Lens Cleaning

wolfejm

I've recently invested in my first dslr - a Rebel XTi. I was wondering how to safely clean the front glass of lenses? The particular lens I have is the EF-S 17-85, but I suspect that doesn't matter.

Thanks in advance!

ziggy53

wolfejm wrote:

I've recently invested in my first dslr - a Rebel XTi. I was wondering how to safely clean the front glass of lenses? The particular lens I have is the EF-S 17-85, but I suspect that doesn't matter.

Thanks in advance!

I moved this to Technique, because that's where most of the cleaning advice already is.

I do use filters on many of my lenses to prevent too much cleaning in the first place. For casual images, the filter doesn't matter that much regarding image quality, and it helps protect the lens front surface from minor impact.

When a lens really does need cleaning, I usually blow off the elements with a good aerosol product like "Dust-Pro". This gets the loose crud that's easily removed.

Then I use a moistened corner of a micro-fiber cloth, working very gently, changing surfaces often. I use a circular motion, starting at the center of the glass and moving outward.

I finish with a dry section of the cloth, using the same motion as above. Inspect the lens under direct sunlight or with a smallish single-LED flashlight to see the lens surface more clearly.

I often just use distiller water for the fluid, but if I see an oily film, either photographic lens cleaning fluid (not eyeglass fluid) or some rubbing alcohol that I tested earlier on a mirror for residue (or preferably, lack of residue.)

In the field, I use a lens brush for minor cleaning.

Art Scott

wolfejm wrote:

I've recently invested in my first dslr - a Rebel XTi. I was wondering how to safely clean the front glass of lenses? The particular lens I have is the EF-S 17-85, but I suspect that doesn't matter.

Thanks in advance!

I have a couple of micro fibre cloths that I got when I purchased my lenses.....l also purchased frm my local SAM's CLUB a package of ZEISS Lens cleaning cloths, theses are a pre-wetted cloth for camera lens cleaning and that is what I use.

wolfejm

Thanks for the suggestions. What makes for a good filter for general protection that doesn't interfere with the shots? Canon has a cheap glass UV filter at BH for about 10 bucks. I'm not very familiar with filters.

LiquidAir

I use a brush and a blower first. If there is anything left, I fog the lens with my breath and clean it with a LensPen.

Terrence

IMO, don't cheap out on a filter. Putting a crappy quality filter on good or great lens glass reduces the overall quality of the image. $10 will get you bottom of the barrel quality. Spend in the neighborhood of $50 to $60 for a Hoya, B+W or Tiffen UV and you'll get a very good quality filter. Top quality will cost $100+, but for the lens you have I think it's overkill.

wolfejm

Terrence - Thanks for the advice. I particularly appreciate the guidance on a reasonable range.

LiquidAir - I just learned about LensPens today. They look very interesting. Anyone else use these? I like the self-contained nature of them.

I love this forum - I'm learning a ton!

dogwood

Terrence wrote:

IMO, don't cheap out on a filter. Putting a crappy quality filter on good or great lens glass reduces the overall quality of the image. $10 will get you bottom of the barrel quality. Spend in the neighborhood of $50 to $60 for a Hoya, B+W or Tiffen UV and you'll get a very good quality filter. Top quality will cost $100+, but for the lens you have I think it's overkill.

Just my two-cents-- but none of the EF-S lenses are great glass.

There are definitely two schools of thought on the filter or no filter. I personally don't use filters for protection (though I ALWAYS use a lens hood). I just use microfiber clothes to clean them and have never had a problem. That's one school of thought.

The other school is to use filters-- but you know-- as this quoted post points out-- it's kind of counter-productive to pop a cheap filter on spendy L-glass. Doesn't sound like this is an issue for you though. And no, I'm not trying to be a lens elite-- I've used EFS lenses myself.

Back to my school of thought-- what kind of situations are you putting your lens in that you need a filter to protect the front lens element? If you're striking the front of your lens element hard enough to need a filter to protect it, well, you might want to examine the cause of this potential damage. I shoot a lot-- location, events, studio-- and I'm quite tough on gear-- I just make sure I use the lens cap when transporting my lenses and a lens hood when actually shooting with them. Filters can cause color casts, glare and generally degrate your images-- but of course I use them for landscape shots!

