Smudged Lens on S45

[Jon77]

So, my girlfriend borrowed my Powershot S45 for the day. She took some great pictures, but evidently the lens came back a little smudged. We're not sure how it happened. It's very difficult to see the smudge, but it looks like the vague outline of a finger print.

Do I need to clean it now so that my picture quality isn't diminished? It's a minor smudge, not a scratch . . . but is this thing going to curse my photos?

What's the best way to clean it off? I've never cleaned a lens in my life. Should I go into a camera store and ask them to clean it? How much of a priority is this? Am I doomed or is this smudge nothing in the scheme of the life of my camera?

I'm hoping the answer to all this is that what I call the 'lens' (the most external piece of glass on the the thing that extends and zooms) isn't really the 'lens' but a protective glass cover that covers the real lens; it's less consequential to smudge the glass cover . . . that's what I'm hoping . . . feel free to correct me!

[honza]

If the smudge is just as small as you say, it is not much a factor of picture quality itself. But it could create some bad reflections when taking picture in a contrejour lighting.

Cleaning of the lens if quite simple: Buy a microscopic fibre cloth for cleaning glasses. You can get it in any store selling glasses or binoculars. It costs about 4 euros here, don't pay more.

Try to remove the smudge with the cloth, slightly, with no water. If it doesn't work, don't be cruel, just add very little moisture (i.e. from your breath).

[Traste]

A tip is to clean it with a microfiber cloth as suggested, using soft circular motions.

You should be fine after that.

Good luck,
Traste