Sea mist on lens

M

Mike410

Messages
134
Name
Mike
Edit My Images
No
Hey guys,

I was shooting on the beach today and my lens had a lot of sea mist on so I
tried using my lens pen to wipe it off but it just smudged it around leaving colored swirls on lens.

What is the best solution for cleaning sea mist off lens?
Is Eclipse lens solution any good?

Thanks,

Mike
 
for such things, i use eclipse lens solution with a lens tissue and wipe the lens with that to dissolve any gunk/residue and then polish off clean soft lens cloth.
 
Mike410 said:
Hey guys,

I was shooting on the beach today and my lens had a lot of sea mist on so I
tried using my lens pen to wipe it off but it just smudged it around leaving colored swirls on lens.

What is the best solution for cleaning sea mist off lens?
Is Eclipse lens solution any good?

Thanks,

Mike
Click to expand...

I find a bit of warm breath and a cloth does the job well!
 
Last edited:
A microfibre cloth from any economical source that you fancy [like a pound shop or whatever] plus one of the spray on cleaning fluids from opticians for specs.
 
daugirdas said:
t-shirt and a warm breath does it fine. but to be honest you should be cleaning the UV filter here. Sea side is not the place to mess about with bare lenses, unless you fancy to upgrade
Click to expand...

Quite agree ,Also cut down the UV rays that you get on long coastal shots at the seaside......
 
Eclipse is methanol and most salts are badly soluble in alcohols. Use a bit of water, although long-term use will eventually attack the coating (if they still are MgF2 - who knows what they use nowadays).
 
towershot said:
Quite agree ,Also cut down the UV rays that you get on long coastal shots at the seaside......
Click to expand...

Was the bit about UV rays serious??
 
Lens pens are designed to work on dry glass, using their own carbon - or whatever it is - as a lubricant. Mist is damp and that's probably what caused the streaking.

I just breath on the lens and use a soft/microfibre cloth in these situations. Lens cleaner, or the lens pen, if it does dry with marks/smears. FWIW, I wouldn't use a protection filter just because of mist. Conditions would have to be harsher than that, but I don't like them and it's a personal choice.
 
A couple of weeks ago we had a TP meet in very salty conditions.
Had to clean the lens and grads several times during the day.
A cloth isn't much good on it's own, it kinda smears the salt around.
As mentioned above, breath and a lens cloth works well for small amounts of salt.
If there is a lot of salt, then wash with a bit of water rubbing gently, shake to get most of the water off before drying with the lens cloth. I always carry 0.5l bottle of water in case I get thirsty, I used that...

When you get home, rinse your lens cloth as it will have salt in it...
 
odd jim said:
Was the bit about UV rays serious??
Click to expand...
The spray and humidity causes a lot of UV to be diffracted. Particularly the light fraction between 300 and 350nm may cause haze. Surprisingly, not all UV filters are actually effective at blocking these wavelengths.
 
All digital camera sensors have UV filters fitted to the high pass filter which sits over the filter itself.

Which is why UV filters are utterly pointless on digital cameras. They already have them on the sensor.

I cant believe people still buy them :bang::bang:
 
odd jim said:
All digital camera sensors have UV filters fitted to the high pass filter which sits over the filter itself.

Which is why UV filters are utterly pointless on digital cameras. They already have them on the sensor.

I cant believe people still buy them :bang::bang:
Click to expand...
No filter works 100% and in extreme situations like the seaside it is a good idea to use one, if not mainly for the protective effect. I don't use them in usual situations.
 
Tgr141291 said:
I find a bit of warm breath and a cloth does the job well!
Click to expand...

If its salty sea spray dont do this. Use a damp microfibre cloth, damp it with water as this will help remove the salt, then lens cleaning solution.

Salt when dry can be quite abrasive.
 
Cistron said:
No filter works 100% and in extreme situations like the seaside it is a good idea to use one, if not mainly for the protective effect. I don't use them in usual situations.
Click to expand...