Anyway, not saying one way is the right way for everybody-- just pointing out this is an issue with two sides and both sides think they are right!

digismile

I've always liked LensPens for a quick fix in the field. I have one in each of my bags. I also carry a microfibre cloth for slight streaks.

For a thorough cleaning, I use Eclipse Cleaning fluid and PekPads (I've probably succumbed to marketing, but I figure if it's good for a 'blad, it's good for my camera). I've been extremely happy with these products.

ziggy53

dogwood wrote:

Just my two-cents-- but none of the EF-S lenses are great glass.

...

Huh? Sure there are:

http://www.photozone.de/8Reviews/lenses/canon_60_28/index.htm
http://www.photozone.de/8Reviews/lenses/canon_1755_28/index.htm
http://www.photozone.de/8Reviews/lenses/canon_1022_3545/index.htm

These are all pretty great lenses!

But there aren't too many to recommend, so I know what you mean.

Scott_Quier

ziggy53 wrote:

Huh? Sure there are:

http://www.photozone.de/8Reviews/lenses/canon_60_28/index.htm
http://www.photozone.de/8Reviews/lenses/canon_1755_28/index.htm
http://www.photozone.de/8Reviews/lenses/canon_1022_3545/index.htm

These are all pretty great lenses!

But there aren't too many to recommend, so I know what you mean.

Well, I feel better now. I was getting ready to defend a couple of my lenses, but you beat me to the punch.

FWIW - I have and love the 17-55. It really is one fantastic lens.

In another FWIW item, you can see my, rather dated, review of the 10-22 here.

wolfejm

Update!
I wanted to post a quick update based on a weekend of expience. I bought both a lens pen, and a microfiber cloth and photo lens cleaner. The posts above really had me thinking, particularly if I really had to worry about protecting my lenses with a filter or not.

I live on the Gulf Coast of FL and went out for some beach, bridge, and bird shots this weekend. I quickly learned that beach spray is inevitable if you're going to be out there no matter how careful you are. The lens pen did a great job of removing loose particulates (sand) and most of the smudges. Salt, however, is pretty much ubiquitous at the beach and the lenspen came up short. Two drops of solution on the cloth and presto the lens was sparkling again.

I probably will buy a couple protective filters, because I want to keep this stuff off my glass more than I want to clean it off. It's amazing what a little guidance and a few hours of actual experience will teach you. Thanks to everyone!

Stormdancing

I use the blower 1st, then a brush. I also have a lens pen. If it won't come off with this, I use a Zeiss Lens Cloth. These are great. Each cloth is prepacked and they are easy to toss in your bag or pocket. Sometimes you can find them at Walmart for $2.97 for 50 packs.

SloYerRoll

wolfejm wrote:

The lens pen did a great job of removing loose particulates (sand) and most of the smudges. Salt, however, is pretty much ubiquitous at the beach and the lenspen came up short. Two drops of solution on the cloth and presto the lens was sparkling again.

Just a thought. You may want to use canned air to remove solid debris from your glass (like storm said) before you use a lens pen.
Don't know much about Canon glass (I'm pretty sure it's all the same to a certain extent when it all boils down), but most Nikon glass has optical coatings on the glass that sand will eat alive if you rub a lenspen against your glass. You are literally putting "sandpaper" on your glass when you rub it around like that.
This is definately not my area of expertise though. I just cringed when I read that and felt like posting.

-Jon

wolfejm

SloYerRoll wrote:

Just a thought. You may want to use canned air to remove solid debris from your glass (like storm said) before you use a lens pen.
Don't know much about Canon glass (I'm pretty sure it's all the same to a certain extent when it all boils down), but most Nikon glass has optical coatings on the glass that sand will eat alive if you rub a lenspen against your glass. You are literally putting "sandpaper" on your glass when you rub it around like that.
This is definately not my area of expertise though. I just cringed when I read that and felt like posting.

