cleaning front element
I routinely use a filter on my lenses and although I am very careful, I clean knowing that the filter is replaceable if I screw up. Enter my new Canon 500F4 costing the price of a good used car and with no way of fitting a front filter.
I'd be interested to find out people's front element cleaning routine for lenses like the 500F4.
Thanks in advance.
Congrats on the new 500!!!!
You dont have to fit a front filter to a 400/2.8-500/4 or 600/4. The front glass element is for protection. Cleaning is easy, blow or brush off all the grit, grab a microfiber cloth (I use a japanese brand) and clean off the haze. This is only for the big lenses for all small lenses I use lens pens.
What ever you do, do not use any liquid under any circumstances. Over the years I have seen so many people get 99 cent lens cleaning solution into the front threads and into the body of the lens where it fogs the lens up.
Robert
What Robert said! A nice small sized paint brish to get any dirt, sand or what have you off first then a microfiber cloth and a hot breath! :D
Robert/George:
Where do you buy the microfiber cloths? I am always nervous with these as I am never sure which are a good brand.
I have on rare occasions has to use eclipse solutuon---but I put it on a pecpad first...
I've used my t-shirt in a pinch. The front element of a super telephoto really isn't going to get dirty very easily--the hood is pretty good at keeping away errant fingers. Keep a toothbrush handy for brushing away sand and grit from the lens, body, etc. If you do smudge it, and a light circular motion with your shirt sleeve doesn't do the trick (this usually works in the field), then definitely go ahead and do a "real" cleaning.
Promaster makes some really nice microfiber clothes. Be careful as not all clothes are made equal. I once ordered a no-name cloth, sight-unseen from B&H, and wound up with this really shiny, reflective (WEIRD!) piece of garbage. It was terrible and was better at smearing smudges than making them go away. I used it to clean up some spilled beer one day and then threw it out. . .
Last edited by David Kennedy; 04-18-2008 at 11:53 AM.
I am with David on the t-shirt but I wouldnt recommend it :)
Be careful with toothbrushes, I have an el-cheapo brand that I use to clean off that white Fort De-Soto sand, and it scrached one of my bodies screen covers once. It think it was the top LCD screen (the rear LCD screen is usually tempered glass on most pro bodies, and on the Nikon D300). That brings up a point, why do people use those lame plastic Nikon LCD protectors when the screen is tempered glass (on some leica models the screen cover is shapphire!!!)
Sorry Rocky my MF cloth is from japan and i have never seen this type in the US. I think BirdsAsArt / Artie carries a microfilbre cloth.
Robert
Aw, come on! :DOriginally Posted by Robert O'Toole
I'm just using a travel toothbrush (no name) and have been using it without concern....but now I'm concerned :eek: Any recommendations for a super-soft toothbrush? Personally, I prefer harder bristles for my actual teeth, and have become a one brand, one-model toothbrush person (and I usually just stick to the one the dentist thrusts into my hand at the end of a cleaning), so I wouldn't have a clue about what goes on in the tooth brush aisle at the drug store.
I would say something about lemmings here, but you've partially gone over to the "dark side," so perhaps I will hold my tongue!
A slightly different question about cleaning the front element:
What does everyone use when you get salt spray from a windy day at the beach on the front element?
In that case, a liquid solvent would be better than any dry method for cleaning. I'm sing something called "Optyl-7" from Rexton (I bought it on B&H a few years ago), but if you just go onto B&H or Adorama and pull up lens cleaning solutions, just pick one that isn't too cheap. And, like the commercials for Tanqueray gin say, "Always in moderation."
It's best to apply the lens cleaner to the cloth, rather than dripping the solution directly onto the element and letting it run around. That's when you run the risk of the horror story Robert alluded to--the solution inside the lens, causing fogging.
Good advice EXCEPT for the tee-shirt/shirt sleeve trick! Any open-weave cotton cloth can trap small particles that are harder than glass and therefore given enough time, you will end up scratching the coating or the glass itself. I am frequently in salt-spray situations in Antarctica so was interested to see the answers to that query. Some fluid either from a bottle or your breath is needed. Speaking of breathing on glass, I always thought that it was a no-no but Canon recommend it in one of their lens instruction books I have.
Yep, it's just warm water.....unless you have a mouthful of Potato Chips. ;)
David,
As a retired dentist and also past president of the California Society for Preventive Dentistry, I would suggest you use a soft brush instead of hard bristles. The soft ones do the same job. Hard bristles tend to cut the gingiva and cause infections. So, now you can use the same brush brand for both. As an aside, I usually chew my brush while waiting in a blind. It gives me something to do, and there is a technique to learn to do that right also.
:)
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