Cleaning lens - How you do it? :)

[Karel Šimůnek]

Guys simple question. How are you cleaning your lenses? I mean optics of your lens. Front and rear elements. Lenspen? Just purified water and cotton sticks? Lens cleaning chemicals? Thanks

 

[Josh Birch]

I try using the lens pen / lens blower as much as I can. Only really use a lens cloth if I have too and I tend to keep my lens cloth stored in a little pouch to prevent it from getting dirty!

 

[Ron Steinberg]

Blow off with compressed air, only use Pancro lens cleaning solution, Kimtech disposable wipes (black box not green). It's what all the lens techs in the rental houses use.

 

[Nick Gardner]

No lens pens, no lens cloths. Never use anything on your lens twice. You are picking up micro fine dust and abrasives and creating sandpaper when you use something more than once. Thats where cleaning marks come from. Ron is dead on correct. Also, keep the damn things clean, and clean them as little as possible.

Nick

 

[Karel Šimůnek]

Thank you guys
And those Kimtech wipes you I see two black boxes. One for something around 15USD and the second one for something like 200USD!! So I guess you mean the cheaper one right?

 

[Jacek Zakowicz]

Didn't Duclos have lens cleaning tutorial? there is bunch of info that is best shown you need to know about to do it right. such as what type of dirt ( smudges, oil, etc) to clean with what and in what order , etc, etc...

 

[Ilya O.]

No lens pens, no lens cloths. Never use anything on your lens twice. You are picking up micro fine dust and abrasives and creating sandpaper when you use something more than once. Thats where cleaning marks come from. Ron is dead on correct. Also, keep the damn things clean, and clean them as little as possible.

Nick

What Nick said. Blow blow blow and better do not touch at all, there's very little practical sense in it. For finger prints, use household ammonia on a cotton bud just for one move, than use another bud. Never press hard. When done, breath at the glass and gently circular wipe the stains till the glass and the reflections are clear. Use point source light like the classical halogen bulb gives to see any imperfection.

As for KimWipes, forget it. They were made for lab use where hard to scratch borosilicate glass is common. Kimwipes are made of fine wood cellulose, its structure is proved to be ABRASIVE on older coatings and on many soft optical glass types, especially WHEN USED DRY. I strictly not recommend it for regular users since - even moistened - the very edge could still be dry and introduce the scratches...

 

[Brian Robbins]

I'd use a zee ion blower from visible dust for small particles and I'd use pec pads and eclipse, if necessary to use a solution, for cleaning outside of that.

*there is some longer more concentrated blower I use sometimes too. Got it from Edmund Optics. Works well. One of the main lens manufacturers uses pec pads and eclipse in their factory. A few rental houses that everyone knows use pec pads and eclipse too--recommend for cleaning front and rear elements as well as OLPFs. Actual sensors too. I use it on DSLRs, Phantom, Sony, you name it... actual sensors.

 

[Ben Scott]

I remember that Duclos post and it should be a sticky.

SO now we are down on kimwipes are we still happy with pecpads?

edit: missed the post above me re pec pads!

 

[Dominik Muench]

Blower and for harder dirt Pancro and Rosco Lens tissue.

 

[Frank Glencairn]

As for KimWipes, forget it. They were made for lab use where hard to scratch borosilicate glass is common. Kimwipes are made of fine wood cellulose, its structure is proved to be ABRASIVE on older coatings and on many soft optical glass types, especially WHEN USED DRY. I strictly not recommend it for regular users since - even moistened - the very edge could still be dry and introduce the scratches...

The green ones are made for lab use, the black ones are for lenses. Every rental house I know uses them.

 

[Brian Robbins]

Thank you guys
And those Kimtech wipes you I see two black boxes. One for something around 15USD and the second one for something like 200USD!! So I guess you mean the cheaper one right?

Black box and green box (more commonly seen one) are exactly the same wadding. No difference.

 

[Patrick Tresch]

First blow particules away, use Pancro liquid (amaizing mixture) I usually spray it from 20cm on the Rosco lens tissue (never pass twice with the same paper) don't put pressure on the lens, only the tissue touches the lens (no pressure made by the fingers on the paper), circles from the center of the lens to the outside to push the dust/dirt "out of frame" and some love.

 

[Ilya O.]

Black box and green box (more commonly seen one) are exactly the same wadding. No difference.

Exactly. It's again and again just the same old marketing trick, guys, with green for regular and black for pro. I'm just too lazy to prove it, but one interested can go to their website and compare the data sheets and all the details in .PDF! Both are same paper tissues out of scratchy wood fibers, and besides, both far from been truly lint free.
If someone loves Kimberly Clark brand, just get their domestic tissues with cotton (they are much softer) or if you are true nerd get their clear room polypropylene tissues, named smth14 or so.

 

[Karel Šimůnek]

Thank you to all of you

 

[Chris Steel]

Hand blower often, heavy dust I'll use kenair very carefully (20cm away moving the lens not the can)
I've been using Kimwipes (Big grey box) and Roscos mostly but I may switch to pec-pads after reading here.
I also have soft foam "Q-tips" which are sensor grade apparently, though I'd never use them on the sensor, for getting anything from the edge of the glass or dust in the camera port.

Eclipse on everything before touching anything. I have rosco fluid just incase and Calotherm in my bag as backup