Faint scratches on front element - no problem unless there are so many 'cleaning marks' that they form a haze in the centre. Even a deep scratch off centre is no problem - some fill it with a black fibre-tip pen ink to kill any flare and still no problem, especially wide open for portraits. It will, of course, be less resellable than a clean example. These are good bargaining points when buying - mention the high cost of replacement front elements and knock the price down! Damage to the rear element is much more significant for image degradation I believe. AndrewF
I have one of the 105's.. fantastic lens. I have a minor (light) scratch on the front element... never notice even a light spot on any photographs taken with it, including when I have a primarily dark background. Dave At 04:19 PM 03/02/2003 +0000, you wrote:Hi folks, Somedays ago I went to an used camera store with a friend seaching a Nikon 105mm f2.5 for him ... We found the lens but there was some light scratches on the suface of the external lens and he gave up of buying the lens just for this (the lens was almost mint, just the minor scratches). Once I had a Nikon 180mm f2.8 in poor condition, the rear lens was hardly scratched and the front one was a little more better ... I used the lens in all conditions of illumination and always had excellent results ... even in 30 x 40 cm enlargements. I was wondering how far light scratches can turn a lens useless???? T+ Charles "Itīs no better to be safe than sorry" In "Take on Me" song by A-Ha _________________________________________________________________ STOP MORE SPAM with the new MSN 8 and get 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail
