Lens Cleaning - what do people use?

[Ian]

Hi folks, I am just wondering what is best?

All of my lenses sport UV filters so mostly I am cleaning the filter but sometimes I seem to need to clean the lens as well - mainly for dust. I currently use a micro fibre cloth with some spectacle cleaning fluid, but when I worked with microscopes we used lens tissues.

What do people use? Any recommendations?

Ian

[DavidGee]

I use lens tissues as well as a set of Lenspens

David

[JK6065]

I use(d) this Carl Zeis Lens Cleaning set. Although I have some really bad experiences with the cleaning fluid at coated lenses like the 17-40mm L and coated filters.

Does somebody else had this problem?

[rob marshall]

What do people use? Any recommendations?

Pan scourer. A clean one.

Seriously. I use those individually wrapped wet lens cloths (mine are from TESCO) which are specially made fo lenses (camera, glasses etc). I dry the item with a lens cleaning cloth from an optician (they are normally washable). I only clean UV and other filters this way. I never need to clean lenses as they are always covered with a UV. Make sure any dust/grit is removed first with a lens brush or rocket-blower.

[Black Pearl]

I have been using a LENSPEN for a few years now and they are fantastic.

[Dave Humphries]

Mostly what Rob said, although if only a small splash on filter, a lens pen rather than the wet lens cloth.

For lens body, yes, a microfibre cloth.

[Nicola]

I use(d) this Carl Zeis Lens Cleaning set. Although I have some really bad experiences with the cleaning fluid at coated lenses like the 17-40mm L and coated filters.

Does somebody else had this problem?

Hi,
what kind of "really bad experiences"?
what happened to your 17-40 and coated filter?
did these gears fail?
(i'm an owner of the same equipment)
thanks
nicola

[hoddo]

For the glass start with a blower bulb. After that I breath lightly on the lens and wipe off with a Rizla (sp?) paper...works great every time.

[rob marshall]

For the glass start with a blower bulb. After that I breath lightly on the lens and wipe off with a Rizla (sp?) paper...works great every time.

And jolly useful for rolling a joint after?

[Wirefox]

Breath heavily on the lens and polish clean with an old pair of Y-fronts....not the ones you use to clean your brasses with obviously.

I use a blower followed by a polish with a pentax lens cloth. Wet cleaning I use a proprietary lens cleaning fluid (Jeyes) and a wipe with a micro fibre cloth...then a final polish with the lens cloth, To be honest unless you have a really gruesome bogie on there fine particulate will not show on the finished image anyway (unless you are shooting into the sun). The main issue is dust that can scratch the lens when you attempt to polish. Always remember to give the inside of your lens cap a clean at the same time - they collect more fluff and dust than a builders navel.

wipe off with a Rizla (sp?) paper...works great every time.

The gum gives an interesting soft focus effect too

[Ian]

OK, I might pass on the pan scourer, Jeyes and the y-fronts. But sounds like the lenspen is a good idea and washing my microfiber cloths is an even better idea. I have been using optician supplied glass cleaners but it was leaving smudges - maybe that was due to the microfiber cloths needing a clean. The Carl Zeiss kits seems to be a good idea as well, so will see if it is available down under. Also I might try the "Huff" as it works for my glasses.

I really appreciate the feed back - thanks folks.

Ian

[JK6065]

Hi Nicola,
I'm sorry for not replying, I forget to revisit this topic until now.

The cleaning fluid damaged the coatings of the lens.


There's a scratch on the left (my fault?) and some dull spots on the right (the blue area).

It might be misuse from my side, but I didn't have any problems with other lenses (without coating). Luckily the damaged coating doesn't show on pictures I take with it.

Just be sure you're very careful while cleaning!!

[Colin Southern]

Hi Nicola,
I'm sorry for not replying, I forget to revisit this topic until now.

The cleaning fluid damaged the coatings of the lens.


There's a scratch on the left (my fault?) and some dull spots on the right (the blue area).

It might be misuse from my side, but I didn't have any problems with other lenses (without coating). Luckily the damaged coating doesn't show on pictures I take with it.

Just be sure you're very careful while cleaning!!

Excellent advertisement for using a UV filter for protection

[Colin Southern]

Personally, I just use a microfibre cloth and a little "L-Breath". Works a charm.

[Nicola]

Hi Nicola,
I'm sorry for not replying, I forget to revisit this topic until now.

The cleaning fluid damaged the coatings of the lens.


There's a scratch on the left (my fault?) and some dull spots on the right (the blue area).

It might be misuse from my side, but I didn't have any problems with other lenses (without coating). Luckily the damaged coating doesn't show on pictures I take with it.

Just be sure you're very careful while cleaning!!

Thanks Jeroen for your feedback!
I will never remove my UV filter from my 17-40, neither if using a polar. filter!

[keith201]

If you stack filters you are likely to get vignetting in the corners. I have a UV filter on my lenses but remove it when I put a polariser on. If you use the Cokin system of square filters, the holder is designed to enable you to stack filters if you wish.

[Letrow]

Thanks Jeroen for your feedback!
I will never remove my UV filter from my 17-40, neither if using a polar. filter!

If you stack filters you are likely to get vignetting in the corners. I have a UV filter on my lenses but remove it when I put a polariser on. If you use the Cokin system of square filters, the holder is designed to enable you to stack filters if you wish.

The only problem I had with stacking was that it was very difficult to remove the polarisation filter from the UV. The thread from the UV might be slightly different from the lens thread. Anyway, at a certain point I was sure something was going to break. Polar and UV were same brand and quality, but this was hard.
The same problem has occurred with a rubber screw on lens-hood on an UV.

So, sorry for derailing this slightly, back to cleaning.

[benm]

Not related to lens cleaning but to filter stacking:

http://www.lensrentals.com/blog/2011...th-bad-filters

A not very serious article.