Help! Cleaning uncoated lenses

[shutterfiend]

Hi, I have two folding cameras, a Kodak Series 1 and a Zeiss Ikonta 521/16. I have finally committed myself to use them. The lenses however need some cleaning. Both lenses appear to be fairly clear with some dust on them. How should I go about cleaning them? What should I NOT do? What should I NOT use? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

(Edit) P.S. Can I possibly use 220 film with either of them with a piece of black tape covering the window?

 

[Ronald M]

Blow dust off. Brush with fine soft new brush. Use microfiber with water on it. Microfiber with lens cleaner. Proceed in that order. Stop after doing a few steps as possible.

Make sure the cloth is clean with no inbedded dirt. Never scrub hard. Use clean areas of the cloth as you advance step to step.

Old glass is not that soft. People scratch it by trying to rub dirt off. The dirt acts as an abrasive.

New clear coat cars need the same treatment except you use lots of free flowing water and a very light touch. Keep lots of wax on the car.

 

[Xmas]

Ronald

Some optical glass is really soft, it is not like window glass or the new 'diamond' hard multi coatings, you dont need to force sand particles into it to scratch it. Sand will damage even the slippery 'diamond' hard coatings.

If you use a liquid you can get liquid ingress, been there, needed lens spanner to remove the front element...

I dont clean my lenses. Use a hood and filter. If you have greasy thumbs and 'fat' fingers.

An air bulb 'blower' is what you use for dust. Dust you can live with is has not the same effect as micro-scratches, optically, and it can be huffed and puffed away like the three little pigs houses, with a blower.

A can of air is not preferred.

Dont.

Noel

 

[shutterfiend]

Thanks. I'll try with just the blower and the cloth first. If I manage not to scratch anything I'll try the water/lens cleaner route. Is alcohol a bad idea?

 

[Xmas]

Hmmm sales resistance...

If it does not have signs of finger print grease or deposits, blower bulb only then

Camel hair brush waft/wisk if dust does not move, static can be annowing.

If it is greasey tease cotton waste out to a thin filiment, and dampen and dab gently or wipe gently. You can use alcohol as grease will move more easily, and you may need to wipe of residual film with similarly teased out cotton waste dry.

If you have a white deposit it may need lots of dabbing with water on end of cotton waste filement, and then a wipe, I think some people spit on lenses.

Ive bought lenses 2nd hand and not bothered to clean them ever.

Which letters in scratch and dont are we having trouble with...

When you finish scratching your lens, you should fit either a filter or a lens hood. if you fit a hood you need a cap for the hood. The filter is also optical glass but probably pretty hard, but it will scratch, the physics of grit particles and anvils is complex, but they will scratch, the filter needs a cap.

When you drop the lens, done it myself, the hood or filter will protect the front of the lens filter ring and optics as well, optical glass is not crack and shatter resistant.

If you have a leitz lens they picked the high ref index optical glass, ignoring it was like hot butter for hardness.

Noel

 

[Xmas]

If ypu want to use 220 you need a camera without a red window and with counting logic for 24 (or whatever), e.g. an Iskara will be ok and cheap, but it will only count to 12, dont know what it does then, I'd imagine it gives up...

The springs on the pressure plate may be ok.

Noel

 

[shutterfiend]

Hmmm sales resistance...

If it does not have signs of finger print grease or deposits, blower bulb only then

Camel hair brush waft/wisk if dust does not move, static can be annowing.

If it is greasey tease cotton waste out to a thin filiment, and dampen and dab gently or wipe gently. You can use alcohol as grease will move more easily, and you may need to wipe of residual film with similarly teased out cotton waste dry.

If you have a white deposit it may need lots of dabbing with water on end of cotton waste filement, and then a wipe, I think some people spit on lenses.

Ive bought lenses 2nd hand and not bothered to clean them ever.

Which letters in scratch and dont are we having trouble with...

When you finish scratching your lens, you should fit either a filter or a lens hood. if you fit a hood you need a cap for the hood. The filter is also optical glass but probably pretty hard, but it will scratch, the physics of grit particles and anvils is complex, but they will scratch, the filter needs a cap.

