How do you clean your lenses?

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copperband

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Very simple question & searches give me a 100 different ways but ondered what method people use on here?

I meticulously use the soft cloth but that is only good for some marks, anything lightly more greasy or salt water splash for example seems problematic?

Plus with the lens cloth I always seem to have "bits" left that I have to blow off the lens or filter!
 
Spit on it and give it a rub with the bottom of my tshirt.















And for the rest of my lenses that don't have a cheap and nasty uv filter on, just a lens cloth. If there is anything particularly stubborn, then give it a squirt of lens cleaner.
 
copperband said:
If I was as stupid as your reply I might have just ruined a lens!
If you can't be helpful (or humerous) don't bother!
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If you were that stupid you'd deserve to...
...get a sense of humour why don't you?

To the original question:
Bassjunkie has it about right - use anything to get it clean and back into the fight when on a job; a bit more carefully with blowers, brushes and microfibre cloths when the filters come off for a major home-service.
 
copperband said:
If I was as stupid as your reply I might have just ruined a lens!
If you can't be helpful (or humerous) don't bother!
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5928internet-fight.jpg


seriously..chill out..jesus :shrug:

I usually rocket blow and soft cloth. Whats the advantage of a lens pen?
 
copperband said:
If I was as stupid as your reply I might have just ruined a lens!
If you can't be helpful (or humerous) don't bother!
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:dummy:

To answer your question, and re-iterate a previous post;

Blower, Cloth and a lens pen, the lens pen is an excellent piece of kit.

and if we may be picky, learn to spell;)
 
Ok guys I'll chill out but honestly make a joke that's funny and I'll laugh along with everyone else, that wasn't funny so a bit pointless IMO?

I don't view myself as a beginner and so of course I'm not going to believe suggestions like this but some complete newbie could read it and conceivably go and try dettol (not the wire brush perhaps!)

A smiley usually emphasises a joke btw!

Anyway back on track, regarding the lens solution is this a specific camera one or can those designed for cleaning a pair of glasses be used, I bought done expensive spray with my raybans or will they attack the lens coating?
 
copperband said:
If I was as stupid as your reply I might have just ruined a lens!
If you can't be helpful (or humerous) don't bother!
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It was just an old Billy Connolly joke. You get up on the wrong side of bed or something?
 
Thank you Taztastic, your use of the smiley tells me you're not really checking all posts for spelling and grammatical errors:D
 
probably best off using a designed solution - a £5 bottle of lens fluid from jessops is much cheaper than a £xxx lens. It might be ok but I wouldn't take the chance - I was going to use isopropyl alcohol to clean my low pass filter but though f*** that and bought a rocket blower instead (which worked perfectly)
 
copperband said:
Ok guys I'll chill out but honestly make a joke that's funny and I'll laugh along with everyone else, that wasn't funny so a bit pointless IMO?

I don't view myself as a beginner and so of course I'm not going to believe suggestions like this but some complete newbie could read it and conceivably go and try dettol (not the wire brush perhaps!)

A smiley usually emphasises a joke btw!

Anyway back on track, regarding the lens solution is this a specific camera one or can those designed for cleaning a pair of glasses be used, I bought done expensive spray with my raybans or will they attack the lens coating?
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I thought it was pretty funny to be honest :razz:. Seriously, come on why on gods green earth would anyone use detol, an antiseptic disinfectant to clean a lens? If they had of done, assuming they didnt submerge the lens in it, they would have done nothing more than leave themselves with a stinky lens.

I use anything at hand from the bottom of my tshirt to a microfibre cloth in my bag, I haven't ever had to use a cleaning fluid or lens pen.
 
copperband said:
Thank you Taztastic, your use of the smiley tells me you're not really checking all posts for spelling and grammatical errors:D
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Twas tongue in cheek, your caffeine seems to be kicking in now:p

Seriously, get a decent blower.....Rocket would be my call

Lenspen is a revelation, very clean finish and removes greasy marks a treat.

A word of caution with sea spray, it can leave crystals, dab them off, don't wipe or you will scratch the coating, lens fluid on the cloth will be fine.

I think someone on here sells the pens and blowers, I bought them recently from Amazon for around £12 for both.

