I keep a UV filter on all my Nikkor manual focus lenses. I'd rather mess up a filter than the front element of a lens.
I keep a UV filter on all my Nikkor manual focus lenses. I'd rather mess up a filter than the front element of a lens.
I think your problem is that your cloths are full of grease (from cleaning the lenses). The cleaners emulsify grease, you need something clean to soak it up and wipe it away. Try kim-wipes (pretty cheap on Amazon, used in labs for cleaning lenses). Using ROR I am able to get very clean glass at all angles. 91% isopropyl is difficult because it dries off so quickly that it is hard to sop up the emulsified grease.
Those thin microfiber cloths are garbage while heavyweight work well. I've yet to see a lens I couldn't clean with a heavyweight microfiber cloth.Microfiber cloth is a thing of the past for me now.
Those thin microfiber cloths are garbage while heavyweight work well. I've yet to see a lens I couldn't clean with a heavyweight microfiber cloth.
I am concerned Acetone cleaner will strip away coatings, so keep it off your lens's surface glass, and especially the black paint on most lens sides.
What am I doing wrong?
I've read that many papers will scratch lenses like toilet paper. The fibers left from woods are no good. You're better off using a clean soft cotton T shirt or handkerchief. Of course the best I've found is lens microfiber cleaner cloths. They work great on camera lens and eyeglasses. Combined with a good lens cleaner like from Zeiss, they really sparkle. Check the back of the lens if you haven't in a long time. Dirt there is actually worse than in the front because it's so close to the film or sensor. Marks on the front of the lens tend to get washed away due to the properties of lens as the light passes through them.What you're doing wrong is being obsessive. The mamiya lens is already perfect enough for shooting, those streaks won't do ANY effect on the picture. ANY.
ANY.
ANY.
Plus you might scratch the lens coatings if you're trying to clean it too much. Leave that 180/4.5 Super alone!!
But since you don't want streaks, i'll tell you where you are failing:
1. Cloth. Don't use cloth for cleaning lenses! Use lens tissue. Even smooth toilet paper will work better than cloth!
2. Cleaning fluid -- i get best success with glass cleaner. It is specifically designed not to leave any streaks, you know...
I spray on the microfiber cloth and shake it beforehand. I wash them occasionally by hand. Why do you need to breathe on the lens after cleaning it? Doesn;t the tissue and cleaner get them clean for you? It seems like an extra unnecessary step. I use the breath and handkerchief as last last minute cleanups right before shooting if I notice some dirt and don't have the lens cleaner and cloth handy..I use Zeiss lens cleaning spray and lens cleaning tissues, I don't use microfibre cloths, because you don't know if they are absolutely clean. I spray one spray onto a tissue and apply it gently to the lens surface in horizontal strokes then disregard the tissue, get a second new tissue and gently wipe the lens surface with it to remove the spray then subsequently breathing on the lens surface using new tissues until the lens is clean
I've read that many papers will scratch lenses like toilet paper.
Use soft cloth or lens tissues with lens cleaners. All paper even tissue paper scratches lenses, the exception is lens tissues.
Boy, my toilet paper is really premium quality! I haven't scratched any lens yet (due to the paper). In any case I always have the paper wet, never completely dry. But it can leave paper residues that not always will blow off easily.
Lens tissues are better of course.
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