Lens cleaning?

This weekend while my family and I were at the Pumpkin Patch, there were plenty of photo ops. Moms and Dads snapping away. I noticed this Dad with a Nikon DSLR. I actually saw him look at the lens and then proceeded to pull his tshirt out and started wiping away. I was stunned. He probably loves the camera but wonders why his images are soft.

I don't touch my lens until it really needs it.

I've used the micro fiber lens cloths that are sold at most camera shops. They work for a little while until they pick up grease from my hands. I use lens cleaning solution on the cloth and then gently wipe the lens in a circular motion.

The problem is that unless the cloth is brand new it just smears the lens and to my eyes looks worse than the fingerprint I was attempting to remove..

I wear glasses and buy those individualy packaged cleaning towletts from the store that I purchase my glasses. They seem to have a very low alcohol/moisture content. Just enough to clean your glasses and then they dry out if left on the counter for more than 15 minutes. They are very handy and an easier solution to eye glass cleaning.

Here's my point...
I took out an old cheap lens that had a few smudges on it. I used the eye glasses towletts. It took only a few seconds and it came out perfectly clean and smudge free. It looks as clean as the day I bought it.

Would this type of towlett cause damage over time to a lens?

Or could I have accidentally found the best solution for lens cleaning?

Continue to use the micro-fiber cloths. The lens cleaning tissues are too "rough" for fine lenses.

I would also stick with microfiber cloths. I always assumes that the tissues were best suited for glasses, which are usually some form of composite plastic (all of mine have been, at least). My preference might be just a purely psychological/ tactile thing, soft cloth vs. somewhat rigid tissue.

I liberally use a Giottos Rocket Blower, blower brush and a microfiber cloth for the most part. For stubborn smudges I use a lens pens occaissionally and then wipe off residue with a microfiber cloth. I haven't had to use anything else in well over 18 mos (knock on wood).

I'm also a fan of microfibe cloths but I must confess that I rarely reuse them. They are pretty cheap so I buy one and cut it up into smaller swabs, use it and throw it away. Most lenses use a quite hard glass to be honest and wont scratch as easily as you would think, but using tissues or other harsh fibres may over time affect the coatings on the glass.

I've known people who just used their T-shirt for decades and have done no damage to their glass, but I also knew someone whom had a 2 month old 500mm prime who was out in the field and used his shirt for a on-the-spot quick clean. There must have been some sand or something in/on his shirt though as his new pride and joy had lots of circular scratches afterwards.

maybe this guy had a cheap filter such as a polarizer just to protect the glass on the lens but didnt care about the polarizer!?!?!

Anyways I would recommend a filter of such to protect the lense, and reduce the need to clean the expensiveness.

No, there was no cheap filter. He and I are both against cheap filters and prefer to get every bit of IQ our glass has to offer. IMHO cheap filters have no place but the rubbish bin, a hood offers far more protection and doesn't degrade anything optically. If you must use a filter for it's affect, I would only suggest using the very best filters and these are not cheap.

I'm always amazed at people that buy fantastic lenses and then put a el-cheapo filter in-front of it.

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).

sjafari wrote in post #2137999
I would also stick with microfiber cloths. I always assumes that the tissues were best suited for glasses, which are usually some form of composite plastic (all of mine have been, at least). My preference might be just a purely psychological/ tactile thing, soft cloth vs. somewhat rigid tissue.

Sounds reasonable. Could it be that I'm using a cheaper lens cleaning solution with my micro fiber cloths. Maybe it doesn't have enough alcohol and it's not cutting the grease in the smudges? Any suggestions?

I use clinical grade (99% pure) Isopropyl alcohol, some of those lens cleaners have quite a fair amount of water in them. Even medical grade alcohol isn't that high, try an electronics store for the higher grades, you will most likely find it's cheaper there also.

Mitcon wrote in post #2139858
I use clinical grade (99% pure) Isopropyl alcohol, some of those lens cleaners have quite a fair amount of water in them. Even medical grade alcohol isn't that high, try an electronics store for the higher grades, you will most likely find it's cheaper there also.

I just checked mine
75% Distilled water
20% ethyl-alcohol
5% oxhydrogen

No wonder it won't clean my lens.
I'll look for the good stuff now that I know.
Thanks!

pec pad + eclipse?

It's horribly dusty here in Big Ag Central Valley, --lenses sometimes get dusty under the filter, the filter gets dusty under the lens cap, and after a bit of use is bound to be thoroughly coated with dust and plant parts.

One thing about a filter --you can take it off the camera and wash it. Yes, wash it. Hold it under a gently running stream of room-temperature water to get the dust off. Then finish up with a squirt of rubbing alcohol (isopropyl --but be sure to get the cheap kind that doesn't have scent or slime added) and air-dry thoroughly. Wiping the water off the threads will speed up the drying. You can even use dishwashing detergent on the filter. Any tinting is sandwiched by glass, or that's what Tiffen says.

I did a series of test shots with Tiffen haze, UV and ultra-clear filters and (daringly) one with the naked lens and didn't find any difference to speak of between any of the resulting pictures in color or exposure with the EOS 10D --so little that I've wondered if it's somehow compensating. Natural light but unchanging under a typical summer cloudless sky; perhaps shots of a color chart would have shown differences that weren't apparent in the landscapes.

The circular polarizer cuts down the light something fierce, which I suppose is partly the point if shooting into glare.