Lens Cleaning

[K77 CTR]

Any advice on the best way to clean my lens?

[paul911]

I just dust it off with a micro fibre cloth.

[kVA]

A tip given to me donkeys years ago was to grab a clean tissue, tear it right across and roll it up to use the 'torn' ends as a sort of clean brush... This is what I always do, as I find microfibre cloths get dirty in the bag - especially on outdoor shoots in bad weather, often just from picking it up with dirty / greasy hands.

I'm sure someone will come on here and tell me I've committed some cardinal sin, but I've never had a complaint from a customer yet and my main lens has shot well over half a million images, with this method of cleaning only! (Oh, and I lose lens caps within days of getting a new lens, usually, so they get pretty dirty!

[markmullen]

Lenspen, small, cheap and very effective.

[K12beano]

I like the "torn tissue" for emergency. But a Lens Pen would be my weapon of choice.


Don't bother to worry about cleaning them too much, not until they get wet, splattered with rain drops or sea spray, myself!

[moz168]

Breathe on it and wipe with the corner of my shirt. Shirts are wash more often that a cloth left in the bag. Being a photographer in a dusty studio, Ive found this is the best way to clean them. Even Hasselblad lenses get the same treatment.

[K77 CTR]

Thank you

[ecsrobin]

markmullen said:

Lenspen, small, cheap and very effective.

Same here.

I read the other day a manufacturer saying that breathing on your lens will damage it? Me personally I can't see anything wrong with it.

[tog]

Works for me

[K12beano]

tog said:

Works for me

Oh, takes me back!!!

My Physics Teacher's favourite saying was: "the cleanest part of a small boy is the inside of his tie" as he cleaned a lens or something on the inside lining!

[Fordo]

ecsrobin said:

Same here.

I read the other day a manufacturer saying that breathing on your lens will damage it? Me personally I can't see anything wrong with it.

I asked Zeiss about that at a trade show - the guy said it the long term the bacteria in our breath can gradually eat away at the coatings on the lens.


Couple of tips I've picked up-

If you do lots of stuff in the rain, or at sea or anywhere you'll get lots of water splashes- get a chamois leather (a real one), cut into strips, put it through the washing machine to soften them up - and they make great lens cloths. Much better at removing water without leaving smears.

I always try to touch the lens as least as possible - 90% of the time, all you need is an air blower for dust.

If theres finger prints / jam etc on the lens, then i always use a lens cloth in combo with some lens fluid. I was once told that you should never really dry wipe a lens as the dust could be abrasive.

And I always have a couple of these in every kit bag: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Zeiss-Wipes-Boxes-containi... - Like wet wipes for lenses

[RobDickinson]

ecsrobin said:

markmullen said:

Lenspen, small, cheap and very effective.

Same here.

I read the other day a manufacturer saying that breathing on your lens will damage it? Me personally I can't see anything wrong with it.

Nikon said that and rapidly retracted it as it's just not true.

Micro fiber cloth or t-shirts for me

[Simpo Two]

Fordo said:

I asked Zeiss about that at a trade show - the guy said it the long term the bacteria in our breath can gradually eat away at the coatings on the lens.

As a lapsed graduate microbiologist I say:

Edited by Simpo Two on Monday 18th March 01:00