What is your lens cleaning workflow?

yashima · Jan 31, 2016

So I'm one of those who have been using professional cameras for 15 years and still have not figured out a proper way to clean lenses.

I have tried everything under the sun, however still leave myself dissatisfied and frustrated. I have to say torch light can be very unforgiving.

Currently, I'm using what is supposed to be standard, pecpad and eclipse solution. However most of the time it still leaves a very faint haze, that I just have to clean and clean again.

Any advice of proper cleaning equipment and technique is greatly appreciated.

Kevin Caulfield · Jan 31, 2016

I would advise to not overthink it. There will always be some haze on your lenses, however minuscule. The question is whether it would adversely affect your images. I'm guessing probably not. My method is to apply breath to the lens and then gently wipe with a lens cloth. It works every time and has worked for twenty years.

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Nodda Duma · Jan 31, 2016

Isopropyl and acetone are the only two solvents I have in my optics lab. They are lab grade and 99.9% pure.

Kim wipes and cotton swabs (from Edmund optics).

These swabs, specifically.

Dead Link Removed

To remove haze, moisten in acetone and wipe gently in expanding circular pattern starting at center of lens. Don't get near the edges or you'll pick up crud from the barrel.

Xmas · Jan 31, 2016

Never.

I get stopped in street by heavies who insist on cleaning my lens. I reassure them my Pajama belt is black.

My lenses are bought cheap covered in coating damage.

Nodda Duma · Jan 31, 2016

Oh and don't shine a bright light directly into the barrel. That's what I tell the assembly techs, because otherwise they would spend hours pointlessly trying to get the optics clean.

BetterSense · Jan 31, 2016

Lenses can be pretty dirty before it matters. I just don't clean them. And then I used my tshirt. I'm sure that's horrible or something but typically I just leave them alone.

Sirius Glass · Jan 31, 2016

A lens cleaning tissue or lens cloth and a drop of lens cleaning solution gently wipe in a circular manner. No rubbing. No butting. And on obsessing.

Patrick Robert James · Jan 31, 2016

If you want the ultimate clean then there is a product (or was, don't know anymore) called OptiClean. It almost smelled like nail polish, but you painted it on the lens and then peeled it off after it cured. It cleaned the lens down to a microscopic level and leaves a pristine surface. Telescopes are cleaned by collodion I have read which it seems works the same way.

ROR is the best I have used besides the OptiClean. Zeiss makes a good lens cleaner as well. I never liked PecPads for cleaning lenses. I always preferred KimWipes.

michaelorr · Jan 31, 2016

Is there some aspect of cleaning a lens that takes into consideration the multi-coating? It is there for a two-fold purpose i believe: 1)reduce light loss from reflection at media interfaces; and 2) Some color apochromatic corrections needed if only one coating is applied. I ask because i believe that slight variations in the thickness of the coatings, comparable to a fraction of a visible light wavelength, will throw off especially the apo color performance through the worn areas. Maybe it is not enough to bother about, but is still would alter the performance of the lens if a portion of the coating gets worn down.

hoffy · Jan 31, 2016

For general day to day, I use breath and lens tissues.

For more in-depth work, I took advice from a local optical technician and use (drum roll please) windex. I was told to use the barest minimal amount - just enough to dampen the cloth or lens tissue that I am using.

Theo Sulphate · Jan 31, 2016

I only clean a lens when I stupidly put a fingerprint on it. Clean with lens tissue or soft microfiber cloth.

mdarnton · Jan 31, 2016

Steps #1, #2, and #3: blow and/or gently brush all loose particles off the surface before you touch it with any cleaning cloth or paper. Absolutely! All it takes is one tiny particle of hard stuff rubbed around by your cloth to grind a bunch of scratches in the lens right away, and that's the end of everything. I am really surprised that not one single person above has mentioned this. Likewise, the cloth you use needs to be clean, not an accumulation of abrasive particles suspended in a fabric matrix.

After that, I've tried Zeiss cleaning solution, and notice it leaves a film. Any other detergent-filled solution, like Windex, will do that, because such solids don't evaporate and they have to go somewhere so they stay as scummy deposits on the glass. . . . and many solvents have similar impurities in them. I think rubbing alcohol is one example of something that would work well but for the stuff in it that isn't rubbing alcohol. The best solution I have found is something my wife gets at the drug store for her glasses. That and microfiber cloths which I hand wash in the sink much more often than I need to because we use them on her glasses, mine, and my lenses. Microfiber cloths are really amazing for this.

This is why we have UV filters. What I do most of the time is wipe the UV filter that's on the lens with my shirt tail, and when the filter is messed up, I buy another. I only clean lenses themselves every year or two.

Slixtiesix · Feb 1, 2016

That´s exactly like I do it too. I use an air blower or soft brush most of the time. For thorough cleaning, which I regularly do when buying an used lens but very seldom any after, I use the Zeiss lens cleaning kit. It´s true that the solution leaves a slight residue, which can be wiped off after breathing (carefully) on the lens however. I hand wash the microfibre cloth after any major cleaning. I think it´s essential not to overdo these things. Some of my lenses I have not cleaned in years (okay, some of my lenses have not seen use in years either ;-) ).