Paul
 
Taztastic said:
Twas tongue in cheek, your caffeine seems to be kicking in now:p

Seriously, get a decent blower.....Rocket would be my call

Lenspen is a revelation, very clean finish and removes greasy marks a treat.

A word of caution with sea spray, it can leave crystals, dab them off, don't wipe or you will scratch the coating, lens fluid on the cloth will be fine.

I think someone on here sells the pens and blowers, I bought them recently from Amazon for around £12 for both.

Paul
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Nice one Paul, do you have a link at all?
Good point on the sea spray, the ocean is pretty good at destroying things!
I love getting close to take pics of waves crashing but the spray is a problem, in the past I have actually taken the lens protector off and used freshwater to wash it off first then at least it's only a case of wiping off the fresh water marks.
 
Mini orbital sander with coarse grit paper on it does the trick. All my pics turn out very 'Arty'. lol
 
I also use a rocket blower and then either a microfibre cloth, or lens cleaner from jessops with their lens tissues. Always leaves a smear though, but doesnt affect the photos...but kind of annoys me! Was more prevalent to get that smear on my 17-40L but I have replaced that now (not because I couldnt stand the smear by the way!).
 
Blower followed by brush then a lens tissue with a drop or 2 of lens cleaning solution on it. Every once in a while (couple of years, if they need it), I'll treat them to an opticlean which is a gel that gets painted on, left to dry them pulled off as a film, taking any contaminants with it. Not sure if you can still get it but it works a treat.

As for the silly suggestions, I seem to recall a case where an American muscle car owner won substantial damages after following bad advice given on a forum. IIRC, he was after advice on cleaning his engine during an oil change and was told to use washing up liquid and to fill the engine with water. Yes, he was a fool to follow the advice but the poor sod didn't know any better.
 
Nod said:
As for the silly suggestions, I seem to recall a case where an American muscle car owner won substantial damages after following bad advice given on a forum. IIRC, he was after advice on cleaning his engine during an oil change and was told to use washing up liquid and to fill the engine with water. Yes, he was a fool to follow the advice but the poor sod didn't know any better.
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only in America :wacky:
 
So far, yes but how long before it migrates over here?
 
Guys, nice thread, need this info my self. So a normal basic kit for cleaning should be....

- Lenspen for lens
- Rocket blower for lens & sensor
- Microcloth for lens

What for the sensor? Somehting that isn't expensive please.

Total novice on the cleaning side so any help is appreciated.
 
A cloth. I need a rocket blower for the sensor though, it's filthy.
 
Out of interest what do wash the cloth in once it's dirty, difficult to find something that doesn't leave a residue in the cloth fibres?
 
copperband said:
Out of interest what do wash the cloth in once it's dirty, difficult to find something that doesn't leave a residue in the cloth fibres?
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Buy a new one? Not that I could imagine anyone filthy-ing up a lens cloth simply by cleaning front elements. If your lens isn't smeared with dirt, which has a noticable influence on image quality, I'd leave it anyways.
 
I stick my cloths in the sink with soap and handwash, I have some handwash for goretex clothing, it is designed not to leave a residue as this can knacker the goretex membrane, it's called Nikwash, but pretty sure any soap would do, just dont stick them in the washer, whatever that is?, as conditioner will leave a residue.

Really good rinse out and they're good to go
 
BandyQuill said:
....i also take it apart screw by screw and put it back together in a dust free 'clean room' but then i allways have spare sparts left over...
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I do that with all my lenses as well and with all the spare parts I had left over I made a new lens :D
 
I'm always extra careful and so:

1. Use a rocket blower to dislodge loose dust / muck
2. Spray lens cleaner onto the glass
3. Use a disposable lens tissue to wipe any other muck off
4. Use another disposable lens tissue to wipe off any oher moisture, so as not to leave smear marks.

I'd be concerned about using the same cloth twice, in case something was picked up on it and then rubbed around the glass of another lens afterwards. Not sure how likely this would be to happen with modern cloths, but I'm a paranoid android!! Jessops sell packs of tissues and lens cleaner for next to nothing (when compared to the cost of a new lens!).
 
AFC said:
I do that with all my lenses as well and with all the spare parts I had left over I made a new lens :D
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Don't you know that's how Canon make their nifty fifties?
 
throw 'em in the dishwasher - but ensure that you have plenty of rinse aid or you'll get smear marks all over the filter :D
 
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