Can a lens with a small chip in glass be fixed the same as car wind shield?

With out boring you on details of my accident, I dropped one of my lenses and it has a small chip missing from the glass. A friend who is a photographer and was there when it fell, seems to believe you can repair the lens the same method that they do for fixing card windshields. Now I've never had a car windshield fixed before and was thinking it can't be 100%. Truth is, I thought my friend was off his rocker and completely wrong about this.

So, how do they repair a chipped lens?

You're right- they don't repair a chipped lens. Can you imagine the diffraction caused by the edges and sides of the chip? Even if filled with, basically, Crazy Glue, it's the glass that will still act on the light, and scatter it . The factory might replace the front element and realign the lens, but the cost..???

John Landolfi wrote: You're right- they don't repair a chipped lens. Can you imagine the diffraction caused by the edges and sides of the chip? Even if filled with, basically, Crazy Glue, it's the glass that will still act on the light, and scatter it . The factory might replace the front element and realign the lens, but the cost..???

Well in this case, I wish he was right and I was wrong. I'm sure this 'fix' would be much less cost than replacement of glass. Well I guess I know who I'm calling up tomorrow for estimate

Thank you for the input

If it's insured I'd guess collecting is the right thing to do. Don't know how much different there is between a chip and a scratch but I have a 35-135 older Nikon lens with a scratch in it and it doesn't show in photo's. Have you tried shooting with it to see what it does?

What's the damage like? If it's minor I'd leave it be. So long as it doesn't affect your images you'll be fine.

Stealthy Ninja wrote: What's the damage like? If it's minor I'd leave it be. So long as it doesn't affect your images you'll be fine.

Yes, if its a small chip, and off center it won't be in focus anyway. Do some testing before you start spending cash!.....

Boy sorry to hear about this. I would just cry.

Take a photo of the lens. I am willing to bet it will not make a difference most of the time. You can pretty much spider crack a lens and use it. The only time it will show the damage is if the light strikes it from the front, or at an angle, then it will go Skittles on you with all the colors of the rainbow along the cracks. Or in your case where the chip is. Now if you had cracked the rear element that would be a different story.

Joves wrote: Take a photo of the lens. I am willing to bet it will not make a difference most of the time. You can pretty much spider crack a lens and use it. The only time it will show the damage is if the light strikes it from the front, or at an angle, then it will go Skittles on you with all the colors of the rainbow along the cracks. Or in your case where the chip is. Now if you had cracked the rear element that would be a different story.

Really? Interesting. Just not in a rush to test this one out.

Chances are, it won't make much of a difference in your images...I am linking to a website that shows what a dirty or scratched lens's images will look like...

kurtmunger.com/dirty_lens_articleid35.html

Stealthy Ninja wrote: What's the damage like? If it's minor I'd leave it be. So long as it doesn't affect your images you'll be fine.

Yes, it's a small chip missing about 3/16" x 2/16" approximate big

One Wish wrote:

Stealthy Ninja wrote: What's the damage like? If it's minor I'd leave it be. So long as it doesn't affect your images you'll be fine.

Yes, it's a small chip missing about 3/16" x 2/16" approximate big

I use the metric system, what's that in mm?

Stealthy Ninja wrote:

One Wish wrote:

Stealthy Ninja wrote: What's the damage like? If it's minor I'd leave it be. So long as it doesn't affect your images you'll be fine.

Yes, it's a small chip missing about 3/16" x 2/16" approximate big

I use the metric system, what's that in mm?

Around 3 mm, so not that large.
And here is my favorite example from Lens Rentals blog site to illustrate how damaged a lens can be, and still function.

www.lensrentals.com/blog/2008/10/front-element-scratches

Joves wrote:

Stealthy Ninja wrote:

One Wish wrote:

Stealthy Ninja wrote: What's the damage like? If it's minor I'd leave it be. So long as it doesn't affect your images you'll be fine.

Yes, it's a small chip missing about 3/16" x 2/16" approximate big

I use the metric system, what's that in mm?

Around 3 mm, so not that large.
And here is my favorite example from Lens Rentals blog site to illustrate how damaged a lens can be, and still function.

www.lensrentals.com/blog/2008/10/front-element-scratches

3mm... meh, just forget about it. Shouldn't affect anything. Just cosmetic damage that'll drop resale value, but won't affect the actual images.

I dropped a lens with no apparent damage and months later I felt something give and everything went out of focus. I did have a mirror crack which caused a slight blur to the upper corner of photos but it wasn't real noticeable depending on the background - seems to make sense that would affect the image being reflected. I suppose I'd try it and see how it's working and go from there.