Wide angle lens maintenance

[SplitVision]

i was shooting a hip-hop video this weekend and wound up getting beer spatterings all over my Century Optics .6x W/A lens.

know i've heard that you should NEVER clean the Leica lens with anything but air (speaking of which, is that really true?). but what i was really wondering is what can i do to remove these sticky spots from my W/A.

lens cleaner? if so, which one?
maybe glass cleaner? type?
water?
something else?

i also have that sticky residue on my clear filter. can i clean it the same way?

thanks for your help friends...
:thumbsup:

 

[Bill__Turner]

Cleaning glass needs to be done carefully and avioded if possible- thus the origin of the myth about not cleaning a lens with anything but air, but air won't remove fingerprints, grease, or beer stains.

Any good water based commercial lens cleaner should be fine (Schneider sells a product called PhotoClear) and lens tissue should do the job. I personally do not believe in using lens cleaning cloths on camera lenses.

Blow of any dirt you can with an air bulb or canned air (be careful to hold the can upright to avoid discharging liquid propellant instead of "air".

wet the tissue with a small amount of lens cleaner (never apply any liquid directly to the lens- in might run down around the edges and get inside the lens) and in a circular motion starting at the center, lightly wipe and wet the surface, discard, repeat as necesarry to remover the "beer stains" or whatever. Finally use a dry tissue and wipe away the liquid residue using the same circular , center to edge motion.

The main thing to remember is to discard the tissue after one pass, you don not want to rub any small abrasive dirt particles around on the surface more than absolutely necessary, coatings are softer than glass and more easily damaged.

In a pinch use original Windex (blue) diluted 50% with water (distilled if you have it) and white unscented kleenex or toilet tissue (avoid any colored, scented or other additives, aloe etc ). These tissues are linty, unlike proper lens tissue, but you can blow the lint off when finished.

We recommend against using solvents such as acetone or alcohol unless you are experienced in lens cleaning, these agents can easily penetrate the edges of the cells and cause other issues.


Hope this helps

Bill Turner
Schneider Optics
Century Division