-Jon

Thanks for cringing, especially if it saves my lenses I totally see how pushing sand around with the rubbing end of the pen is a bad idea. How about the soft brush end? It's supposed to be specifically for removing loose debris. Is the consensus that canned air is the safer approach for removing this stuff?

BTW, I'm now noticing little bits of dust inside my lens, behind the outer most element. Should I be worried about that?

dogwood

Scott_Quier wrote:

Well, I feel better now. I was getting ready to defend a couple of my lenses, but you beat me to the punch.

FWIW - I have and love the 17-55. It really is one fantastic lens.

In another FWIW item, you can see my, rather dated, review of the 10-22 here.

Well, glad you folks are enjoying your EFS lenses. I didn't realize they were making IS versions in f2.8 these days.

I used to have the 10-22 and found it vignetted pretty heavily, had lots of distortion, suffered more than usual from lens flare, and was rather soft at anything below f/8. Just my experience. I also found the heavy reliance on plastic parts a bit -- well -- cheap. And my 10-22 didn't even come with a lens hood ($800 and canon can't include a lens hood?!?!!)

Can't remember if the kit lens that came with my old 20D was an EFS lens (I think it was the 17-55), but that lens was pretty cheap too. Just my experience-- I found for the price, Sigma beat the pants off the EFS lenses and L-glass was even better-- but that's comparing apples to oranges (EFS to L-glass, that is).

SloYerRoll

wolfejm wrote:

Thanks for cringing, especially if it saves my lenses I totally see how pushing sand around with the rubbing end of the pen is a bad idea. How about the soft brush end? It's supposed to be specifically for removing loose debris. Is the consensus that canned air is the safer approach for removing this stuff?

The brush will work in the field if you have crud on a lens and still need a shot. Saying that, your t-shirt (gasp!) will work if your in the field and NEED TO get a shot too... I'd try to steer clear of this though and get a mini can of compressed air.

wolfejm wrote:

BTW, I'm now noticing little bits of dust inside my lens, behind the outer most element. Should I be worried about that?

If you can see the specs of dust, those specs aren't that small.
Per my previous disclaimer. Lens mechanics aren't my forte, but I'd say you have a lemon lens if you just bought it and you are already seeing particulate matter inside the casing.

I'm sure one of the more versed photogs will drop some knowledge on you about this junk in the lens though.

-Jon

pathfinder

I am pretty relaxed in regards to lens cleaning -

I try to avoid it if at all possible. A few, or even more than a few, dust motes on the lens surface really don't make that much difference. I try to ignore them.

I use a lens blower or a lens brush or a camel hair brush as needed to remove dust particles or debris.

Salt spray or other liquid born adherrent material will need a solvent to remove. I usually use commercial spectacle cleaning solution that I get at the Optician's shop. This is usually distilled water with 5-10% isopropyl or ethyl alcohol. Small amounts of Eclipse cleaner ( methyl alcohol) for cleaning silicon sensors will also work fine. Moisten the lens cleaning cloth - not the lens directly - and gently remove the dried material on the lens.

A micro fibre cleaning cloth can be used carefully with minimum pressure to dry the lens after cleaning. As mentioned in the previous posts, you do not want to touch the lens with a cloth until a brush or an air bulb has removed any solid particles first.

You do not want to spray the lenscleaning solution directly on the lens as it can run around the edge of the lens and get on the back surface where it can't be dried.

JcMax200

This might sound like a dumb question, but is there a way to tell the difference between dust showing up on the Lens, and Dust showing up on the sensor?

I just got a Rebel XT Last month, and I'm starting to notice some dust interference in some of my shots.

pathfinder

ziggy53 wrote:

Huh? Sure there are:

http://www.photozone.de/8Reviews/lenses/canon_60_28/index.htm
http://www.photozone.de/8Reviews/lenses/canon_1755_28/index.htm
http://www.photozone.de/8Reviews/lenses/canon_1022_3545/index.htm

These are all pretty great lenses!

But there aren't too many to recommend, so I know what you mean.

Three very nice EF-S lenses Ziggy.