How can I clean sand off my 20mm lens?
- Thread starter gundar
- Start date
Bruce Foreman
Veteran
Do you mean you have "sand" or "grit" right at the edge of the lens glass on the front of the lens unit?
I'd be super careful about cleaning that. First I would try to vacuum the whole front of the lens using the end of the vacuum hose with no brush on in and nothing touching the lens unit. Then I would use something like a lens pen brush or some other very soft brush to try to GENTLY dislodge any "stubborn" stuff. Follow that by using the edge of a folded piece of microfibre lens cleaning cloth to "brush away" any grains of grit or sand.
Never apply pressure while doing this.
Last, I would not apply any "wet" cleaning cloth unless you had a smudge to remove, and for that I would use nothing but Pec Pads wet with a drop or two of Eclipse cleaning fluid. You should be able to order those two items from http://www.photosol.com/store/pc/home.asp, or from B&H.
That by the way, will clean off a real greasy thumbprint slicker than any other method I've tried.
But never, never do anything that could drag a grain of "grit" or "sand" across the lens surface under ANY pressure.
I'd be super careful about cleaning that. First I would try to vacuum the whole front of the lens using the end of the vacuum hose with no brush on in and nothing touching the lens unit. Then I would use something like a lens pen brush or some other very soft brush to try to GENTLY dislodge any "stubborn" stuff. Follow that by using the edge of a folded piece of microfibre lens cleaning cloth to "brush away" any grains of grit or sand.
Never apply pressure while doing this.
Last, I would not apply any "wet" cleaning cloth unless you had a smudge to remove, and for that I would use nothing but Pec Pads wet with a drop or two of Eclipse cleaning fluid. You should be able to order those two items from http://www.photosol.com/store/pc/home.asp, or from B&H.
That by the way, will clean off a real greasy thumbprint slicker than any other method I've tried.
But never, never do anything that could drag a grain of "grit" or "sand" across the lens surface under ANY pressure.
Bruce, thanks so much for the in depth reply. I have some sand that got put on the lens during a recent shoot. It actually got a little bit of mud on it from a time and place that I thought no way that mud could get on it (or I would have cased it).
The now dried mud / sand is in the corner where the glass meets the frame. Would it be safe to use compressed air to whisk the sand away or would I risk blowing the sand across the glass and thus scratching it? I will try your folded cloth method and a vacuum.
Thanks in advance!
The now dried mud / sand is in the corner where the glass meets the frame. Would it be safe to use compressed air to whisk the sand away or would I risk blowing the sand across the glass and thus scratching it? I will try your folded cloth method and a vacuum.
Thanks in advance!
Bruce Foreman
Veteran
If using "canned" compressed air do a test blast or two on your hand to insure no propellant (usually liquid or condensation too) is being sprayed. When you have nothing but dry air, try blowing from the center of the lens glass towards the edge of the front of the lens and see if that gets it off.
If you still have some it will take a brush to gently dislodge what's left. If you still have any left after that it's time for a PecPad moistened with a few drops only, of Eclipse cleaning fluid. Touch that to the residue left and hold it there so the residue is moistened, then with a clean moistened PecPad very GENTLY wipe towards the edge of the glass BUT WITH NO PRESSURE.
Repeat as necessary with Eclipse moistened PecPads until you have it all off. Just don't use any pressure. Just light wiping until clean.
Then in the future, if you go into that environment again, put on a very high quality multilayer coated UV filter for protection. You may get some reflections if pointed towards strong light but those won't do the lens any harm. I use Hoya if I have to use a UV filter over my Lumix lenses.
Order those PecPads and Eclipse cleaning fluid. The pads came to me in a 100 count package, they are sterile extremely lint free material and are super for cleaning lenses.
If you still have some it will take a brush to gently dislodge what's left. If you still have any left after that it's time for a PecPad moistened with a few drops only, of Eclipse cleaning fluid. Touch that to the residue left and hold it there so the residue is moistened, then with a clean moistened PecPad very GENTLY wipe towards the edge of the glass BUT WITH NO PRESSURE.
Repeat as necessary with Eclipse moistened PecPads until you have it all off. Just don't use any pressure. Just light wiping until clean.
Then in the future, if you go into that environment again, put on a very high quality multilayer coated UV filter for protection. You may get some reflections if pointed towards strong light but those won't do the lens any harm. I use Hoya if I have to use a UV filter over my Lumix lenses.
Order those PecPads and Eclipse cleaning fluid. The pads came to me in a 100 count package, they are sterile extremely lint free material and are super for cleaning lenses.
Bruce Foreman
Veteran
You're welcome. I've found those items to be invaluable. The Eclipse is sometimes needed for "wet" cleaning the sensor (research this before you jump in - I buy premade swabs for this) but ONLY when really necessary. BTW never use canned air on your sensor. The Giottos Rocket Blower (sold by B&H) is much safer.
When you open the bottle of Eclipse, put tape around the bottom of the screw on top and the bottle to seal it off so it doesn't evaporate. That stuff is about the purest alcohol you can find and leaves no residue behind unlike rubbing alcohol.
Good luck with the lens.
Bruce
When you open the bottle of Eclipse, put tape around the bottom of the screw on top and the bottle to seal it off so it doesn't evaporate. That stuff is about the purest alcohol you can find and leaves no residue behind unlike rubbing alcohol.
Good luck with the lens.
Bruce
Bruce Foreman
Veteran
You're welcome. That 20mm f1.7 is one heckuva great lens. It's field of view is what I call "wide normal". 25mm is "normal" for the GH2 sensor but the 20mm is just a tad wider but not quite "wide angle". So when you put a UV filter on to protect the lens and you get a strong light in the composition, that light will cause internal reflections even if the strong light is near a side of the frame.
On other lenses a fairly deep lens hood can provide some "blocking" of anything except where you point the camera fairly direct at the "strong" light. But the 20mm requires a "wide angle" lens hood and the "blocking/shading" that provides is limited. Whatever UV filter you use for lens protection has to be very good quality, I've been using Hoya SuperMultiCoated (SMC) or HMC coated filters with some success.
The Lumix m4/3rds lenses seem to be very susceptible to internal reflections with any filters used so I use a filter ONLY when there is a clear need for one.
Just thought I'd pass that info on.
Bruce
On other lenses a fairly deep lens hood can provide some "blocking" of anything except where you point the camera fairly direct at the "strong" light. But the 20mm requires a "wide angle" lens hood and the "blocking/shading" that provides is limited. Whatever UV filter you use for lens protection has to be very good quality, I've been using Hoya SuperMultiCoated (SMC) or HMC coated filters with some success.
The Lumix m4/3rds lenses seem to be very susceptible to internal reflections with any filters used so I use a filter ONLY when there is a clear need for one.
Just thought I'd pass that info on.
Bruce