Exterior Restoration

davidblue1984 · Joined: 29 Dec 2013 Posts: 68

I bought a great lens that was in rough shape online--some light scratching on the front element--but no dents or rear element damage. It was sold without caps--which should have been my first clue the previous owner was abusing/misusing this beautiful piece of optics, but...

I invested money to get the interior dust cleaned a bit, and am now looking at the exterior. It looks like the previous owner used some sort of marker to paint over parts of the metal ring under/near the depth of field scale.

I don't mind a little paint loss but the fact that it sort of has this purple unnatural look (compared to the original paint scheme) sort of bugs me. You can see it in the picture.

Given that it seems pretty hard to repaint a lens to match, would you say attempt to take this magic marker off w some sort of solvent, and strip it down to the original metal or should i try to blend the color to a darker black that matches the other parts of the lens?

Any techniques recommended? I practiced on a broken lens with a sponge tip and some acrylic craft paint and it def. did not produce the results i wanted.

Ramon · Joined: 01 May 2007 Posts: 71 Location: Kent, UK

The marker pen can be removed easily with a piece of cloth and some nail varnish remover or acetone.

As regards repainting I have never found a paint that lasts, unless you are willing to strip the lens down, spray paint it and then bake it on in an oven then I don't think you will achieve a good lasting finish.

philslizzy · Joined: 07 Aug 2012 Posts: 4748 Location: Cheshire, England

Yes remove the marker with a light solvent, I use a drop of paintbrush cleaner or cigarette lighter fuel on a cotton bud. You can buy touch up pens online to cover the silvering, I have a couple and they don't show any 'purpling' perfect for the job - and it doesnt wear off.

search 'Birchwood Casey touch up pens' this is designed for guns but its perfect for lenses etc. I mainly use the 'flat black'

Click here to see on Ebay

davidblue1984 · Joined: 29 Dec 2013 Posts: 68

thank you, cool find on the pen

duckrider · Joined: 11 Dec 2013 Posts: 437 Location: Germany

long time ago I used breechlock FD's, but I believe to remember that they sometimes had different colours & that purplish colour was in origin.
Some others here, who can approve this?

ChromaticAberration · Joined: 23 Dec 2010 Posts: 819 Location: Portugal

This is something out of my experience with vintage cars, not photography, but I guess you can adjust it to a photographic context.

Unless it's broken do not "restore" it, and I used double quotes here because most of the times people try to "restore" stuff they end up extracting some if not all of the value of the piece because they not only erase age related patina, which is good thing, but also some of the history of the object.

Concerning cars I love when you look at one and you can tell it hasn't been restored, you know it could look better than it does but that is the car in it's purest form, the closest to how it was when new but obviously aged by time itself, that nowadays is valued not how shinny the bumpers are or how smooth the steering is Wink

konicamera · Expire: 2014-06-14

cooltouch · Joined: 15 Jan 2009 Posts: 9097 Location: Houston, Texas

That's not a T-mount lens. It's a breechlock Canon FD lens. May be valuable, may not be. All depends on the lens.

As for that slightly purplish black -- that slight color cast is a dead giveaway that its a Sharpie marker that was used. This treatment doesn't last. It'll wear off just from handling the lens. And you don't really even need to use a solvent. I've wiped it off before with modest thumb pressure.

As for that Birchwood Casey paint pen, yeah they work, but the result is ugly looking, plus the paint typically doesn't last. I've only used "gloss black" before though. Maybe the "flat black" won't show as much. But that lens has a gloss finish. It'll chip off. The original paint on these old lenses is a baked on enamel, and the only way you're gonna get that look is to -- you guessed it, use baked on enamel. More trouble than its worth, even for a valuable lens. It's better, IMO, to just live with the patina and think of it as a history of where the lens has been and the sights its seen. I have a couple of old Nikkors and a Canon FL lens that show fairly heavy wear but I wouldn't dream of altering their look in any way. The marks and wear on those old lenses are more like badges of honor.