Front element waxing

Viper

Viper

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Tom
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Hi all

Just had a thought with my mate. Would it be at all beneficial to wax my front element with car wax? Just thinking it might help getting dust off etc

:shrug:

Tom
 
You shouldn't see dust on the front element - and waxing the element sounds like a real bad idea to me
 
Give it a go and report back your findings. I'm sure there are several people on here who would be interested to know.
 
Viper said:
Hi all

Just had a thought with my mate. Would it be at all beneficial to wax my front element with car wax? Just thinking it might help getting dust off etc

:shrug:

Tom
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Given that most car waxes on the market contain mild abrasives (think "T-Cut") then, err....no :eek:
 
Sounds like a suicidal plan to me :police::police::police::police:
 
Maybe tried it on a filter first?? There are glass waxes available...
 
I'm not sure most car wax companies really care about how well different wavelengths travel through there products. (not unless they have a VERY dull day at the office!)

So I would expect a massive drop in image quality

Stuart
 
I'm not speaking from personal experience here, having never tried it, but I suspect that there's more chance of me cleaning my car with Pec-pads and Eclipse 2 than there is of me taking turtle wax and a chammy leather to the front element of my 600/4.

Bob
 
Give it a try! You can always take it off again with a Brillo Pad!:naughty:
 
Not a good idea!

Stick with a proprietary lens cleaning solution and cloth which should make it anti static anyway.

Regards

Chris
 
Canon Bob said:
I'm not speaking from personal experience here, having never tried it, but I suspect that there's more chance of me cleaning my car with Pec-pads and Eclipse 2 than there is of me taking turtle wax and a chammy leather to the front element of my 600/4.

Bob
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I would never use turtle wax or a chamois anyway. haha

Zymol/Dodo Juice and a microfibre please :D

Looks like its a no really. Was just an idea :thinking:
 
Spray it with clear varnish.:lol::D:thumbs:
 
I use a three-stage Autoglym polish & wax treatment on my bike, and it looks fantastic afterwards. However, there's no way I'm letting any of that shizer anywhere near my lenses :D
 
I've got some Zymol Vintage but no way will it be going near any of my glass. :eek:

As Stuart said I think it would have a big impact on the optical quality as the wax (no matter how good) could affect the way the light transmits through the element. You could try it on a skylight filter and obviously washing up liquid would remove it easy enough.

Perhaps a glass sealant would be a better idea but again I'd be cautious over trying it out.
 
Why not try common solvents: start with DCM, then a bit of Toluene and finish off with acetone! You should be very impressed with the end result. You could also try generating HF (aq) in situ.
 
Is this Janice under a false user name?:)
 
I remember someone saying in the old days they used to apply vaseline on the front element to achieve soft focus effect. I can't see this being too different. Wax has a higher optical density than air and will bend light thus softening the image or creating artefacts.
 
Nifkin said:
I use a three-stage Autoglym polish & wax treatment on my bike, and it looks fantastic afterwards. However, there's no way I'm letting any of that shizer anywhere near my lenses :D
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Try some other makes, there are A LOT out there better than AG ;)
towershot said:
Try it on the £300 lens first,the if happy THEN try it on the £3000 lens.:p
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That would have been the plan! Destroy the 10-20, not the 100-400 :lol:
PsiFox said:
Is this Janice under a false user name?:)
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I am Tom, and have always been a Tom :D
 
At the very least it might act like a poor quality filter and cause all sorts of flare issues.

The glass already has a series of coatings on which should have a similar effect to what you are hoping to achieve anyway.

Graham
 
daugirdas said:
I remember someone saying in the old days they used to apply vaseline on the front element to achieve soft focus effect.
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The 'normal' way to use vaseline was to apply it to a skylight or UV filter and not directly to the front element....you may well be right but it's always been on a filter in my experience.

Bob
 
You can get wax for glasses, which buffers out to a really fine finish.

However its a swine to get off completely to reapply it, I think its more hassle than its worth.
 
Um, at least one person suggested applying the wax to a filter and trying that, and the OP thought it was a good idea... perhaps the OP should just use a filter full stop, and not bother with the wax? OK, there's the debate about a filter's affect on the image quality, but I'm sure such effects will be nothing compared to what any manually applied wax will do to the front element if not applied perfectly.
 
How about a layer of Gtechniq G1 viper?

I think I will kepe the waxes for the cars, Im so happy you corrected FITP about waxes and polishes.
 
In fairness to the OP ew're all here to learn, apparently the only stupid question is the one that remains unasked...

We're all on a learning curve and some including myself are starting at the bottom, some of the effects waxes have on car windows can be superb so a justified question for a beginner I would have thought...

Some of the answer in this thread are sure enough to make sure someone doesn't return to the forum...
 
TheNissanMan said:
In fairness to the OP ew're all here to learn, apparently the only stupid question is the one that remains unasked...

We're all on a learning curve and some including myself are starting at the bottom, some of the effects waxes have on car windows can be superb so a justified question for a beginner I would have thought...

Some of the answer in this thread are sure enough to make sure someone doesn't return to the forum...
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The OP has posted on this forum far more times than I have, so is probably unfazed with the few tongue-in-cheek responses that he's received to his question. There's certainly no-one in this thread who's been anywhere near as rude and obnoxious as a member I had to deal with yesterday, and it didn't put me off put me off coming back.
 
Nifkin said:
Um, at least one person suggested applying the wax to a filter and trying that, and the OP thought it was a good idea... perhaps the OP should just use a filter full stop, and not bother with the wax? OK, there's the debate about a filter's affect on the image quality, but I'm sure such effects will be nothing compared to what any manually applied wax will do to the front element if not applied perfectly.
Click to expand...

Yeh, I don't use filters for the reasons that I have seen mentioned in a thread before about reducing image quality, but my thinking was that the wax, when buffed off might add another layer of protection, but apparently now :D

Little John said:
I think I will kepe the waxes for the cars, Im so happy you corrected FITP about waxes and polishes.
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I couldn't not!

Just looked at the Gtechniq. lasts for 2 years! :D
TheNissanMan said:
In fairness to the OP ew're all here to learn, apparently the only stupid question is the one that remains unasked...

We're all on a learning curve and some including myself are starting at the bottom, some of the effects waxes have on car windows can be superb so a justified question for a beginner I would have thought...

Some of the answer in this thread are sure enough to make sure someone doesn't return to the forum...
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Thank you for the understanding.

Although I am used to forums and realise that some people are completely different with voicing their views :thumbs:

hollis_f said:
Just make sure it's digital wax.
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:lol:
 
Canon Bob said:
The 'normal' way to use vaseline was to apply it to a skylight or UV filter and not directly to the front element....you may well be right but it's always been on a filter in my experience.

Bob
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Don't need vaseline, I used to just breath on the lens and take a pic as the mist cleares, can do this at any stage for different strength's
 
towershot said:
Don't need vaseline, I used to just breath on the lens and take a pic as the mist cleares, can do this at any stage for different strength's
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That might work in the chilly North West but definitely won't cause any fogging on a typical French summer's day. ;)

Bob
 
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