INON UFL-G140 removal/reduction of a scratch

[Elvandar]

As in the title, I scratched my lens while I was changing to the other one underwater, dropping on a rocky bottom.
The result is a smudge on the footage, that move around in the image due to the stabilization happening. I would love a way to reduce the impact on the taken video, but not spending too much.
Here is an image of the damage circled in red:

 

Do anyone had a similar problem with inon lens? I am afraid to use the few method I found online, since the method are usually for acrylic dome witouth the multy-layer coating that is present on this lens.

Any reply is apreciated

 

Edited May 27 by Elvandar

[Davide DB]

Hummm it seems a huge damage. Scratch removal methods used on acrylic, usually don't work on glass which has its own techniques and methods.

Even on a lighter scratch it's difficult or impossible to completely remove it but you can smudge it and that one it's a huge one.

Regarding the coating, I'm nearly sure it's on the inner part of the lens, not on the outside.

[Elvandar]

I read again the description on the inon official page, and it seems that the multi coating is in fact on the inner side, with an hard coating externally, but now i am not sure if the external dome is glass or acrylic 😅

Reading the manual, it should be acrylic:

And if it is the case, as I saw online, it should be good news for me

[Davide DB]

Yes from what they write, the front dome is acrylic and the coating is internal.

So this is a good news. Acrylic surfaces can be polished easily.

 

I have always used Novus liquid, but I doubt that such a scratch can be removed completely. Surely by rounding the edges the defect will be much less until it disappears once immersed in water.

 

https://www.ebay.it/itm/253646751131

Be careful to work on almost the entire surface to avoid ruining the curvature of the dome too much. 
I have always done it by hand with great effort and hours of work. Perhaps you can help yourself with a Dremel or drill and a soft disk at very low speed without overheating the surface.
If you use the Novus, you will always work with liquid 3 and only as a last pass will you use liquid 2. Keep in mind that liquid 1 is basically just a cleaner for glass and plastic surfaces.
Judging by the extent of the damage you could also start with a regular polish for car headlights.

[Elvandar]

Thanks, I will get the novus kit, it was featured in one of the dome restoration video, and it worked really well.
I'll post the result once done, hoping for improvement and maybe to help someone else with the same lens 

[Davide DB]

keep in mind that the Novus is very delicate. I mean that with the “heavy scratch remover” it takes quite a long time to thin a minimal scratch.

[Elvandar]

I contacted the shop where I bougth the lens (FmFotoVideo) and they suggested me to swap the frontal lens as the novus kit would not work on this type of lens.
I also contacted Inon and they suggested the same thing.

Since buying the novus kit from ebay would cost me around 60€, and the replacement of the lens including labor cost is 80€, I opted for the lens swap.

[humu9679]

9 hours ago, Elvandar said:

ISince buying the novus kit from ebay would cost me around 60€, and the replacement of the lens including labor cost is 80€, I opted for the lens swap.

It's nice to see a solution that isn't too expensive! Very good.

[Elvandar]

The repaired lens came back yesterday, now is like new again

 

the only small problem I had wiht the swap, is that some dust was trapped between the inner and outer lens, but after contacting the repair shop, I was able to remove the outer dome, clean every spec of dust, and close it again, and after a test underwater, now is perfect again!

 

Here the video before and after the dust clean:

 

Before:

 

After: