right now I use pec pads and eclipse fluid but for some reason I still get residue on the glass. Used microfiber cloths before but they left fuzz. Heeeellllppppp lol

Use Lenspen.

Get better microfibers. Not trying to be snarky--a good microfiber shouldn't be leaving fuzz. Also, don't wash or dry your microfibers with anything else. If you run them with your regular shirts and socks they'll pick up the lint from the other fibers.

Blow off the lens before doing any cleaning and wipe gently with a slightly dampened (with water) microfiber towel and everything should lift off. I've used lens pens in the past and, while they do work, there's not a large area for the dirt to be distributed to nor is the pad as plush as a good microfiber.

I'm not sure what you mean by "there's not a large area for the dirt to be distributed to".

I don't baby my lenses. Most of the time I just breathe on the lens and wipe it with my t-shirt. Only once in a while I use lenspen.

I generally use a series of escalating procedures; starts with a blower bulb, then breath and T-shirt, moves to eyeglass cleaning fluid and microfibre, and finally ROR and microfibre.

n0b0 wrote:
I'm not sure what you mean by "there's not a large area for the dirt to be distributed to".

I don't baby my lenses. Most of the time I just breathe on the lens and wipe it with my t-shirt. Only once in a while I use lenspen.

The little felt cleaning tip of a lens pen has a very small surface area. Because of that it doesn't take very long for it to become saturated with dirt/dust and once it does the dirt isn't going anywhere.

Microfibers were a revolution in the car detailing community where they have been the de-facto standard for some time now. The reason being is that traditional materials, namely cotton, are actually quite abrasive and can easily leave scratches in paint. Microfibers are more absorbent, softer, have much better mechanical cleaning properties (the thousands of micro fibers adhere themselves to individual pieces of dirt) and they do a better job of encapsulating the dirt so you're not just rubbing the dirt around on the surface. The only time I used cotton towels was when I was working with an abrasive polish and required more "cut" to correct defects. Now that I have an orbital buffer with foam polishing pads (which are also abrasive), I don't even use them for that.

The risk you run whenever you clean your lenses is putting small scratches/abrasion into the lens coating or glass, either due to the roughness of the cloth or the fact that you're rubbing dirt that's trapped between the cloth and the lens surface into the lens. This is why it's important to use a clean, good quality microfiber.

That all being said, is it going to matter? No. Tests have shown that the front element can have huge amounts of dirt, scratches, fungus, or even be outright broken without significantly affecting the overall image quality. But, it is going to affect your resale down the line.

I don't baby my lenses either: they're a tool to create images, not collectors items. But, at the same time, they're an investment so I do try and take care of them when I can. Mostly, I don't clean my lenses in the field at all unless it's something totally egregious. I rarely clean them in general, a little bit of dirt or smudges on the element isn't going to affect my pictures, but when I do I clean them carefully as not to induce any unnecessary wear on the glass.

Also, if anyone is looking for some good reasonably priced microfibers:
http://www.pakshak.com/micro-fiber-towels.html

As it happens, I also know a bit about car detailing, from pressure washing to claying to waxing. I got stacks of microfibre cloths.

You should note that glass is more durable than the clear coat on your car paint. Case in point, while any paint cleaning/sealant product specifically tells you to use a microfibre cloth, automotive glass cleaning product usually just say use lint free cloth, paper towel, or even newspaper.

Of course if I've been to a particularly dusty environment like the beach or sand dunes, I would use a pressurised air blower before using the lenspen.

Kirivon wrote:
I rarely clean them in general, a little bit of dirt or smudges on the element isn't going to affect my pictures, but when I do I clean them carefully as not to induce any unnecessary wear on the glass.


Same here. I don't often rub the front element - usually the blower is enough if the lens has gotten dusty or whatever.

Usually the only real cleaning they get is if they are being sold.

Tiger Cloth works great!

http://kinetronics.com/store/tiger.html

Lens Clens. The gold standard.

I wear glasses and have learned the hard way not to clean my specs with a paper towel. They leave scratches on the lens. After blowing them off, I use a lens cleaning solution made of alcohol and water with a micro fiber cloth, never wiping them while dry. I realize that the Polycarbonate lens material is softer than glass, but many of the lenses will have an anti-glare coating and the paper towel will cut into it.

pizdets17 wrote:
right now I use pec pads and eclipse fluid but for some reason I still get residue on the glass. Used microfiber cloths before but they left fuzz. Heeeellllppppp lol

Use a soft cloth and gently blow a bit of your breath on the lens. A t-shirt or towel works great. Heck, use toilet paper if nothing else is available.

(For the person who is concerned about using paper towels because they can scratch "glasses" - today, almost all "glasses" are actually made of plastic, and you can scratch them if you are rough with the cleaning process because they are made of a much less durable material than the glass used in camera lenses. In addition, while you might need to clean your lens a bit every few weeks - if you are fastidious - you probably clean your plastic glasses daily.)

Lens glass is quite sturdy and tough material. You don't have to treat it so delicately. And do keep in mind that a small amount of "stuff" on the front element will almost never have an effect on your photographs. Using tools like lenspens and blowers on your lens is being way more cautious than necessary.

And Eclipse and PedPads are for sensor cleaning, not for lens cleaning.

Dan

I use three methods, in sequence. Blower, lens brush, lens cleaning fluid on a lens cleaning tissue, then another tissue to dry it. And do it when it is obvious there is 'stuff' on the lens.

The microfibers I use are actually from a professional car detail place so they are the high end kind. yea it was actually for resale that I was cleaning it lol. Drove me nuts that after 10 min it still looked dirty. I have a blower but not a lens pen so I will grab one of those too I think. Thanks guys!

Just make all of your lenses the recent Canon models with fluorine coating. Nothing will stick to them, and cleaning will not be needed unless you are obsessive about blowing off a few particles of dust.

recent as in how old? I think the oldest I have is my 100L from 2009

pizdets17 wrote:
recent as in how old? I think the oldest I have is my 100L from 2009
Canon advertised fluorine coating on the Mark II telephotos and continued it with the new zooms (24-70/2.8 II, e.g.). I don't remember if it's used on the 100L.
Seriously, I don't put any time or effort into lens cleaning as a routine. I blow off dust accumulation if it becomes substantial. Once I got sprayed by a substance that would have been a serious problem if allowed to remain on the lens, so as soon as possible I cleaned it using an old jar of Kodak lens cleaner and a new microfiber cloth, followed by a few swipes with a lens pen.
The vulnerability of modern lenses is the antireflection coating, not the glass itself. That's the reason for a fluorine top layer. Leave it alone for the most part and you should be fine. When you need to clean, follow the advice already given by many: start with a blower, use a soft brush if needed, then a microfiber cloth - gently - and finally go to a liquid cleaner or lens pen when you really think it's needed (to rate your for-sale lens as 9.5 instead of 9).

thank you sir.