Front element scratches

What has your experience been with scratches on the front element. I'm looking at buying this.

The folks over at lensrentals.com did a blog post about it. In their experience it really wasn't a problem except in certain situations.

https://www.lensrental​s.com …tches-affect-your-images/

I read that and was amazed. I found a few others like it as well.

If I could test it before I bought it that would make a big difference. This one is site unseen and non returnable

If the owner is local, you could try it out before buying. If he's not, you could ask him to take photos that *you* specify and send them to you.

You should get a nice discount buying the lens with that scratch. I would ask Canon to quote a replacement front element, look at what copies of the lens in pristine condition are selling for and go from there. If the seller is asking less than the typical price of the lens minus the cost of repair, you'll get a good deal.

There is minimal need to replace it. That scratch may cause additional flare when shooting "toward the light", but otherwise will probably never be noticeable in images.

Use a lens hood. That will help.

An old school trick is to fill the scratch with black ink. That will definitely prevent flare.

EDIT: I was curious, so looked at the B&H Photo website to see what that lens currently sells for.... Brand new it's on sale right now for $699 ($100 off) US. A used copy in "9" condition is half that price at $350 US. KEH.com has a used one they call "excellent" for $270 US (includes lens hood, which cost add'l $35 for the Canon EW-78C or $14 for Vello clone). MPB.com doesn't appear to have any EF-S 15-85mm right now.

if you're shooting into the sun at the right angle you'll get a wicked flare but mostly you won't notice it

I ordered it. I will report back when I get it. I also ordered a bonus item.....

I know you already made the purchase, so not much you can do now, but I'm typically less concerned about the scratch and more concerned about how it got there. From that picture, that "scratch" seems thicker and deeper than the type of scratch you'd get from accidentally brushing the glass against something. I looks more like a drop, or at the very least, some type of impact.

I got it in the mail this morning. Other than the small scratch it's perfect. I tried to get it to flare or otherwise show the defect.....I couldn't. I also ordered a 55-250 STM that was listed as BGN. It should have been listed as 9+