The camera is a Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z1
I am open to all suggestions.
Thanks
Ronnie
Does anybody have any idea what i can do about this scratch on my camera lens. I have tried to search for info but couldn't come up with much so
thought i would ask on this site of all knowledge. The scratch is showing up on some pictures
The camera is a Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z1
I am open to all suggestions.
Thanks
Ronnie
can you not get a new lens? depending on how deep it is i dont think youll be able to get rid of it im afraid
ohhhh nasty glad that's not mine, maybe a shop that does glasses may have something
Cam rep
Just found this guy, mabye worth an email? dont know what he can do with a scratch tho
House insurance?
quote:
Originally posted by Miks15
Cam rep
Just found this guy, mabye worth an email? dont know what he can do with a scratch tho
how does that happen???? Ooohh that looks deep - looks like a writeoff to me I'm afraid unless you can get it replaced. Any polishing will distort the lense and make matters worse.
It looks deep to me!!! Try autosol or toothpaste- it won't make it worse I know people use toothpaste to polish out scratches of glass
juggling balls....
You might be able to polish it with some jewellers rouge (see a manufacturing jeweller, not a chain store) The smaller of the two looks the deepest and when you consider the tolerances in a modern photographic lens, you'll understand how bad it is. It wont "buff out" as they say nad the best you could hope for would be to take the edges off it. I'd say get the lens replaced but that may cost more than a new camera!
Cabbaged I'm afraid.
As mentioned, polishing out something that deep will distort it. You'd need to
evenly grind/polish the entire surface and by then you've also removed the special
coatings.
Back in the old days the trick was to use a fine paint brush and very carefully paint it out with black paint. Effectively controls the optical defect. TTL metering compensates for the reduced light and there only remains a tiny refractive error at the edges of the paint. Not visible in normal size prints. Agree that polishing will further damage the lens.
search for a donor camera on fleebay and swap the lens....
Tks
Thanks for the help lads.
I looked at house insurance but have got an excess to pay. The lens cannot be changed.
Miks15 thanks for the link i will email him.
Mr Whippy the special coatings on the lenses can get a fungus on them that makes the pics blurry.
Benb, Glass juggling balls ?????
Benonymous. I have some jewellers rouge left from removing scratches from wifes windsreen (Tip dont use keys to remove bird poo from glass).
Dusty. I have heard of using black paint or even using old fashioned black ink. So might give it try.
As it is probably knackered i was thinking about filling the scratch with something and polishing it with the jewellers rouge i just cant think of
what would be suitable.
Any other suggestions would be appreciated.
Ronnie
I wondered if a tiny spot of the stuff sold to fill windscreen chips would do it - run it into crack with fine paintbrush. Halfords will happily accept quite a lot of your money for a chip kit
as ^^^ say, you may be able to polish out the scratch but you will remove the coatings whcih may or may not make it worse.
I doubt you could apply the screen repair stuff in a controlled manner to improve it.
See what a camera lens specialist says.
It doesn't look like one of those white bodied super dooper canon telephoto lenses that cost 3 kidneys, a locost and a liver so I guess you have
to take the hit and get another.
these things can be taken apart and in theroy you may be able to get the front optic from the maker but it may not be cost effective unless it is one
ofthose white bodied etc.......
TIP. fit a UV filter on the front of the replacement! 
I have read all your Locost solutions and most of them have made me cring in horror. A camera lens is a very very precise peice of optical engineering
but the nbiggest problem is the coatings. They are thiner than a wavelength of light and designed to stop a variety of abreations and control the
different wavelengths of light from one end of the spectrum to the other.
Just polishing the front element will render the lens useless.
If you can see no problems on your photographs then live with it, I have a small coating scratch on a 20mm f2 and it makes no difference. Some
manefacturers can supply a new front element but i would suggest it would be more expensive than a new lens.
Insurance claim i think for you.
I am going back in to the camera store room now to cuddle my D3 and my lenses incase you heathens get anywhere near them with your paint and
toothpaste.
It would be like polishing your teeth with wet and dry
AAAAAAAAAAAAARG
Don't suppose wire wool and petrol would help.... Maybe time for 'the tool'
Not going to help but I always fit a UV filter to my cameras to prevent this problem, the filter get's changed if it gets damaged and protects
the lens... That's what I did on my Z10...
Out if the suggestions I would see first if it's causing problems with the actual photos, as you might be surprised how little it effects the
results. Out of the suggestions the black paint sounds the best but don't blame me if it goes wrong..
Dan
Snapper, you wouldn't advise a quick buzz with the Dremel then ? 
The surface of the lens is not at a focal plane hence the effect of the scratch will be to introduce increased veiling glare (basically a reduction in
crispness of the image) so there is no real reason to do anything with the scratch.
Now that is a low cost solution.
quote:
Originally posted by snapper
I am going back in to the camera store room now to cuddle my D3 and my lenses incase you heathens get anywhere near them with your paint and toothpaste.