My Lens Cap is Scratching My UV Filter???

Has anyone else experienced this?

I am using a Hoya UV Filter (not sure what grade, but the packaging is purple) with a Sigma 30mm f/1.4. I just bought the lens and filter today and went photo shooting. When I got home I noticed quite a lot of long horizontal scratches on my UV filter, which I suspect were made by my lens cap.

I took off the UV filter with the lens cap on and looked at it from behind. It seems like the UV filter and lens cap have no breathing room between and if I do not remove the lens cap carefully the sides where I squeeze to remove the lens cap might scratch the filter. I don't believe the scratches were there originally as the store is reputable and won't sell me used junk and also the scratches all had a similar horizontal pattern to it.

What should I do??

Long horizontal scratches? First, did you try cleaning the filter thoroughly? I don't think the lens cap is responsible because the squeeze mechanism doesn't have a long travel path and because for the scratches to have been caused by that, you'd have to consistently put the lens cap on with the same orientation. Also, most lens caps are plastic, and the glass of the filter is harder than almost all plastics.

Yes, they are long horizontal scratches.... They go from almost one end to the other.

I don't know what else could have caused it besides the lens cap; I have only had this on for a day and I have not bumped it around at all. Perhaps I am putting on the lens cap with a angle that caused the plastic to directly contact the surface?

johnny0415 wrote in post #5611931
Has anyone else experienced this?

I am using a Hoya UV Filter (not sure what grade, but the packaging is purple) with a Sigma 30mm f/1.4. I just bought the lens and filter today and went photo shooting. When I got home I noticed quite a lot of long horizontal scratches on my UV filter, which I suspect were made by my lens cap.

I took off the UV filter with the lens cap on and looked at it from behind. It seems like the UV filter and lens cap have no breathing room between and if I do not remove the lens cap carefully the sides where I squeeze to remove the lens cap might scratch the filter. I don't believe the scratches were there originally as the store is reputable and won't sell me used junk and also the scratches all had a similar horizontal pattern to it.

What should I do??

Bring it back to the store and let them deal with it.

Like I said - I'd be greatly surprised if any plastic lens cap made is hard enough to be able to scratch glass. Either something scratched the filter before you got it, or your filter was scratched by something while the lens cap was off. And if the scratches go almost all the way across the filter, you'd have to have dragged whatever did the damage all that way across it. If they're all parallel, then it was a one-time occurrence; if they're at several angles, it could have been from recurring abrasion.

jhom wrote in post #5612128
Bring it back to the store and let them deal with it.

Well I do want to make sure it's not my fault first. I don't want to wrongly accuse anyone of anything.

Jon wrote in post #5612137
Like I said - I'd be greatly surprised if any plastic lens cap made is hard enough to be able to scratch glass. Either something scratched the filter before you got it, or your filter was scratched by something while the lens cap was off. And if the scratches go almost all the way across the filter, you'd have to have dragged whatever did the damage all that way across it. If they're all parallel, then it was a one-time occurrence; if they're at several angles, it could have been from recurring abrasion.

Well they are not exactly parallel, but they are all horizontal. They are not deep scratches either and they don't show up in the image taken. I will try to post up an image tomorrow, I have to sleep now.

Thanks for your feedback guys!

Ditch the UV filter anyhow.

J.

Jon wrote in post #5611973
the glass of the filter is harder than almost all plastics.

Ah- just a thought there - who says the coatings on the Hoya filter are harder than most plastics - even if the 'scratch' were only in the coating surface, it would likely still show through.

My experience is the Hoya filter coatings are fairly durable, a lot more so than the ones on a Canon lens.

Also although coatings are a lot more likely to scratch than the glass they are coated on I wouldn't expect plastic to scratch the coating. The fact they are full width suggest something else, in which case it is probably good you had the filter fitted.

Just check however it is not some imprint left by the cap pushing against the glass, i.e. try and clean it off. Huff of breath and clean lens cloth with circular polishing motions from the centre to the edge.

It is probably a lot more likely that the plastic is just leaving a mark on the filter and is not an actual scratch - like a black heel mark on the floor sort of idea.

J.

Thx for all the feedback! I tried using a lens cloth but couldn't get it off. I think it really it is a scratch.

I tried something different too. I took off the filter and put it back on, so that the horizontal scratches are now vertical. And I took it out for another photo walk making sure I put on the lens cap horizontally each time, like before. This time it produced no new horizontal scratches. So I guess it was my fault... no idea how it got so scratched in 1 day

^^^ smart test to do.. sorry to hear it's messed up though!

TopGear1Ds wrote in post #5619463
^^^ smart test to do.. sorry to hear it's messed up though!

at least it wasn't the lens

Just curious...did you have the lens hood on while on your original photo walk?

I've always been worried of this with my 70-200L and the cheap center pinch lens cap I bought. When I look at the "pinch mechanism" of the center pinch cap I just think to myself, wow, that must be awfully close to the lens.

I've got a B+W MRC UV filter on there, but still alot to spend on a stupid mistake.