Lens cleaning

[GimpyPoop]

Yo,
I know you are never supposed to touch the lens or whatever and always put a UV filter over it, but do you EVER clean your lens?
With typical lens cleaner?
Me, the Flea

[phili1]

I use a lens cleaning cloth from Promaster it can be use wet or dry. I use hot breath as I rareley get thay many marks on the lens. Promaster also has a liquid cleaned. Do not use a paper towel and when you clean always use a circular motion.

[sdommin]

GimpyPoop wrote:
I know you are never supposed to touch the lens or whatever and always put a UV filter over it

Those are two common myths. You can touch your lens to clean it as long as you are careful, and use a lens cleaning cloth or tissues. I use the Kodak tissues and moist breath - I've never had much luck with the cleaning fluids you can buy. I've always ended up using the "breath" method afterwards anyway. And I ALWAYS use quality compressed air to blow off the lens before I touch it.

Also, if you feel the need to put a UV filter on, that's fine. But if you're careful and treat your camera like the precision jewel that it is, you won't need one.

[John_T]

I use a very soft and fine microfiber cloth made especially for cameras. I rarely need to do more than a huff on the lens or filter and polish lightly with the cloth. With reasonable care, you don't need to clean very often. You can also pretty much assume that whatever you see on the lens will not be in focus and noticable through the lens.

[cityboy_ca]

Same as the others before, I usually just use my breath to clean the lens. When the lens gets beyond that, I use Kodak cleaning fluid. Never put this directly on the lens - put a few drops on a lens tissue or cleaning cloth and then wipe with a circular motion. Blowing off the lens before cleaning is always a good idea to prevent grinding little bits of grit into the lens coating.

From recent experience I can tell you that you'll need more than breath to clean your lens after shooting puppy closeups.

[drisley]

Hehe.

The "lens pens" are great too.

[GimpyPoop]

Yo,
Yes I just bought the Nikon lens pen. It's quite efficient.
I was horrified when I let the guy at the camera store take a look at my camera and he pulled out a dirty looking lens cloth and started ferociously rubbing away at the lens (on my not even 2 day old camera).
Ha ha I am just a spazz though. Christ, I almost had a heart attack.
I think I'll just buy a lens cloth tomorrow and another UV filter tomorrow for back up.
Thanks for the replies!
Me, the Flea

[phili1]

I also own a lens pen, as well as a cloth.

So you know blow lens first, so large particles are removed use you breath on lens use lens pen or cloth and rub in a circular motion, never back and forth.