else.

https://imgur.com/a/qZ5TY20

Margo Jost said

This is the offending scratches if anyone wants to take a look and see if it'll affect photo quality.

Have spoken to a few companies who have all given me similar advice that it's better to just leave it be rather than try and fix so this might be a mental thing to get over rather than anything else.

https://imgur.com/a/qZ5TY20

Although annoying (and triggering for me in an OCD way), these are really very baby blemishes. Trust me.

Even more relevant = the fact the lens in question is a FAST one which screams to be used at, or faily near to, wide open apetures.

For portriat stuff shot that way ... or even at I dare say f4 to f5.6 or even f8 - you are unlikely to see ANYTHING from these bits of slight damage.

It is one reason (almost incredulously) that many noted used lens sellers like MPB or WEX state that even lenses with minor front elelment scratches OR ones with quite a lot of dust particles inside ... will impart NO VISIBLE effects on the end images (or words to that effect). This can be said LOADS more confidently when shooting stuff at wide open apertures with fast glass.

So worry not.

Use lens hoods all the time outdoors (for bump protection and avoidance of uncessery (digital era) UV or OTT physical protection. Most times added contrast in shots and reducing flaring is biggest 'win'.

Even a 'reversed but over lens' hood can add a smidge more protection if put in a bag or down on a surface without a lens cap on. Will protect a lens better from all SIDES even WITH also a lens cap on!

Edited by Aardvark🎯VonEssfolk

Edited by Aardvark🎯VonEssfolk

Margo Jost said

This is the offending scratches if anyone wants to take a look and see if it'll affect photo quality.

The only way you'd really know is to take a series of photos at different focus distances and see if you can see it.

But personally I wouldn't go looking for it, myself.

If you really want to have an upsetting experience, try shooting pinhole on digital, and then look at the images at 100%, and realise that you will never, ever, ever get your sensor clean.

Photoshop!!

I use loads of badly scratched lenses. I have a 35-70 F2.8 lens with a nasty deep gouge on the front that still takes good pictures. In my press days we did not use lens caps. A lot of my big Nikon teles were bought off an auction site because they were scratched, I got them at crazily low prices. In my experience even horrible looking scratches have no discernible effect on image quality. But it depends on the size of the front element, and the focal length. The same size scratch on the front of a 28mm F2.8 lens might be a problem but not on a 400mm F2.8 lens. Best to avoid shooting into the light though if you are worried.

There are black pens, I've not tried one.

As noted, the scratches indicate actual use, which I think is more gratifying to the giver of a gift than seeing it preserved in a cupboard, and make remarkably little difference.

It is definitely best to just leave them alone and not try to buff them out.

The exact shape of the surface of the lens is what gives the image quality. 

Somewhat Counter intuitively the whole of the image is formed by the whole of the lens. If the lens is stoped down then by only the part of the lens the light can go through.

This means that any slight distortion produced by small imperfections on the surface gets spread out over the whole image and becomes unnoticeable.

So if you buff the scratches out you will almost certainly alter the shape of the surface in a much more damaging way.

Some old lenses actually have small bubbles in them but because the surface shape is so good it doesn't matter.

Off Beat Image said

Somewhat Counter intuitively the whole of the image is formed by the whole of the lens. If the lens is stoped down then by only the part of the lens the light can go through.

Yes. Unless you're doing music photography where you occasionally get very, very focussed LEDs and lasers, which is one situation where certain kinds (depths/shapes) of scratch will show up because they split the beams. 

Generally speaking it has to be a full-on chip to have any impact except immeasurably lower contrast.