Cleaning the front element of a LENS

[jimchapin468]

I have a Canon 24-70L and I have decided not to use a front filter but use the lens hood for protection. The lens seems to get dusty and stuff on it most every time I use it. Does it hurt the lens to blow it off and use lens cleaner on it with a lens cloth once a week or so.

Can I clean it to much if I do it correctly? Does dust and spots cause problem with the images?

I just do not want to over clean it and ruuin it ---

Thanks for your comments -- Jimmy

[RTMiller]

You can't hurt the lens if you clean it correctly. The problem is that you only have to clean it incorrectly ONCE and then you've scratched the front element. All it takes is a grain of sand on your cleaning cloth and you could scratch it all up. I always put a UV filter on all my lenses. Then I don't feel so bad, mentally or financially, when I clean it incorrectly that one time.

A little dust on the front element will not effect your picture too much. But if you have dust on the other end of the lens, the end closest to the sensor, you will probably notice it in your picture.

[SkipD]

Jimmy - for many, many moons I have blown off excessive dust with a squeeze blower. If there is any additional cleaning needed, I use a fresh lens tissue and a little lens cleaning fluid. Follow these rules that I have always used and you will never have any problems:

Always use a new piece of lens tissue. It usually comes in an envelope to keep the supply clean.

Make sure that you don't touch the surface(s) of the lens tissue that touch the lens. If you do, you will transfer you body oils to the lens.

Make sure the tissue is damp with fluid every time it touches the lens except for a final drying pass. This will lubricate the surface and pick up dust and other contaminants better.

Make sure that you never wipe the lens twice with the same piece of lens tissue. Re-fold it for each pass so that you don't pick up contaminants on one pass and put them back on the lens during the next pass.

If you insist on using other cleaning tools, think about the one-pass rule above. I would never, for example, use a cloth wiper more than once on a lens. I would NEVER use a lenspen or something similar that touches the lens with the same surface time and time again.

You don't have to keep the lens perfectly clean, but remember that if you are shooting into a strong light source (even if it isn't quite in your subject area), dust on the lens could contribute to flare. 99% of your cleaning should be only blowing dust off. If you use a good lens hood all the time, you should almost never wind up with fingerprints, etc., on the lens.

I never, by the way, use any filters except for creative purposes. Lens hoods provide all the protection that I have needed for four decades of photography.

[ttmatsu]

Microfiber cloth available at any optometrist or optical shop. Works great even if you get smudges or fingerprints on your lens. I have not had to use cleaning fluid since switching to microfiber from lens tissue. Most dust can just be blown off. Spots/dust can cause light defraction but usually has no impact on picture quality.

Skip must not allow any of his family to touch his camera/lens. I can't tell you how many fingerprints I've cleaned off because someone (OK, me included) fumbled with the lens cap - especially if there is a hood on. Why Canon goes with the squeeze tabs on the outside rim of the cap instead of using a center squeeze is beyond me. Nikon's and Tamron's center squeeze caps are great.

On my expensive lenses, I use Hoya S-HMC UV filters. I spend $50 (2filters.com) to add on to a $1200 lens. I've conducted numerous tests to compare with and without the filter checking for optical quality along with color/contrast changes and haven't detected any. If you are worried, why not just spend the $50 for peace of mind? The threads seem to agree that a high quality multi-coated Heliopan, B+W, or Hoya filter will have no impact on picture quality or camera settings. The only reason to go "bare" is if you believe that the filter will impact your picture quality. Cheap filters will, quality multi-coated ones won't. Do you "need" a filter to protect your lens? Probably not. In almost 40 years of driving, I've never "needed" my seat belt but I always put it on.