Suggestions & Recommendations on Cleaning your camera Lens correctly?

[PerfectPicture]

Hi All,

What are people's Suggestions & Recommendations on Cleaning your camera Lens correctly?

What do you currently use?

And what would you recommend?

Is the old warm breathe on the lens or Filter and clean with micro-fiber cloth a recommended practice?

What's best way to clean Filters : UV Filters, Polarisers, slot-in, etc

Maybe we can all pickup good habits :)

[ricktas]

I use a microfibre cloth and nothing else mostly. If a lens or filter is particulary grubby, I use a lens cleaning fluid and a pec-pad.

[Lance B]

Lens Pen works brilliantly. I also use a good quality microfibre cloth sometimes and may be some cleaning fluid.

[kiwi]

You clean your lenses ?

[PerfectPicture]

Thanks guys for your response.

Yeah same here, l use the Lens Pen soft brush to clean the extra debris and partials you can see off the filter or lens.

By the way , all my lenses have a Hoya Pro1D 1mm UV Filter attached for extra protection and peace of mind :)

Then on the filter if still smudgy, just simply warm breathe and a clean Micro-fiber cloth to clean the smudges on the filter.

and YES Darren l do clean my Lenses??? not sure what's that comment about? (Maybe from the sensor clean thread, saying l only had to clean my sensor ONCE!? hmmm.)

Rick - what lens cleaning kit or products did you get? and from where, thanks.

[nhoj]

Best to use a blower first in case there is some small grit on the lens. Don't want to rub that in with a cloth.

[I @ M]

My preferred option (http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploads17/High+Pressure+Washer1273090164.jpg), less time taken between shoots.

[gerry]

what lens cleaning kit or products did you get? and from where, thanks.

Try the Giotto lens cleaning fluid with a good quality mircofibre cloth, the giotto lens fluid I find is quite good and wipes off streak free, much better than others I have tried like the kodak one for example.

Realistically, the only time I clean the lens in teh field is when a filter has gotten spray or moisture on it, minor bits of dust and stuff will have virtually no effect on the image quality. I often give the filters and lens a good clean after a seascape session - as mentioned by someone else, rocket blower then a pecpad with a few drops of lens fluid on it works fine.


My preferred option, less time taken between shoots.

:confused013

[Kym]

Check the Library... Camera and Lens Care

[arthurking83]

My preferred option (http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploads17/High+Pressure+Washer1273090164.jpg), less time taken between shoots.

That's my preferred sensor cleaning method, for lenses I prefer to use either HCl or HF.

HF is not recommended for Canon L lenses tho, unless you want to watch the fluorite compounds dissolve into a puff of noxious vapours(bet you're regretting no getting into Nikon and their ED and N glass now! :p)
I won't use HF on my sensor tho as it works as a very strong dissolving agent against metal oxide compounds(which some sensors(or filters on the sensors, are coated with). So, distilled water in that mega Gerni(link) is recommended.

:D

real world solution: any and all of the already mentioned practises.... and sometimes using a wider aperture instead of stopping down too far.

[Bercy]

I was getting soft foggy pictures, at a children's birthday party shoot. Wondered what was going on - sunscreen!! Well that's an interesting UV filter. Yes you do have to keep your lenses crystal clear to get crystal clear shots. I'm not terribly OCD in that department! :D