Gerald C Koch · Feb 1, 2016

Always remember that more lenses are ruined by cleaning than by benign neglect. Small bits of dust have no appreciable effect. Haze should be very gently cleaned with lens tissue and lense cleaner. Do not use anything else. No glass cleaner or alcohol. Do not use microfiber cloths as they trap grit and are impossible to completely clean.

Poisson Du Jour · Feb 1, 2016

Wipes used to clean microscope lenses, photospectrometers and reading glasses (all of which have coated lensed of course) These wipes are ethanol and water and evaporate quickly with no streaking or smearing, even on B+W filters with their quirky coating.

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benjiboy · Feb 1, 2016

"Workflow" is a digital photography term, the "method" I use is to first clean the lens with a blower brush not forgetting the filter threads then use one drop of Eclipse lens cleaning fluid on a lens cleaning tissue and gently clean the lens being careful to apply no pressure, then breathe on the lens surface and using several clean lens tissues remove the cleaning fluid off the lens surface until it's crystal clear.

GRHazelton · Feb 1, 2016

I've had good results with microfiber cloths and the Zeiss fluid. BTW, I gather that microfiber cloths shouldn't be washed with fabric softeners, so watch it with the clothes washer! We bought some micro cloths for kitchen use, and they didn't hold up well; they were subjected to fabric softener, so that may have made a difference.

For optics I suspect that the softener might leave a residue which might "soften" your images!

naaldvoerder · Feb 3, 2016

+1 for the Zeiss lens cleaning fluid.

paul ron · Feb 3, 2016

hoffy said:
For general day to day, I use breath and lens tissues.

For more in-depth work, I took advice from a local optical technician and use (drum roll please) windex. I was told to use the barest minimal amount - just enough to dampen the cloth or lens tissue that I am using.

PERFECT!

I generally use a breath but every so often you have to get all that bad breath off with an ice scrapper.. so that calls for the heavy duty cleaner.

The most important thing in cleaning lenses is everything you use is soft n clean. Even wash your hands well with dish soap just so you dont transfer any oils to the cleaning cloth.

Cleaning cloths... i like BOUNTY paper towels. They arent paper.. its more like rag.
Chemicals... Denatured alcohol... the paint store stuff, we used it for shelac.

Dampen a paper towel n rub from inside to out then criss cross n final is round the house to the rim.

If you gently blow as you clean, you will get a perfectly clean lens!

Blow off any lint with canned air.

Take a breath n see how smooth the fog is now?... If its not.. do it all over again.

Xmas · Feb 3, 2016

Never is too often.

Drew Bedo · Feb 11, 2016

"Never Is Too Often"

Professional Camera Repair in Houston services my large format lenses. Whenever a lens passes through their hands, the outer lens surfacesare inspected and cleaned if necessary. http://professionalcamerarepair.com/

When I am using these lenses, there is a UV filter on the front. If that is dirty it is wiped with a microfiber cloth. I myself do not attempt to clean the lenses themselves.

That is my "workflow"

skorpiius · Feb 13, 2016

yashima said:
So I'm one of those who have been using professional cameras for 15 years and still have not figured out a proper way to clean lenses.

I have tried everything under the sun, however still leave myself dissatisfied and frustrated. I have to say torch light can be very unforgiving.

Currently, I'm using what is supposed to be standard, pecpad and eclipse solution. However most of the time it still leaves a very faint haze, that I just have to clean and clean again.

Any advice of proper cleaning equipment and technique is greatly appreciated.

Me too, and I almost lost my mind tonight, this was a UV filter which had a couple of finger prints on it AFTER being cleaned using Optex LensMate cleaner and then after that I tried a small bottle of Kodak with similar results:

The only thing that got it mostly clear again was going around it for 5 mins with a Lenspen. I can't understand how cleaners can do this.

I guess I'll try the Zeiss, or just go with microfiber since I kind of get the feeling the pad on the end of a LensPen is a small swatch of microfiber.

skorpiius · Feb 14, 2016

APUGuser19 said:
Edit: The filter depicted in post #22 has been properly cleaned. It just hasn't been rinsed with distilled water on Q-tips. and polished. A filter like that will typically consume 5-7 Q-tips. Such a cleaning job will stay clean for 6-12 months before another treatment is needed. If you are a particularly fastidious sort, follow all that with use of a bulk tape eraser. Going a little far.

Thanks, I'll try the q-tips next time.

JohnC · Feb 16, 2016

A US camera tech by the name of Tomosy, the author of several books on how to fix Nikon, and Leica, and others, uses and recommends..... wait for it..... are you ready....... deep breath..... Windex !

I tried it and it works, and the lense still has its coatings.

Jim Noel · Feb 16, 2016

I only clean my lenses when they obviously need it, such as when there are fingerprints. No liquid ever touches them, only activated charcoal. The charcoal is ground extremely fine,will not scratch and absorbs the grease of fingerprints like nothing else. Applied with a high quality cotton swab in a circular motion leaves the lens sparkling.

What is your lens cleaning workflow?

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