When you drop the lens, done it myself, the hood or filter will protect the front of the lens filter ring and optics as well, optical glass is not crack and shatter resistant.

If you have a leitz lens they picked the high ref index optical glass, ignoring it was like hot butter for hardness.

Noel

English, not so good. Sarcasm not understood. Proceeding to spit on lens. Trying sand-paper if none of the other things work. Thanks.

 

[Xmas]

I'll give you Laurel and Hardy had a better double act.

Most folders seem to have done well for scratches, and few will fold even with a low profile filter, a hood will help the contra jour photos, you will be amazed by the shots the triplet lens will give on modern film. You can realy nice shots and a flat bed scanner with back illumination will allow really easy processing. Reccomend a dev tank and soup you own.

You should be able to get a combined hood and series filter ring for each cameras real cheap, from junk boxes in 'old world' camera shops, or e bay. Too far to post from here.

Noel

 

[oftheherd]

Cleaning methods become favorites among people and are ususally defended with religious ferver. My personal way is with Kodak or similar paper. I roll it in a loose roll and tear it in half, then rub the torn ends lightly together. Those ends become my brush. I clean the lens using a blower brush first of course, then use the paper ends as a brush for what the blower didn't dislodge. Only if that doesn't work do I use the paper with Kodak cleaning solution. Rubbing lightly so as not to scratch with any remaining dust particles. Cleaning solution should be put on the paper, only a drop or so at a time. Never on the lens itself.

Micorfiber is OK for a one time use, but I personally worry about cleaning them as how can you insure they don't pick up further dirt and grit in the cleaning process. Just me, but that is the reason I don't use them. Just my personal paranoia no doubt.

I do use filters quite often, believing the old adage that it is better to keep the lens clean than to keep cleaning the lens.

Just my way.

 

[Abbazz]

No coating = no fungus. Great point!

Cheers,

Abbazz

 

[murrayatuptown]

Oh, I have found fungus on uncoated lenses, but it cleaned off nicely.

The fungusized coated lenses were permanently marked, however.

If I have lenses too dirty to just clean as mentioned above, I use the following:

1 part ammonia (I usually substitute ammonia-based blue Windex glass cleaner for lack of amonia when I need it))
1 part 3% hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)
1 part isopropyl alcohol, whatever I can find at the moment (70%, 91%, 99%, or anhydrous)

I use lots of cotton swabs in a more or less linear motion. One pass per swab end to avoid dirt abrading lens.

This has cleaned up some scary-looking whitish-gray glass.

 

[Dr. Strangelove]

Is alcohol a bad idea?

Depends on the lens and coating. Uncoated lenses will not be harmed by organic solvents, but many -- though not all -- of the early coatings from late 1940s up until mid 1960s or thereabouts can dissolve to alcohols, albeit usually not very rapidly.

What many people no not know is that the real professionals of optics, i.e. astronomers and service personnel of astronomical optics, typically use very strong stuffs on their lenses. A popular formula among them is 3:1 methanol:acetone mixture. Acetone dissolves some plastics though, so you should be very careful if you use it on camera optics. The astronomic optics are often rinsed, not rubbed, which you can also do if you for some reason have to clean a bare lens element. For optics than can not be rinsed there are special solutions such as the Opticlean Alex already described. It probably has acetone in it as well.

Methanol is typically quite safe to use on modern (from about 1980 onwards) optics, as well as laboratory grade ethanol and isopropanol. The years between 1965 and 1980 are a bit of a gray area: most coatings from that era will not dissolve to alcohols, but there are some exceptions.

If you use alcohol, you should always use only laboratory analysis grade products purchased from a pharmacy or drug store. Methanol is also quite poisonious and will diffuse through the skin, so you must use rubber gloves when you handle it. It's a good idea in any case while cleaning optics. However, use only non-powdered gloves for abvious reasons.

The first rule of optics cleaning is: do not clean it if it isn't dirty. The second rule is to procede from gentler methods to more stronger methods. Only use the stronger methods if the gentle methods do not work.

I have to say I believe in microfiber cloths. They seem to work better than any lens papers I have used but they are at least as gentle. However, using any lens paper or cloth is already a medium strong method of cleaning.