[Joetitch]

I don't know why no-one has pointed out that it is the super rare prototype soft focus tak 20. Got to be worth a fortune!!!!!🤪

[aberratedsoul]

I don't know why no-one has pointed out that it is the super rare prototype soft focus tak 20. Got to be worth a fortune!!!!!🤪

Seems to be optimized for low key portraits of whales.

[UncleVanya]

You might try clear nail Polish.

[hjoseph7]

"Anyone have advice to share regarding a repair? I've only tried a rocket blower, Zeiss cleaner, a PecPad, and a microfiber cloth. I'm thinking some polishing compound might need to happen. It'd remove the coating altogether, I imagine."

I might be a little late on this discussion, but my first advice would be go to ebay and see if you can find a replacement. The thing is these lenses are not cheap. They can run anywhere from $250 to $400+ depending on the condition. Seriously I don't know who would pay that much for an f4.5, 50 year old lens, but apparently this lens is one of the more expensive Takumar lenses on the market for some reason. To keep things in perspective, I paid $150 for my Takumar 8-element 50mm f1.4, and maybe $50 for my Takumar 35mm f3.5 which are both highly rated lenses. From my experience, no amount of polishing is going to remove those scratches from your lens. I once scratched a $110 Variable Neutral Density filter and as hard as I tried, which includes purchasing all types of scratch removal compounds, the scratch is still there and visible although it does not affect picture quality.

In my opinion, your best bet would be to remove the front-element and replace it with another one. However, where are you going to find a front-element replacement for that lens ? You might scour eBay until you find an AS-is model and as long as the front element on that model is not scratched, you can do a 'switcheroo', that's if you have the right equipment. Other than that, a 24mm f3.5 might be reasonable alternative. I have this lens and it performs fairly well, but it's nothing to write home about.

---

Last edited by hjoseph7; 04-27-2023 at 08:06 AM.

[aberratedsoul]

"Anyone have advice to share regarding a repair? I've only tried a rocket blower, Zeiss cleaner, a PecPad, and a microfiber cloth. I'm thinking some polishing compound might need to happen. It'd remove the coating altogether, I imagine."

I might be a little late on this discussion, but my first advice would be go to ebay and see if you can find a replacement. The thing is these lenses are not cheap. They can run anywhere from $250 to $400+ depending on the condition. Seriously I don't know who would pay that much for an f4.5, 50 year old lens, but apparently this lens is one of the more expensive Takumar lenses on the market for some reason. To keep things in perspective, I paid $150 for my Takumar 8-element 50mm f1.4, and maybe $50 for my Takumar 35mm f3.5 which are both highly rated lenses. From my experience, no amount of polishing is going to remove those scratches from your lens. I once scratched a $110 Variable Neutral Density filter and as hard as I tried, which includes purchasing all types of scratch removal compounds, the scratch is still there and visible although it does not affect picture quality.

In my opinion, your best bet would be to remove the front-element and replace it with another one. However, where are you going to find a front-element replacement for that lens ? You might scour eBay until you find an AS-is model and as long as the front element on that model is not scratched, you can do a 'switcheroo', that's if you have the right equipment. Other than that, a 24mm f3.5 might be reasonable alternative. I have this lens and it performs fairly well, but it's nothing to write home about.

Thanks for the wisdom and reality check. I would absolutely love to bring back some functionality to this quirky little lens, but you're right. I'm sitting on it for now, not planning to molest it any further, and will perhaps try to sell it someday to someone with better knowledge and skills or who needs it for parts. I already have so many other "character" lenses to experiment with now, I doubt I would get to this one anytime soon, and it's not like I exactly need anything special from it. My collection of wide and ultrawide lenses is already quite fat and extreme in its capabilities. Except for vast chunks of night sky exhibiting auroral phenomenon, I struggle to properly use ultrawides for maximum effect.

[Wasp]

I recently bought a used Orient Mako 1 dive watch. The mineral crystal glass had some minor scratches. After obtaining some advice from the internets, I tried to polish out the scratches. Toothpaste was first on the list. After that I attacked it with baking soda. I then tried a product intended for cleaning metal, ceramics etc. As a result, the bezel became hard to rotate because my cleaning stuff got in behind it. A misguided attempt to poke it out resulted in a couple of small scratches on the bezel ring. The answer to freeing the bezel was just to rinse the watch in water a few times. It is a dive watch, after all. The nett result of this misadventure is that the glass is still scratched and I am a little not much wiser aout removing scratches from glass. In my case, I think I will take to a watchmaker and get the glass replaced (as well as the bezel). Or just buy myself a new Orient Ray 2, hehehe. I like the blue one...