Lens condition pics

[Sun & Sand]

I am not sure if it would kill too much light/brightness, but if you put a thin piece of plain paper over the screen when you take a pic you would get rid of the screen pixelation (i.e. diffuses the light). You can see it in the photo by Sun & Sand.

I think that being able to see the screen pixels may actually be beneficial: they provide a scale you can use when you examine the photo to estimate the size of any flaws you see in the lens.

 

[Sun & Sand]

By the way, USB-powered light tables are available on Amazon for prices starting at around $20.
You'll find a lot of products by searching for "USB light pad" or "USB light box"

 

[Slojack]

Glasses/lenses ive bought off the Forum, i find members tend to under rate the condition.

 

[QLR1]

Glasses/lenses ive bought off the Forum, i find members tend to under rate the condition.

Better safe than sorry?

Sent from Q's Note5

 

[OakleyFrankFMJ]

Glasses/lenses ive bought off the Forum, i find members tend to under rate the condition.

Yeah but when someone takes a photo of the lenses looking at trees or at a pile of dirt or at window blinds. What the ****?

 

[cacatman]

I don't have a desk light. What I usually do is open up a white screen in "notes" or "word" on the desktop monitor and take a photo with the lens 5 cm away from the screen (less, if any pixelation).

I think it works pretty well for all but the darkest lenses.

 

[XMetalAddict]

I think that being able to see the screen pixels may actually be beneficial: they provide a scale you can use when you examine the photo to estimate the size of any flaws you see in the lens.

I guess it is a matter of opinion. For me, I find the pixels potentially mask stuff, I would rather have a plain background. If you want scale you could use a ruler or a defined size object. The lens itself has a standard dimension.

 

[Sun & Sand]

I guess it is a matter of opinion. For me, I find the pixels potentially mask stuff, I would rather have a plain background. If you want scale you could use a ruler or a defined size object. The lens itself has a standard dimension.

Ironically, my experience is exactly the opposite: the pixels reveal flaws.
For example, in the picture I posted earlier, this chip in the iridium is made even more clearly visible because the pixels disappear behind the flaw.
If you examine the photo closely, you can see smears in the center of the lens where the pixels get blurry because I didn't clean the lens after I had been holding it.
I have not yet encountered a situation where a visible flaw in a lens was tiny enough that it could be hidden between pixels.
As for scale, of course each lens has standard dimensions, but it's nice to have a smaller scale by which to measure the size of each flaw, rather than trying to estimate their size compared the overall size of the lens, which typically is quite large compared to the flaws. As you say, you could display a grid behind the lens, but wouldn't that have an even greater chance of obscuring flaws than the pixel grid?
Of course, it's difficult to discuss visual images using words.
Can you provide a photo of a lens demonstrating the pixel grid obscuring a lens flaw?

 

[David_Oakley]

Great new examples from @mjt42

View attachment 293606 View attachment 293607

In my opinion, these pics don't really show the buyer the flaws (if any). The picture still appears to be too dark to discern anything useful in regards to condition.

 

[doowahditty]

This is great info folks, thank you to @saulsaul for bringing this up. I hadn't thought of some of these and will try them.