About "weird scratch" on the 70-200mm GM

[Michael Xie]

I just bought a second hand FE 70-200mm GM lens. But I found a "weird scratch" on it. Does anyone know what's that mark in the picture? Does that affect the picture? Thank you!

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[Olaf W.]

Looks like fungus, but that‘s unlikely. Probably some glue residue from the manufactoring process. You should give it back.

[Pieter]

Is it on the outside of the front element or in the inside? Difficult to see on the picture. If on the outside, I'd try a gentle but thorough cleaning with lens cleaning liquid and an optics cloth: could be grease/muck.

Defects like this shouldn't affect sharpness much but they do show up in bokeh balls if you shoot wide open. Unless the defect was mentioned in the advertisement of the lens, I'd certainly try to get a refund. Defects like this should give you a serious price cut.

[tadwil]

If it's on the outside of the front element, it may be damage to the lens coating and if it's on the inside of the front element, it could be lens separation.  In any case, try a gentle and thorough cleaning as Pieter suggests and if that doesn't clear up the problem, return the lens for a refund or ask for a deep discount on the selling price.