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How do you guys clean the lens?
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 27, 2007 11:47 am    Post subject: How do you guys clean the lens? Reply with quote

Hello all,

40 years of grime...
How do you guys clean the lens exterior?
Also how do you clean the glasses? Do you use normal lens cleaning liquid?

cheers
Ed


PostPosted: Tue Nov 27, 2007 11:55 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Eclipse and pec*pad


PostPosted: Tue Nov 27, 2007 11:55 am    Post subject: Re: How do you guys clean the lens? Reply with quote

esrods wrote:
Hello all,

40 years of grime...
How do you guys clean the lens exterior?
Also how do you clean the glasses? Do you use normal lens cleaning liquid?

cheers
Ed


Hi Ed!

I use normal glass cleaner and a piece of soft microfiber fabric. It works fine for me.
Best regards,
Jes.


PostPosted: Tue Nov 27, 2007 11:59 am    Post subject: Re: How do you guys clean the lens? Reply with quote

esrods wrote:
...how do you clean the glasses?


Very carefully!

OK, all jokes aside. I first use a lens blower, then a soft natural lens brush. The remaining spots I try to analyse: are these just some kind of fingerprints or perhaps even some harder particles?
For the prints I use Eclipse liquid and for particles I blow and brush and blow and brush etc.
If they still remain, I check if they influence the picture - if not, I leave them there.

If you want to remove some kind of grease, it's harder. Sometime Eclipse, sometimes cleaning fluid for contact lenses can do the trick, but I would really test that before doing it...


PostPosted: Tue Nov 27, 2007 12:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I don't clean often my lenses, but I use an air blower most of the time.

I had great succes for cleaning dirty old lenses with warm water and soap.


PostPosted: Tue Nov 27, 2007 3:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

My lens cleaning solution is...

Per 500ml of water,
Five drops of dish detergent
Five drops of bleach

I fill a squeezy bottle with this and squirt it onto a lens cleaning tissue / cotton bud / hands as required. Makes a great hand degreaser too.


PostPosted: Tue Nov 27, 2007 4:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I use three different fluids, sometimes alone, sometimes in a sequence.
Plus Bril optical cleaning sheets.

I have found out that not all coatings react the same way to the same cleaning fluids.
Some surfaces are best cleaned by one, some others by another one.

I use:

- Eclipse fluid (should be a kind of alcohol)
- Isopropyl alcohol 99% pure
- Zeiss cleaning fluid

Generally I find that the glasses that are best cleaned with Eclipse, are not cleaned well by Isopropyl, and the other way around.
In some cases, neither works.
When neither works, I generally make one pass of Zeiss cleaning fluid following Zeiss instructions.
This generally leaves the lens in excellent condition, and with a protective film. If I am able to spread the Zeiss fluid well, I leave it that way, because it will be the best protection for the glass. If instead I can see traces of the fluid, I remove them using Isopropyl first (which removes the fluid) and, if needed, Eclipse as final stage, which removes the Isopropyl remains.

If nothing of the above works, then I use one Bril sheet - and this always solve the problem. I keep it as extreme ratio though, because I am not 100% sure that it's harmless on coating. But it's surely the most effective solutions. Thanks to Attila I bought 5 packs of Bril sheets - they are easy to find in Hungary, very difficult here.

-


PostPosted: Wed Nov 28, 2007 11:12 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks guys.
Always very helpful.
Finger marks on MC glasses/filters are shocker to clean.

I will start with Eclipse fluid and Iso alcohol.

Cheers
Ed


PostPosted: Wed Nov 28, 2007 11:42 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Filters are a lot more difficult to clean than front glasses, for whatever reason. Have no idea why, but that's my personal experience.


PostPosted: Wed Nov 28, 2007 11:43 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I've heard it's because of the coating - different from lenses ones - that make them so sticky to oil and dust...


PostPosted: Wed Nov 28, 2007 1:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Orio wrote:
Filters are a lot more difficult to clean than front glasses, for whatever reason. Have no idea why, but that's my personal experience.


I share this impressions, and I do not know the reason, either...


PostPosted: Wed Nov 28, 2007 2:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

LucisPictor wrote:
Orio wrote:
Filters are a lot more difficult to clean than front glasses, for whatever reason. Have no idea why, but that's my personal experience.


I share this impressions, and I do not know the reason, either...


