the random specks have been since cleaned, that was before I CLA'd my Kiev (didn't need to clean, so why do it?)
can't be grease on the brush. I used the brush on the front elements as well. and besides, I used tissue and lens cleaner fluid, that made it worse.
Bad idea. You are cleaning with things (plastic bristles, abrasive paper) that are harder than the coating and your lens cleaner fluid probably contained ammonia, which will actually dissolve and/or soften some of the soft coatings.
Cleaning soft lens coatings:
Throw away the lens tissues. Some of those, used for eyeglasses, actually contain abrasives. Most will leave marks, especially on soft coatings, because they just rub crud against the glass instead of lifting it away from the glass. Throw away the lens cleaner. Many of those contain ammonia, which can eat holes in some soft coatings and will certainly make them softer. If you are even
thinking of using a microfiber cloth, slap yourself silly and then don't do it.
Get a BIG box of cotton swabs. Get a bottle of lighter fluid and get a bottle of distilled water. Dampen the cotton swab with lighter fluid (pure naptha) and go over the lens. Don't use any force at all, just the weight of the swab, and twist the swab slowly as you go, so as to keep a fresh surface against the glass and lift grit away, not rub it against the lens. You are using a solvent, so you don't need to push at all. The idea is to
dissolve the crud into the swabs, not scrub it off. You'll go through a
lot of swabs, and it takes patience. Change swabs as soon as you feel you have come close to making a full twist of the swab.
If you had any grease or oil on the lens, you may notice that the lens becomes hazy as it dries. Don't panic. This is a
good thing. Lighter fluid is alkaline and what you are seeing is basically what happens when you mix an alkaline and a grease -- you get soap. This very thin soap haze will come off with the distilled water.
Now for the good news. There is a possibilty that what has happened here is that you had an oil haze on your lens and your brush marks are what happens when you drag dirty bristles over a sticky surface: the dirt comes off the brush and sticks to it and you make marks in the oil. In other words, you have made marks in the crud, not the coating. You need to use a benign OIL solvent, like naptha. Of the commercial lens cleaners (the stuff you buy at camera shops and that people use with tissues or lens cloths) the benign ones that won't dissolve soft lens coatings also won't dissolve oils. Those that do dissolve oils contain ammonia, are not benign, and are not safe to use on soft coatings.
