Microfiber cloths

Just curious what microfiber cloths you use to clean your lenses. I have bought cloths that were of varying quality. Anything out there anyone can recommend? I wouldn't mind giving my 800L a good once-over!

birder_herper wrote in post #19337789
Just curious what microfiber cloths you use to clean your lenses. I hav bought cloths that were of varying quality. Anything out there anyone can recommend? I wouldn't mind giving my 800L a good once-over!

The ones I have are NOT lint free. I use Zeiss pre wetted towelettes. While I’ve never had a problem, I have heard they can damage lens coatings. Don’t know if that is true or not.

Terry McDaniel wrote in post #19337813
The ones I have are NOT lint free. I use Zeiss pre wetted towelettes. While I’ve never had a problem, I have heard they can damage lens coatings. Don’t know if that is true or not.

One one time years ago, one Zeiss business offered wet optical wipes for optometric use, but not necessarily for photographic optics.

[Second edit: found this post from old thread]
There is a 2009 thread on POTN about streaking with Zeiss wipes, and he reported that Zeiss replied:

"Dear XXXX,
" The product you refer to is sold by the Carl Zeiss Vision division and is intended for use on eyeglasses and not multi-coated camera lenses. I have forwarded your message to them for follow-up.
" The Carl Zeiss Camera Lens Division has a line of lens cleaning products which can be purchased through any of our authorized dealers. These include a lens cleaning fluid in a pump spray bottle, pre-moistened lens cleaning cloths and microfiber cloths. I have attached a list of these dealers for your reference. Alternatively, you can use any quality lens cleaning products that are designed for camera lenses."

I believe Zeiss has since gotten its act together so that the wet wipes can be use for photographic coated optics, as well as for glasses. But I have not really investigated.

[INDENT][edit added] There are MSDS on file for the following Zeiss products

1. a Zeiss lens cleaning fluid, that is water amd 4-5% isoproply alcohol
   
2. and separately there is a 2008 MSDS sheet for Zeiss Camera Lens Cleaning Wipe, that is 30-60% ethanol and 5-10% propanol2
   
3. and Zeiss Lens Cleaner Towelette that is 25% isopropyl alcohol
   
4. and separately there is a 2004 MSDS for Zeiss Lens Cleaning Wipe that is

   
   

   • Water
     
   • Propan-2-ol
     
   • Ethanol
     
   • 5-CHLORO-2-METHYL-2H-ISOTHIAZOL-3-ON
     
   • 2-METHYL-2H-ISOTHIAZOL-3-ON
     

   
   
   And now I find yet another MSDS from a Zeiss lens cleaning wipe filed in 2020
   

   • BUTOXYDIGLYCOL
     
   • DIMETHYLOL GLYCOL
     
   • GLUTARAL
     
   • METHYLCHLOROISOTHIAZOL​INONE AND METHYLISOTHIAZOLINONE
     

birder_herper wrote in post #19337789
Just curious what microfiber cloths you use to clean your lenses. I have bought cloths that were of varying quality. Anything out there anyone can recommend? I wouldn't mind giving my 800L a good once-over!

I have used Pec Pads for years along with three drops of a quality cleaner like Eclipse Optics Cleaner. I first blow off any loose dust with a Rocket Air Blaster and then use a Lens Pen brush for any stubborn materials. That's followed with the moistened Pec Pad and finally a dry Pec Pad.
Don't skimp by not using purpose made, quality products when cleaning your expensive lenses.

I got a couple of nice cloths from Declan. They’re not totally lint free but close enough, and a nice tight weave so they don’t pill up, etc.

Waaay back, Modern Photography published a test report of Japanese microfiber cloths (at the time, only available in Japan) marketed for photographic purposes, comparing it to cotton, Kodak lens tissue, and a few other things used by photographers. They looked microscopically at abrasion to lens coatings by the various material. Microfiber was even less damaging than the best previously..Kodak lens tissue.

I found a pro store that sold a photographic microfiber cloth before microfiber was sold almost everywhere (household cleaning, automotive polishing). I still have them, marketed by Schneider under the brand PhotoClear, which has a hard finish, unlike the fuzzy automotive microfiber. I throw them into the washing maching and dryer from time to time. I use the fuzzy automotive cloths for washing both automotive and home windows and other glass (china case, crystal chandelier) as the finishing wipe, as paper towels leave so much lint. They go in the washer and dryer, too. I have not noticed an increased tendency to leave lint after multiple cycles thru washer/dryer.

The microfiber cloth offered by Adorama, the MicroDear, is the one which Herb Keppler the editor of Modern Photography magazine, wrote about before they were imported to the USA from Japan years later.

birder_herper wrote in post #19337789
.
Just curious what microfiber cloths you use to clean your lenses. I have bought cloths that were of varying quality. Anything out there anyone can recommend? I wouldn't mind giving my 800L a good once-over!
.

.
Dollar Tree has a pack of 4 that, of course, is just a buck.* . I buy a 4 pack and it lasts for 3 or 4 years. . I use them frequently to wipe dust off of my bodies and lens elements.


* I just looked them up, and, sadly, they are now $1.25, and come in a 2 pack instead of a 4 pack. . So a price increase of 250% over just the past year. . Shameful.


.

I wonder when they will rename themselves to Buck & Quarter Tree, or maybe Five Bits Tree ?!

Wilt wrote in post #19338234
One one time years ago, one Zeiss business offered wet optical wipes for optometric use, but not necessarily for photographic optics.

[Second edit: found this post from old thread]
There is a 2009 thread on POTN about streaking with Zeiss wipes, and he reported that Zeiss replied:

"Dear XXXX,
" The product you refer to is sold by the Carl Zeiss Vision division and is intended for use on eyeglasses and not multi-coated camera lenses. I have forwarded your message to them for follow-up.
" The Carl Zeiss Camera Lens Division has a line of lens cleaning products which can be purchased through any of our authorized dealers. These include a lens cleaning fluid in a pump spray bottle, pre-moistened lens cleaning cloths and microfiber cloths. I have attached a list of these dealers for your reference. Alternatively, you can use any quality lens cleaning products that are designed for camera lenses."

I just wrote to Zeiss, theoretically to the Photographic Optics part of the business to inquire about the current officially endorsed Zeiss lens cleaning product suitable for CAMERA LENSES. What I got was the same thing that the general Optical products web site provides, and nothing more

"Thanks for your inquiry and your interest in our products.
Our ZEISS Consumer Products Division offer the following lens cleaning products:

https://www.zeiss.com …es/cleaning-products.html

All of them are safe and perfectly suited for all kinds of outer optical surfaces (e.g. of camera lenses, binoculars, filters, eyeglasses...). When used carefully according to the instructions, it is impossible to damage the coating or the material of the products mentioned above.

For further details, please do not hesitate to contact us!"

IOW, they do not appear to care that there is chemical content other than forms of alcohol in any of their products! Even though they still market Zeiss cleaning wipes specifically for Camera, Binoculars, and Scopes (which are not mentioned in the link contained in the reply!)