super paranoid (lens damage) question, pls help

[Jbuck]

few hours ago a friend dropped my sironar N MC 210 lens on theconcrete floor..
from 1m


there is a dent on the lens "hood", but shutter sounds fine and also the glass looks clean...

i have a super important commissioned shooting on Monday..

how can i be sure that the lens is fine?
or how could i test if something happened...

what would be worst case scenario?
thanks!

super paranoid now.

[Bob Salomon]

Take some shots with it, NOW!!!

[Jbuck]

the soonest i can is tomorrow i will try.. what would be seen on the negatives or how could i see if there are some damages?

[DrTang]

shutter is probably okay..but open a newspaper page and shoot that and check for weird out of focus-ness

[Jbuck]

thanks alot! any other optical test that i could do, before im able to make a picture? something with a flashlight? and what should i be looking for?

[Joshua Dunn]

Jbuck,

DrTang's suggestion regarding a newspaper test is probably your best solution for a quick and effective test. Just get the newspaper as flat as possible (maybe tape it to a sliding glass door), square it to the film plane, photograph it and process the negative. As long as it is sharp side to side and corner to corner you should be fine.

As far as the dent itself, it's been a long time since I tried to repair filter threads but in a pinch in the nineties I did something like this. You cut out the same curve of the lens on a piece of wood and then place the side of the lens with the bent portion of the hood in the portion you just cut out. The wood will support the lens so it can't get bent out of shape. Using something soft but firm (a piece of wood or plastic) push the hood back into shape. It's easier than you think if you are careful. It won't be as good a professional repair by Sinar or Rodenstock but it will be a effective repair. If you get lucky you might even be able to screw a filter on it when you are done.

Good luck.

-Joshua

[Jbuck]

thanks, today i made a test polaroid and it looked ok, im going to do a proper nagative tomorrow ... lets see.. damn, i hate when this happens :-)
thanks for the help

[Jbuck]

so i brought the lens to a professional tech shop, just to check and be completely sure, and the guy said he could fix the dent for free and check the glass & shutter, today i got the lens back, he siad all works perfect, dent was almost gone, but there near the dent was a 3x3mm scratch on the glass which i noticed when i got home ((

im super diligent with my equipment so im 100000% sure this was not there before ...now theres nothing i can do or prove...

ps. if i buy the same lens in a sinar db bord (without the shutter) i could just replace the back part, right?

[Bob Salomon]

And what would you do with the front cells? If your lens bothers you that much then sell it and buy a replacement. Better then continually agonizing over your current one.