how do you clean your lenses?

how do you clean your lenses?

  • lens tissue only

    Votes: 25 6.0%

  • lens tissue and lens cleaner (liquid)

    Votes: 83 20.0%

  • lens brush and/or air

    Votes: 63 15.2%

  • microfiber or similiar "new fangled" cloth

    Votes: 125 30.2%

  • whatever shirt you happen to have on

    Votes: 76 18.4%

  • i don't clean my lenses

    Votes: 42 10.1%
  • Total voters
    414
I spray some Zeiss lens cleaner on a microfiber cloth and wipe the lens, then use a dry part of the cloth to wipe the remaining cleaner off. Then I use canned air to remove dust particles. I do this about once a month or so, or if I manage to smudge a lens. I've never cleaned a rear element, only blew canned air at it.
 
In restoring vintage equipment, I have recieved cameras with things like tar, paint, chicken crap, dried sodapop and what I hope was dried beef soup on the lenses (and the mirrors and sometimes even the focusing screens). No, I'm not kidding. One folding camera I did for a friend who found it in a barn even had the remains of a bird's nest in the back. What works for me, for an initial cleaning (after brushing and blowing), is a big box of Q-tips and some solvents. I've used naptha for removing oil based paint and grease (especially good for fingerprints). I use alcohol for removing cigarette tar, ink, the remains of crumbled light seal material, and pine pollen. I use a 50/50 mix of hydrogen peroxide and ammonia for removing lens fungus. I use distilled water for just about everything else. I start in the middle of the lens and work outward, twisting the swabs as I go, so as to keep a fresh surface against the lens and lift the crud away from the glass and not rub grit against it. Each swab end is thus good for only one stroke and I go through a LOT of swabs. When I am done, it is absolutely clean though, with no scratches.
 
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The Magic of Filters

The Magic of Filters

I try to protect my lenses with filters (drilled into me from my dad) and when that fails I will:

- Try air blower
- Use a light brush
- Clean with OptiClean (great stuff)

I know that the filter method may not be ideal for some (more glass) but it's worked nicely for me. I do pul my filter off my Noct for night shots :)

Kent

ps- Prefer Heliopan filters.
 
-use one of those 'hurricane' blowers to blow off the dust
-breathe on it, use q-tips (natural cotton only), wipe the lens with a circular motion starting at the center and towards the edges. keep breathing, he, he...
-no pressure, change q-tips often
-never touch the cotton with your fingers or anything else
-for stubborn saliva or anything else spots, use a tiny drop of kodak lens cleaning liquid.
-repeat until clean
-test: breathe on the lens. do you see irregular patterns?
1. yes -> keap cleaning
2. no -> go shooting :)

the same procedure for digital sensors. you'll need a tweezers and a piece of tape at the end to carefully pick up lints. the rest you can blow off by a hurricane blower. (don't try this at home!)

ps no uv or any protective filters. full quality of my lenses that should not last longer then i do anyway ;->>>
 
fdigital said:
blower and microfiber if needed. Very safe with modern glass and coatings.
Click to expand...

Most of the people on this site refuse to move into the 21st century, and as a consequense, very few of us here are using modern cameras. A blower and microfiber cloth are not very safe on older lenses, particularly bloomed or soft-coated lenses.
 
it only makes sense to clean your lenses if:
1: you get one second hand that is desperately dirty
2: you wanna sell a lens
3: you drop the lens in some kind of serious gunk. Or your dog licks it.
 
Pherdinand said:
it only makes sense to clean your lenses if:
1: you get one second hand that is desperately dirty
2: you wanna sell a lens
3: you drop the lens in some kind of serious gunk. Or your dog licks it.
Click to expand...

I disagree with #3. Dog licks are responsible for that famous Leica glow. ;)
 
This is one of those polls where the OP could not possibly list all the options. I have one of those large blower bulbs which I use first, then canned air if available, then newfangled cloth and moisture condensed from my breath. But my lenses don't need cleaning that often. . .

Ben, who does not use filters
 
1.) use a handblower on all glass surfaces--NOT compressed air
2.) dip Q-tip in pure Acetone and wipe in a circular motion w/ one end
3.) dry w/ the other end
4.) repeat 2 & 3 w/ another Q-tip
5. repeat 2, 3 & 4 using one qt. distilled water w/ a drop or two of liquid dishwashing detergent
6. admire your work
7.) do the above as little as possible!!!!!!!!

NEVER use a microfiber cloth--too many cheapo/ fake ones on the mkt.
 
I really like the panties idea. Makes for stares on the street though.

