lens cleaning

TONY C.

TONY C.

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Just a basic but obvious question! how do you clean your lenses? i use those optical wipes for glasses, and was wondering how others clean their lenses? :thinking:
 
When at home I use THIS (or these) AFTER a quick blow with rocket blower.
Outdoors I use a smaller blower first then a 'Spuz' clipped to rucksack.
 
I have a lenspen...

brush at one end to 'sweep' away the dust and cr@p, and the pen thing at the other end to get rid of those marks that seem to get on the lens when there's drizzle.
 
As another newbie I find all the options available quite mind boggling. Good to see what people use rather than what the shops want you to buy :)

I'm liking this forum :)
 
A search will find several threads on this subject; including this one: link.
 
I always have filters attached to my lenses when I can because I feel more confident cleaning them than the lenses itself. Over the years I've scratched a few filters & I'm glad that wasn't the actual lens!

I use a rocket blower for dust and a Lenspen filter cleaner for marks. You can get a nice little set of Lenspen Lenscleaner / filter cleaner at eyepiece cleaner in a soft pouch.

Phil
 
What about cleaning lenses on compacts please?
 
There's really no need to clean lenses very often, unless they're actually grubby. A bit of dust won't impact the images, and you can just brush/blow it off if necessary.

The Lenspen works very well, and isopropyl alcohol (most lens cleaning fluids are based on this) and an optical or microfibre cloth are fine for wet cleaning. Always brush/blow off any dust or grit first, whichever method you use, and apply the fluid to the cloth, not the surface of the lens. You won't damage anything unless you overdo it.
 
And if you're using a microfibre cloth don't forget to change it occasionally as the "pores" get clogged up with gunk over time (you can wash them but they never seem quite the same afterwards in my experience).
 
This may not be to everyone's taste but I use a cheap bottle of glass cleaner from a supermarket. (about £1 for 500mls squirty bottle). Squirt some on a tissue (the kind you blow your noes on) and wipe the lens with it. Use clean tissue to finish off.
This is also a very good way of cleaning greasy spectacles. I have never seen any damage or smearing doing this and it gives a good grease free clean finish and is as cheap as chips.
 
DerekL said:
This may not be to everyone's taste but I use a cheap bottle of glass cleaner from a supermarket. (about £1 for 500mls squirty bottle). Squirt some on a tissue (the kind you blow your noes on) and wipe the lens with it. Use clean tissue to finish off.
This is also a very good way of cleaning greasy spectacles. I have never seen any damage or smearing doing this and it gives a good grease free clean finish and is as cheap as chips.
Click to expand...

I'd not recommend this - I imagine you may be damaging the lens coating.

Phil
 
DerekL said:
This may not be to everyone's taste but I use a cheap bottle of glass cleaner from a supermarket. (about £1 for 500mls squirty bottle). Squirt some on a tissue (the kind you blow your noes on) and wipe the lens with it. Use clean tissue to finish off.
This is also a very good way of cleaning greasy spectacles. I have never seen any damage or smearing doing this and it gives a good grease free clean finish and is as cheap as chips.
Click to expand...

Note to self: Don't buy any 2nd-hand lenses from DerekL.
 
Whatman lens cleaning tissue and a drop of eclipse fluid at home.
I have a lint free cloth in my bag for when I'm out in the field.

J
 
DerekL said:
It doesn't damage the coating. I use this on my Canon 70-200 f2.8L with no probs.
I only do this very occasionally but it does the job.
Try it on an old lens or a pair of specs if you are unsure.
Click to expand...

How can you be sure it does no damage? I suspect it affects the contrast by 'roughing up' the lens coating but this won't show as a huge scratch and neither will it instantly be obvious in the photos - nevertheless it may degrade the image.

Phil
 
The stuff in a bottle from Tesco is the same stuff in a posher, littler more expensive bottle of lens cleaner from specsave. How is that going to damage a front element that a hammer probably wouldn't break?
As I said try it on something old if you don't trust me.
 
Sounds sensible and I am going to try it on cheap lens and see the result for myself
 
Tissues are made out of wood , just squirt some fluid on a length of 4x2 and rub it, even cheaper then
 
Bristolian said:
HaHa! I love those adverts for "wonder fluids". De-ionised water at £100/litre - unbelievable!
Click to expand...

Now you're being a bit unfair there. Baader Wonder fluid is - LINK.

40% water
35% Propan-2-ol
25% Ethanol

If you take 650ml of 37.5% vodka (about 400 ml water and 250 ml ethanol) and add 350 ml of propan-2-ol then you'll have one litre of Wonder Fluid.

650ml of Vodka will cost about £12 and 350 ml of IPA is around £4 (LINK). So one litre of wonder fluid will set you back about £16. Giving you a markup of 625%.

Personally, I'd forget about the ethanol and just use a 50:50 mix of water (free) and Propanol (£11 a litre).
 
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I use a lint free cloth that came with my glasses, but also a Lenspen which is amazing for getting rid of any smudges. :thumbs:
 
I've been using a combination of Spudz microfiber when I'm out and Pec-Pads and Eclipse fluid when I'm at home.
 
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