Zeiss cleaning kit

Orio · Expire: 2012-12-04

I had the chance of buying a Zeiss cleaning kit for a small price compared to buying from zeiss directly.

I have tested it on a smeared Jupiter-21 and I have to say, it works great.

It seems a completely different liquid from the Eclipse. The Eclipse look like pure methanol or very close. It is a very "dry" liquid and evaporates almost instantly. It is used with drops. The Zeiss liquid is used sprayed on a tissue. It smells, and feels, completely different. It smells a bit like the beauty creams of our ladies. And in fact, it also feels like a cream when spread on the glass. I thought "oh my Gawd, and now? How do I clean the mess?". But then I followed Zeiss instructions, to clean the glass with a dry cloth, and surprise - the liquid was removed without leaving any smear, and the glass surface was impeccably cleaned.

Of course I have to test it on other glass surfaces. To my experience, the Russian glass behaves completely different frmo other glasses with regards to cleaning stuff.
But one thing I noticed about the Eclipse, it works perfect in most cases (I'd say 90%), but with those few lenses it does not seem to like, it is almost useless because it does not evaporate and leaves small droplets wich if not removed turn into blots. This happens rarely, but has already happened more than once. Evidently not all lean coatings are the same, and some do not like much the Eclipse methanol.

I will report more about the Zeiss after I have tried it on different lenses.

bob955i · Joined: 15 Apr 2007 Posts: 2495

By the way Orio, apparently there's now two different types of Eclipse fluid - the original, and now a type 2 for the indium coated sensor on our 5Ds.

There's some lore going around that the original Eclipse fluid may damage the anti-static indium coating used on the 5D and 400D sensors - I've seen images of alleged damage to sensors using Pec-pads and Eclipse but to be honest, the marks look very like over-enthusiastic scrubbing by a very heavy finger to me.

Orio · Expire: 2012-12-04

I will never clean my sensors home. Either the pump will do, or a trip to the service. Shocked

there's too much to lose by doing it yourself.
I use the eclipse for the lenses only. It is very helpful. Unfortunately, my supply is ending fast.
I wish I bought the big bottle. Now that it's not sold anymore from that site, I don't know where to get it from.

bob955i · Joined: 15 Apr 2007 Posts: 2495

There's nothing to fear about cleaning the sensor yourself if you use the proper tools and cleaning liquids.

I use the aforementioned Eclipse in conjunction with a swab designed for sensor cleaning - the construction of the swab means that you can never exert excessive pressure and scratch anything as it literally bends.

That and only cleaning the sensor when absolutely necessary, also helps to keep any possible damage to a minimum.

Chances are that the service shop that you take your camera to, may well use a similar method to that what I've described above.

peterqd · Expire: 2014-01-04

Orio · Expire: 2012-12-04

Thank you Peter.

peterqd · Expire: 2014-01-04

Orio · Expire: 2012-12-04

Orio · Expire: 2012-12-04

Today I received a Leica Pradovit Color 250 slide projector - bought used from Ebay of course - a massive all-metal (!) all-manual (no autofocus) projector which dates from the 70s.
15 kilos of stuff!

The seller described it as "unexceptionable". But when I looked at the lens (the mythical Colorplan 90/2.5), I found it to be full of strange signs on the front lens. I creeped out. Could it be fungus? But a magnifying lens exam proved it was not. Yet, I could not clean it with the Isopropanol. And I could not clean it with the Eclipse (methanol) either.
I was already cursing at the seller, when I had the idea of trying the Zeiss cleaning Fluid on it. I was not believeing it could really do anything, because I was convinced that whatever it was, it was on the inside, as none of the two powerful alcohols could clean it.
I applied the Zeiss fluid on the pecpad as described, and operated as described. After the second pass with the clean side of the pad, I looked at the lens and whoa... everything was gone!
I really recommend this tool. When you have dirt on the lens, that your alcohols can not remove, give the Zeiss fluid a try before trashing your lens or return it to the seller. You may have a pleasant surprise!