To huff, or not to huff.... that is the question.

[Photolistic]

Do you "huff" on your lenses when you clean them with your microfiber cloth when you clean it?

I know that its always good to use a Giottos rocket blower before I clean with a microfiber to get all the big hard particles out of that way that could scratch the lens.


I admit that I have huffed my lung air on to my lens to get it super clean, should I use a cleaning liquid instead?

Less residue?

[anglext]

I'm a Huffer and proud of it!

[TMR Design]

I don't know technically what is correct but I do know that I was always told that if you're going to use your breath to fog a lens or a pair of glasses to hold them up and blow upwards instead of blowing down. If you blow up you just get the fog, if you blow down you stand a good chance of getting some saliva on the glass.

[cjm]

Sure do and I use the same rag I use on my eye glasses. If my L lenses in front of my eyes don't get scratched my L lenses dont either.

[Kristy]

I'm anal... I use a lens solution.. I apply it to my special cleaning cloth and then polish. :)

[joegolf68]

I just ordered a big bundle of stuff from a distributor of the Lensepen stuff. Had all kinds of goodies included. Should be here next week, as it comes from Canada. Lens cleaner, sensor cleaner, computer monitor cleaner, etc. Anyway, I've read NOT to use your breath, but haven't read that it will do any damage or anything. I prefer to use cleaning materials and the proper micro fiber cloth. I look forward to the Lensepen stuff to see how well it works.

[ed rader]

i huff on the UV filter. i never clean my lenses.

ed rader

[YosemiteJunkie]

Even my classes say to huff but don't blow.

[cskn0125]

huffer here.

sometimes like to dress up as an alien though.

[Lester Wareham]

Well Ivoted huff because I do but really I wanted to vote "I dress up as an alien. "

[Roger Cicala]

I'll huff in the field . . . but I admit I make sure no one is looking before I do it.
LensPen at home, though.

[Wilt]

I huff to remove streaks that a cleaner might leave behind. I huff until I find the stuff to be removed needs the use of Kodak Lens Cleaning fluid or ROR. I use high quality super-multicoated filters most of the time, but remove them under difficult lighting circumstances. That way I have to clean my filters with greater frequency, rather than my lens surfaces, most of the time...better to rebuy a filter than to erode my lens coating surface (which DOES happen, per published tests with high mag examination of coating surfaces after repeated cleaning). I do clean my lens surface at least yearly to remove accumulation of haze gathered from the atmosphere. Microfiber cloth.

[samnz]

Huffer. Shirt to wipe when using UV

[fritz1]

I huff all the time, then use #400 wet sand paper for fine smoothing.

[scrane]

There are a couple of ways to clean a lens. One is to use pressure to rub away contamination, and the other is to dilute and carry away contamination using a solvent. Water vapor from your breath may loosen contamination, but the main cleaning agent is pressure (polishing). Rubbing a lens is not a good thing. You'd be better off finding a good solvent applied with a soft wipe.
Thinking about a lens pen makes me shudder.
I use a UV filter on all my lenses. If the filter is degrading the IQ of my70-200 f4 IS I'll never know it.
Sandy.

[ScottE]

i huff on the UV filter. i never clean my lenses.

ed rader

Oh no, I can't argue with Ed. He is right on.

Just avoid spitting or sneezing when you only want to huff. A little condensation will aid cleaning. Saliva or other guck makes it more difficult.

Scott

[steved110]

All my lenses where UV filters to keep the important glass as clean and untouched by human hands as the day it came out the factory.

You didn't give an option for the filtered people, so i voted for Alien.

But I certainly do huff on my filters. I puff, then I huff, then I use a lens pen.

and if they get really dirty, i wash the filter under a warm tap with Fairy Liquid dishwasher detergent, then rinse with distilled water ( I don't do this with a CP however...) Also take care not to scrub the coating off the filter.