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[OM] Re: cleaning lens glass

Subject: [OM] Re: cleaning lens glass
From: Garth Wood <garth@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 06 May 2004 17:39:06 -0600
On Thu, 6 May 2004 jking@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

> > What do you think is the *best* way to clean grease and general grime that
> > a soft brush will not remove from the glass of lenses and filters.
> > I have tried the usual bottle of lens cleaning solution only to find it
> > leaves streaks


Start low-impact.  I'm going to spout heresy for a second, but I don't care.

Start by using toilet paper or facial tissue that is *not* impregnated with 
hand lotion or moisturizer of any kind (here in North America, we have 
several brands that have lotion-impregnated options; my Mom can never 
understand why her glasses are so greasy all the time after she cleans 'em 
with these products...  ;-)  ).

Properly (and sparingly) used, toilet paper or its ilk WILL NOT scratch the 
surface of your lens or the coatings.  It is highly absorbent, and does 
have just enough "tooth" to it to remove gunk.  Use your breath to fog the 
lens, and try several attempts with toilet paper.  DO NOT move to more 
"aggressive" solvents until you've given this a try.  I've given up on much 
more expensive (and not readily available) products such as lint-free 
"optical" cloths, which aren't particularly absorbent or able to trap gunk, 
and seem to just smear the stuff around on the lens.  Anybody wanna buy 
some PEC pads off of me?  Hell, I'll even give 'em away -- that's how 
worthless I think they are, though I paid a pretty penny for these 
"optical, lint-free" cloths.

I just used this method (toilet paper) today, on the front objective of my 
Minolta DiMAGE A1, to clean off some accumulated gunk from a recent 
vacation.  Worked wonders -- though it leaves a lot of little bits 
behind.  You'll have to remove those with canned air.  Crystal clean now, 
and sealed behind a filter.  Shouldn't need to clean it again for, oh, a 
year or so.

I've tried microfiber alternatives, too.  Microfibres are *highly* 
overrated, in my not-so-humble opinion.  The beauty of toilet paper is its 
available in every hotel room across most of the civilized world, and in 
many public restrooms, too.

By the by, an editor of a well-known photography magazine also recommended 
toilet paper a few years ago, to the howls of outrage from many long-time 
readers.  That suggestion saved me about six hundred dollars when I had to 
rescue a bunch of 55mm filters that had just started showing fungal 
bloom.  Used Windex and toilet paper -- they're all pristine now.


Garth 


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