Lens cleaning question

Sorry, i have no idea where to post this, but a buddy of mine says he uses 100% Denatured Alchohol and a Q-tip to clean his lenses. Has anyone ever heard of this? My first thought was that it might take off some of the coatings on the glass.

why not just a lens cleaner and a microfiber like everyone else?

Quality lens tissue (such as that sold by Kodak), a good lens cleaning fluid, and PROPER TECHNIQUE is the way that I have cleaned my lenses for decades. What is "proper technique"?

First - the goal is to clean the lens (or filter - I would use the very same process) without grinding any dirt/debris into the lens. To me, this absolutely dictates single-use surfaces for anything that touches the lens. That's why I use lens tissues instead of a washable cloth or - particularly - something like a lens pen.

Here are the steps that I use to clean a lens:

1. Use a squeeze-bulb blower to blow any loose dust off the lens. 90% of the time, step #1 is all that is necessary.

2. Take a lens tissue out of the pack. Fold it once, holding only what was the ends of the tissue. You want to be extremely careful to NEVER TOUCH the areas of the lens tissue that will be touching the lens. This will avoid transferring oils from your fingers to the lens.

3. Moisten the folded portion of the lens tissue with a little lens cleaner. You don't want the tissue dripping wet, but it must be damp.

CAUTION: NEVER apply lens cleaner directly to the lens (though it won’t hurt a filter, you don’t want liquid leaking into the lens’ innards).

4. Wipe LIGHTLY across the lens ONCE with the damp tissue. Then either turn it over or fold it so that you can wipe again, but with an unused surface. You can do this as often as needed, as long as you never wipe the lens twice with any surface of the tissue. This prevents scratches. Again, make sure you never touch an area of the tissue that will touch the lens.

5. Ensuring that the lens is actually clean, use a dry tissue, handled the same way as above, to wipe the lens dry. Since you have already removed the dirt, there's no risk of scratching the lens with the dry tissue.

6. Dispose of the used lens tissues in a proper trash receptacle.

That's it in a nutshell. Simple and effective. I've been cleaning my lenses this way for over 40 years, and all of them have pristine glass (and none have ever worn "protective" filters).

Fantastic advice there Skip, too many people forget about the blow the lose dust off first. Last thing you want is to rub around a bit of sand lol.

I myself do pretty much the same as Skip but I use 99% or higher grade Isopropyl alcohol and a micro fibre cloth, though I cut mine up into smallish wipes and use them once. Only other thing is I always wipe in a circular motion working from the inside outwards. It's not often I really need to clean my glass as I always have a hood on and find that a quick blow with the squeeze bulb is normally all I need.

I use Kodak lens cleaner and Kodak lens cleaning tissues after first blowing any loose crud off my lens with a squeeze bulb blower.

I use a microfibeer cloth.
should i use cleaner or not. i dont really notice a difference

Mitcon wrote in post #1977802
Fantastic advice there Skip, too many people forget about the blow the lose dust off first. Last thing you want is to rub around a bit of sand lol.

I myself do pretty much the same as Skip but I use 99% or higher grade Isopropyl alcohol and a micro fibre cloth, though I cut mine up into smallish wipes and use them once. Only other thing is I always wipe in a circular motion working from the inside outwards. It's not often I really need to clean my glass as I always have a hood on and find that a quick blow with the squeeze bulb is normally all I need.

Thank you very much Mitcon, you answered my question.

Tee Why wrote in post #1977060
why not just a lens cleaner and a microfiber like everyone else?

Becuase i've found through experience than mainstream isn't always the best way. But either way, i was simply curious about his cleaning method. Sounded fishy, but this guy is the smartest thing since talking monkeys.

What do you mean you always have a hood on?

Troy

TRK wrote in post #2023374
What do you mean you always have a hood on?

Troy

shooting with a hood!