Whenever I get a new (to me) lens, the first thing I do is blow it off, hit it w/ a soft brush, wipe off any blemishes w/ a soft cloth, and screw on a UV filter. Should never have to clean it again. A tiny bit of lens cleaner solution (the kind in the cheapo blister packs that are sold partnered up w/ lens tissue and a brush/blower combo) on a torn tissue for the hardest parts. I once made the mistake of putting the fluid directly on the front element and it seeped into the lens and stained the back of the glass.

That was nothing compared to the time I found an old beat up Canon L zoom in a thrift store, and tried to clean the really dirty front glass by holding it under the sink faucet.
 
it's not good and not necessary cleaning lenses too often. Dust and little spots are not seen on the photos. I only clean if too many spots are on it. Of course I do not use filters but lens hoods.
Cheers,
dacaccia
 
I just lately discovered Zeiss pre-moistened lens cloths: they work great, really!
They are especially designed for multi-layer coatings cleaning, gentle and hard-hitting at the same time.
I've also used for cleaning a dirty mirror in my Olympus SRL.

sniki
 
My approach depends on what's on the lens.

Dust -> blower
Fingerprints, oil -> Lenspen
Dried liquid spots, etc -> ROR & lens tissue

I fog the lens with my breath and wipe with lens tissue to remove the ROR residue. I don't like brushes because they pick up oil if you touch them and there's no way to clean it off. Eventually you start brushing oil on your lenses.
 
I remember reading years ago about a fellow who was really into car detailing. I think the article was in Road & Track. Anyway, this guy wanted to find out which type/brand of soap left the least residue on the car's finish. So to test things he used the soap to clean, believe it or not, his contact lenses. The contacts were of the hard type, but it always did strike me as a bit extreme. Ivory Liquid left no residue.
 
mwooten said:
I remember reading years ago about a fellow who was really into car detailing. I think the article was in Road & Track. Anyway, this guy wanted to find out which type/brand of soap left the least residue on the car's finish. So to test things he used the soap to clean, believe it or not, his contact lenses. The contacts were of the hard type, but it always did strike me as a bit extreme. Ivory Liquid left no residue.
Click to expand...

The only things that leave no residue are things that evaporate completely (pure naptha, pure alcohol, distilled water, and etcetera). Ivory soap doesn't evaporate completely. Maybe it leaves a clear residue, or a unnoticable residue, but it doesn't leave no residue.
 
FallisPhoto said:
The only things that leave no residue are things that evaporate completely (pure naptha, pure alcohol, distilled water, and etcetera). Ivory soap doesn't evaporate completely. Maybe it leaves a clear residue, or a unnoticable residue, but it doesn't leave no residue.
Click to expand...

But lighter fluid would have been a bit rough for the the guy's contact lens test :)
 
Professionally, in optics cleaning e.g. cleaning high reflectance laser mirrors one use methyl-alcohol (methanol).
It's quite poisonous, though.

Acetone is a good solvent and does not harm glass, but it does harm sone organic materials which as said above might be used in the lens housing, in paint, etcetera. Additionally, acetone evaporates way too fast therefore you cannot wipe the dissolved junk off the lens before this happens, so you end up with well-distributed junk.

When we use acetone (even boiling acetone sometimes) to clean silicone chips we always transfer the chip into isopropanol which is of high purity, a reasonable solvent, and dries much slower. Then we blow-dry it.

Ethanol (the alcohol stuff in your booze) is not pure alcohol - cannot be completely separated from water. It is also not the best solvent. So, it can be used to clean lenses, but it's less efficient and you must wipe or blow it off for removing all junk.
 
Bill58 said:
1.) use a handblower on all glass surfaces--NOT compressed air
2.) dip Q-tip in pure Acetone and wipe in a circular motion w/ one end
3.) dry w/ the other end
4.) repeat 2 & 3 w/ another Q-tip
5. repeat 2, 3 & 4 using one qt. distilled water w/ a drop or two of liquid dishwashing detergent
6. admire your work
7.) do the above as little as possible!!!!!!!!

NEVER use a microfiber cloth--too many cheapo/ fake ones on the mkt.
Click to expand...

To each his own. If you feel it works for you, go for it. Personally, I would not use cotton t-shirts or cotton swabs such as Q-tips. I prefer Kodak lens tissue. Especially made for lens cleaning and very soft and pure. Breath moisture or lens cleaning fluid, or alcohol as a last resort.

I do use filters. I believe the old saw about keeping the lens clean, don't keep cleaning the lens. I don't like to see accumulated dust and other debris. Small amounts will have small effects. But it will increase flare and softness in photos. Granted, it will often be so little as to not really be noticable.

Works for me, but as I said, to each his own.
 
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