lens/filter cleaning solution

[john_galuszka]

<p>Lens cleaning solution is priced at $3 an oz. at camera supply stores. Would isopropyl alcohol from the drug store work as well? (I know that window cleaners like Windex is not a good idea.)</p>

[bruce_watson1]

<p>What are you trying to accomplish? If you want to strip the anti-reflective coating off your lens, then isopropyl alcohol will do the job over time.</p>

<p>An oz. of lens cleaning solution should be close to a lifetime supply. If you find you need to clean lenses more often than every few months you are most likely doing something wrong.</p>

[michael_briggs2]

<p>I use 409 glass cleaner. There is nothing wrong with isopropyl alcohol or Windex on modern lenses. Modern coatings are applied in vacuum and baked on.</p>

<p>With any cleaner, blow and dust off the dust first; use the cleaner on the tissue rather than directly on the glass so that none leaks into the lens.</p>

[bruce_watson1]

<p>Having personally stripped the anti-reflective coating off a lens using drug store isopropyl alcohol, I can say from first hand experience that that using chems. that aren't designed for the duty is, well, it's just stupid. People either learn from other peoples' mistakes, or they repeat those mistakes as I did. Believe what you want, do what you want, but at least you've been warned.</p>

[brian_staples]

<p>For telescope optics (much more sensitive than camera optics), we make a mixture of 1 pint of pure distilled water, one pint of 91% isopropyl alcohol, and one or two drops of a pure, scent free detergent (Ivory Unscented is one). This makes enough for twenty people for twenty lifetimes, but you need a quart of liquid because the detergent needs to be a very samll portion of the mixture.</p>

<p>Apply the mixture to either a lint free cloth, or if you can find it, surgical cotton. DO NOT apply the mixture to the lens. Wipe the lens from the center on out with the wetted cloth, and follow up with a dry cloth to remove excess moisture.</p>

<p>Brian</p>

 

[john_galuszka]

<p>Thanks, all!</p>

<p>Actually, it was only a UV filter I needed to clean, not the camera lens itself ... I keep the filter on at all times so that I avoid the problem of needing to clean the camera lens.</p>

[david_zheng1]

<p>I asked camera repairing people (three guys) they told me they used ethanol plus ether (1:2). Isopropyl alcohol has much higher boiling point and takes longer time to evaporate that can condense water on glass surface if air is very humid. I used this solvent to clean all my lens and found it worked well.</p>