It has been my experience that the term "cleaning marks" is a
euphemism for "scratches". The secret to successfully cleaning a lens IMHO
is, first and foremost, to clean them as infrequently as possible. Secondly,
if you must clean a lens, the first cleaning ingredient is dry air (no spit
allowed). Make damn sure no grit, dust or lint remains on the glass surface
before actually touching the glass. After thoroughly blowing off the lens I
inspect it with a hand lens to make sure nothing "chunky" remains. I have
even gone so far as to gently lift off sand grains with a tooth pick if they
won't blow off.
Once you have removed the boulders, look at the lens again and ask
yourself..."do I really need to do any more"? If not fine. If you must
clean, my technique to use a portion of either lens paper or Kimwipe that I
fashion into a small bag or mushroom shape by bringing the corners together.
I apply very little pressure with the paper. Don't mash it down. A few drops
of fluid go on the bottom of the bag. I start in the center of the lens,
apply very gentle pressure, and wipe in an overlapping outward spiral.
Follow up in the same motion with a dry wipe to dry. That's it.
I'm not very particular about the cleaning fluid. I have used
multiple types of commercial lens cleaning fluids and all have worked
equally well. A good quality window cleaner (Windex) is fine as well. Most
commercial lens cleaners are a mixture of distilled water, isopropyl alcohol
and a small amount of dilute acetic acid. Sounds scary but I have used this
on Zuikos, binoculars, spotting scopes, microscopes and have never had a
problem. Every once it a while, something very stubborn will get on a lens
that won't come off with the usual cleaning fluid. It is usually something
greasy. It can usually be spot cleaned with a cotton swab dipped it a bit of
acetone. Acetone is one of those cases where "less is more" applies. Just
use it where you need it. It won't hurt the glass but it will do a number on
glue, paint, etc.
I don't know why anyone would poo poo Kodak lens cleaner. I had a
small bottle that I used for years (just not often) and it worked fine.
Happy and Safe Cleaning,
Charlie
-----Original Message-----
From: FAR-ALI [mailto:farali@xxxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Wednesday, October 27, 2004 10:01 AM
To: olympus@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [OM] Re: lens cleaning - sorry to bring this up again
On Eb*y occasionally I have read about "cleaning marks". How can you tell if
a lens has these marks? How do you avoid them? I am interested in learning
about this as well.
----- Original Message -----
From: "swisspace" <swisspace@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <olympus@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, October 27, 2004 9:47 AM
Subject: [OM] lens cleaning - sorry to bring this up again
>I searched the archives and found a discussion on this, but just want to
> confirm my findings.
>
> I recently bought a 90f2 on thingybay for a reasonable price not a fang
> (hope thats the right word) any way the glass is good but I wanted to
> clean the dust off. I have some offical olympus lens cleaning tissues
> bought at a flea market but when I went to buy some kodak lens cleaning
> fluid the shop assistant recommended that I didn't use it.
>
> I understand about not overcleaning, once its clean a UV filter goes on
> the front and its left alone but to get it clean I would think a liquid
> of some sort would lubricate the tissue and therefore be less likely to
> scratch.
>
> I read the discussion in the archives that some use denatured alchohol
> and some prefer acetone. my question is what is wrong with the lens
> cleaner in the shop and should I avoid it like the plauge or was the
> shop assistant wrong.
>
> thanks IanW
>
>
> ==============================================
> List usage info: http://www.zuikoholic.com
> List nannies: olympusadmin@xxxxxxxxxx
> ==============================================
>
==============================================
List usage info: http://www.zuikoholic.com
List nannies: olympusadmin@xxxxxxxxxx
==============================================
==============================================
List usage info: http://www.zuikoholic.com
List nannies: olympusadmin@xxxxxxxxxx
==============================================
|