UV light doesn't effect a digital sensor in the same way it used to effect film (haze). In fact the only reason they put them in the high pass filter is to prevent damage being caused to the sensitive sensor from the radiation in UV light, not because of hazing, as digital sensors arnt effected in this way.
 
Last edited:
odd jim said:
All digital camera sensors have UV filters fitted to the high pass filter which sits over the filter itself.

Which is why UV filters are utterly pointless on digital cameras. They already have them on the sensor.

I cant believe people still buy them :bang::bang:
Click to expand...

I looked UV Filter up on Luminous Landscape - a very authoritative source of technical information. And found this article...
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/columns/sm-feb-05.shtml

That article doesn't mention digital high pass filters as it is primarily aimed at medium and large format film users.
It states something to add to Odd Jim's rationale.
"Modern lenses also pass very little UV. Either the glass, coatings, or even the cement used for cemented elements filter it. The so-called "hot mirror" filters are sharp-cutting UV blockers, but ordinary UV filters don't commonly help good lenses much, if at all.".
But it also states...
"There are a few exceptions. When you are shooting in actively hazardous environmental conditions, such as flying salty sea-spray or blowing sand, snow, or volcanic ash, it might be smart to use a protective filter that's easy to wipe clean. When you're in an an environment rich in ultraviolet, like at the top of a Swiss Alp, take a hot mirror filter along. Obviously, if you want to polarize the light, add a color, or cut the amount of light reaching the lens by a measured amount, don't hesitate to use the appropriate filter."

So Luminous Landscape give the thumbs up to the OP for using a UV filter at the beach or other physically hazardous environments.
But it is absurdly clear that there is no technical reason for needing a UV filter and they should be removed in all other circumstances.
 
odd jim said:
UV light doesn't effect a digital sensor in the same way it used to effect film (haze). In fact the only reason they put them in the high pass filter is to prevent damage being caused to the sensitive sensor from the radiation in UV light, not because of hazing, as digital sensors arnt effected in this way.
Click to expand...
Below 350nm this is true. Have a look at Kodaks sensor datasheets, they have pretty nice quantum efficiency charts. Unfortunately, Sony is a little more secretive (at least from what my google searches show).

I'm not sure why the sensor would be damaged from UV. There are lots of people out there using full-spectrum converted cameras for UV photography.
 
Cistron said:
Below 350nm this is true. Have a look at Kodaks sensor datasheets, they have pretty nice quantum efficiency charts. Unfortunately, Sony is a little more secretive (at least from what my google searches show).

I'm not sure why the sensor would be damaged from UV. There are lots of people out there using full-spectrum converted cameras for UV photography.
Click to expand...

There are indeed. However prolonged UV exposure apparently can damage the sensor, I guess this is why they engineer this into the high pass filter.

I'm not sure of the technical reasoning, but I'm guessing it affects sensors in the same way UV radiation can damage anything over time, and anything 'light sensitive' will always be particually prone to UV damage.
 
Last edited:
It could be similar to the Infra Red blocking that the filter does a lot of.
You can tell whether a camera is good at blocking IR or not by photographing a bonfire. If it has violet flames then the IR filter is not very strong; if it looks like how you see it with your eyes then it has a strong IR filter.
Generally speaking, compact cameras have weak IR filters and DSLRs have strong IR filters.

If I'm right then the UV blocking referred to by Odd Jim is more about making about natural looking images than preventing UV damage.
 
Thanks for the replies. A UV filter would have been a smart decision now that I think about it!
What lens cleaning solution do people recommend here? There have been a couple of suggestions but is there one that is highly recommended?

Also, if I used water to clean the lens, does it matter if the water is hard/soft, filtered etc?

Ill have to be careful now as I haven't cleaned it yet and it's probably dried on now!
 
Last edited:
Mike410 said:
Also, if I used water to clean the lens, does it matter if the water is hard/soft, filtered etc?

Ill have to be careful now as I haven't cleaned it yet and it's probably dried on now!
Click to expand...
Hard water if not dried off will leave residues - lime scale. Just use water to get rid of the salt, then some residue-free alcohol. Ethanol and isopropanol works fine and they are harmless.
 
Thanks Cistron
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top