Me neither Confused

For lenses - I find 99% of the time, hot breath and a microfibre cloth is enough, but for filters...

I wonder whether my love of chilli and garlic keeps the fungus away? Laughing


PostPosted: Wed Nov 28, 2007 4:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hot breath can be dangerous you supply fungus with food from your breath.One of the worst idea.


PostPosted: Wed Nov 28, 2007 4:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Attila wrote:
Hot breath can be dangerous you supply fungus with food from your breath.One of the worst idea.


I've not heard that - thanks for the warning...

Touch wood, I'm still a fungus virgin...


PostPosted: Wed Nov 28, 2007 4:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

To get fungus need next things.

- food available in air , breath can accelerate process
- darkness
- humid air above 55%
If you have dry environment you don't need to worry about at all, if humidity over on 55% for 10-14 days first spots are comes like oily spots. To develop good visible fungus take months or years. So not easy job to produce fungus especially for selling ....


Laughing


PostPosted: Tue Dec 11, 2007 9:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

For fingerprints and other oily marks, I use an old-fashioned remedy - lampblack, which is pure amorphous carbon. I got some pure lampblack from a chemical supply house and use a fuzzed-up cotton swab to apply it to the lens. Just enough to darken the tip of the swab is enough. The stuff sucks up oil and film residue off a lens or filter like a sponge. Then a flick of a soft artists brush or a puff of air will knock off any particles clinging to the glass. It's like a home-made lens pen. One caution - the stuff is very messy if it escapes the container - it's a very fine black powder and will get into everything if you let it.


PostPosted: Wed Dec 12, 2007 6:22 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

For a really deep clean there is a product called "Opticlean" by a company named Caliope - see it here:

http://www.caliope.co.uk/

I have used it and it is remarkable, but labour intensive. Glass seems like new afterwards. Does not seem to affect the coatings, but I have mainly done nikkors and Vivs


patrickh


PostPosted: Wed Dec 12, 2007 10:48 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

This morning I had another great succes in removing huge fingerprints on a MC Jupiter-37AM :

- air blow, gently brush, airblow, gently brush in order to remove most of the particules without scratching the glass
- hot tap water on small part of uncolored & unperfumed toilet paper; must not be flooded in order to not let any water goes into the lens Wink
- put a very tiny amout of a dish soap drop on tip of the wet paper
- clean very gently the lens
- with another hot wet toilet paper, rinse gently left soap
- remove any water left with another toilet paper
- if any marks are lefts, remove them with your breath mist and another toilet paper
- finaly remove any paper dust with air blower


PostPosted: Wed Dec 12, 2007 10:58 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

patrickh wrote:
For a really deep clean there is a product called "Opticlean" by a company named Caliope - see it here:

http://www.caliope.co.uk/

I have used it and it is remarkable, but labour intensive. Glass seems like new afterwards. Does not seem to affect the coatings, but I have mainly done nikkors and Vivs

There is someone who does the same thing with non optical dedicated product called Discofilm (from Germany) - used to clean vinyl records :

http://www.sensor-film.com/cleaning.html

Look at this video where he cleans a 5D sensor !

I would like to try on dismantled lenses but no Discofilm here...


PostPosted: Thu Dec 13, 2007 10:28 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

patrickh wrote:
For a really deep clean there is a product called "Opticlean" by a company named Caliope - see it here:

http://www.caliope.co.uk/

I have used it and it is remarkable, but labour intensive. Glass seems like new afterwards. Does not seem to affect the coatings, but I have mainly done nikkors and Vivs


patrickh


Opticlean seems to work well, but it is pretty pricey stuff. Similar results are possible with collodion U.S.P., not the flexible medical variety. I have experimented with it. It would be useful for removing heavy soil from a lens, but it must be used outdoors since it contains some nasty volatile chemicals like ether.


PostPosted: Thu Dec 13, 2007 10:44 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Opticlean is obsolete for today's lenses, read what they say, "do not use on plastic lenses!"
http://www.caliope.co.uk/caution.htm
Twisted Evil Twisted Evil Twisted Evil


PostPosted: Thu Dec 13, 2007 5:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I suspect it would actually melt the lenses or at least rip them right out of their mounts.


patrickh


PostPosted: Thu Dec 13, 2007 5:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

patrickh wrote:
I suspect it would actually melt the lenses or at least rip them right out of their mounts.

Or melt the mount also :



Rolling Eyes