Basic Lens Cleaning

Posted on by learndigitalphotography in Blog, Cameras, Digital Photography Basics, Digital Photography Tips

Basic lens cleaning tools are a blower, a microfiber cloth, and lens cleaning fluid (my favorite: Zeiss). Try to blast dust off the lens with the blower or canned air. Finger prints can be removed with a circular wipe of the new miracle micro fiber cloth (my favorite brand is Pentax because it is nice and thick; about $6). Persistent dirt should be removed with lens cleaning fluid, of which the safest is probably Kodak. Always drip the fluid onto the cloth and then wipe the lens; never put fluid directly onto a lens.

Even if your lenses don’t look dirty, every few months you should give exposed surfaces a cleaning with Residual Oil Remover (ROR). Even if you were able to protect your optics from all environmental sources of filth, there would still be crud condensing on your optics as camera bag plastics outgas. It is tough to verify ROR’s claims, but the optics do look visibly clearer after an ROR treatment and the $4.50 price won’t kill you.

If you are going to use an expensive lens in a dusty or wet environment and don’t want to obsess over your equipment, keep a B+W UV filter on the lens and count on replacing the filter every year or two.

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