Scratched my lens. Do I NEED a new one?

[Phazonx]

I tried to free-up some space behind the aixiz lens and I ended up scratching it.


I still have a nice dot and beam, but will it have a big effect on the performance?


Ps. this is still the diode that came with the aixiz module I have yet to install the sony LD.

 

[SenKat]

Re: Scratched my lens.  Do I NEED a new one?

IF it does not seem to be affecting the beam, it should be good to go....

G !

 

[AJ_Dual]

Re: Scratched my lens.  Do I NEED a new one?

Just test it first. Unless some million-to-one freak scratch somehow bounces the beam right back into the diode cavity, you can't hurt anything by trying the housing briefly to look at the beam quality.

The beam is pretty narrow, and may just pass by the scratched portion of the lens depending on where the scratch is.

I would test a variety of focus points too, as the scratch may get rotated into the beam by focusing it. With a little luck, any of the focus settings you find useful, say 1 foot burning, 10 foot buring, infinity, (or as close as you can come for pseudo collimation) will be unnafected.

Fortunately, even if you did screw up your Aixiz housing, you're only out $4, and they seem to be maintaining a good two-week (U.S. anyway…) turnaround, even with that Metacafe mini-mag video, and all the group-buy activity driving up their sales.