How to 'paint' your lens

[Mark_L]

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I bought a used lens with mint glass and it works perfectly. The focus ring and the metal integrated hood lost some of the black coating, just a few spots where it is gone. Is there anyway to 'paint' this black and if so what kind of paint is used that would stick on?

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[jaapv]

Black felt marker pen.

[tobey bilek]

painting aluminum is very difficult with paints available today. Definately not possible to touch up. Use the marker idea and NuFinish car polymer over everything when done.

 

Understand they are not factory painted,but annodized.

[lanetomlane]

I once touched-up my old Rolliflex with Black Enamel Modelling paint. The match wasn't great but it looked better than before I started and it did last for years.

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Cheers, Tom

[TomB_tx]

Most black Leica lenses were black anodized, not painted. As noted, trying to touch-up one of these with paint never looks quite right.

Micro-Tools (Fargo Enterprises) carries an "Aluminum Black" metal finish that will darken these silver areas on an anodized lens. It doesn't really turn it black, but a very dark grey that blends in pretty well. I've used it on a lot of old lenses and am pleased with the results.

I clean the area with an alcohol swab to remove oils and such, then hold a cotton swab wetted with the clear metal finish chemical against the silver mark until it darkens as much as it will. If you look close you can see the area, but it helps a lot without affecting anything else or adding a paint-blotch look.

[Double Negative]

Black Sharpie marker. Takes care of it quickly and easily.

[IWC Doppel]

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Quick and effective but won't last with wear :

 

Black permanent marker followed by a touch of wax/grease (finger on side of nose works) this removes the 'purple'

 

Permanent

 

The best way, is carefully clean the exposed alloy with alcohol and touch with Aluminium black metal finish, this is slow but actually chemically reacts with alloy to leave a black, slightly matt finish, only on the mark and does not touch the anodising. After several careful applications then a tiny bit of gunstock wax, it does provide a permanent solutions to little alloy wear marks. The thin oxidising does not add any dimension, so will not cause any issues it just recolours permanently.

 

The only thing is it says on the side the chemical is known to cause cancer...... so rubber gloves n ventilation.

[airspeed]

Something I've just tried successfully is a product called a "Super Black Touch-Up Pen" (just like a Sharpie or similar felt pen) made by the same people that make Aluminium Black. Here's the description from the website of the supplier I got it from:

 

"An easy and effective way to touch-up nicks, scratches and worn areas of black anodized aluminum or black painted surfaces. The pen contains a fast drying, lead-free paint with superior adhesion and durability that helps fill in deep scratches or worn areas."

 

I found it on the same website that lists Aluminium Black (which is what I was originally looking for after reading the recommendations here). I've so far used it to cover a small nick on a 35 Summicron and it seems to have worked quite well. It also comes with the same cancer warning as the Aluminium Black, by the way.