Posted by Bob Seith on August 03, 2000 at 08:15:38:
In Reply to: Lens scratches on Ektar 127mm lens posted by Mike Canavan on July 23, 2000 at 12:34:12:
: I have an old Ektar 127mm lens. I noticed that it has
: fine scratches on the outer part of the lens.
: It looks like there is no coating. Do I have any
: options with regard to polishing the outer surface? Is
: this possible? Also, if I use a larger f-stop,
: will the scratches interfere with the image quality?
: Many thanks.
Some Kodak Ektars were "Lumenized," or given an early
type of coating. It was rather soft and rubbed
easily. The scratches you see may be in the coating,
not the lens. Look at the words around the edge. If you
see the letter "L" in a circle, you have this early,
soft coating. I've used an Ektar with a scratched
coating for years and have never noticed a problem.
Indeed, the lens is consistently sharper than a newer
Schneider I have.