I've been wanting to shoot paintball for a while now, but I've been afraid of taking a direct hit to the lens and ruining it. I'm 18 with a low-paying job and can't afford to buy new glass, so it's risky for me.
My father owns two old Minolta film SLRs that he no longer uses and I decided to take one of the lenses for a test run, but not by taking pictures... I wanted to test the strength of the lens to see if it would hold up to a direct hit.
Figured I'd share since this is both paintball-related and photography-related.
Before:
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The lens: An old Minolta 50mm prime, no scratches or anything, just a little old and dusty.HTTP response: NOT FOUND | MIME changed to 'image/gif' | Redirected to error image by FLICKR
The gun: A G3 shooting at 300fps, the same speed most fields shoot at. The shot was taken at a distance of 15-20ft.HTTP response: NOT FOUND | MIME changed to 'image/gif' | Redirected to error image by FLICKR
The placement: Stuck it in a little notch on a tree stump, holds nicely. I've tested filters there as well which is why there's paint on it already.
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As you can see, the lens took a direct hit, with no cracks or breaks. The front element held up perfectly.HTTP response: NOT FOUND | MIME changed to 'image/gif' | Redirected to error image by FLICKR
After washing (all I did was run it under water in the sink, it won't ever be used again so why not) you can see that there are no cracks, just a smear from my terrible cleaning job. It's simply oils from the paint and water that can be smeared around with your finger and can be cleaned off.HTTP response: NOT FOUND | MIME changed to 'image/gif' | Redirected to error image by FLICKR
tl;dr: A hit to the filter will make it basically explode, scratching your lens, but a hit to the bare lens at 15-20ft at 300fps will most likely not do any damage at all to the lens.
