How do I clean my lens?

[GoatGirl]

Why take a risk with hundreds of £'s worth of optics to save a tenner

Umm the make up brush is actually BETTER than the lens pen.

I am talking just to brush dust etc of the lens, not for "washing" a mirror.

For a start it is actually softer than the lens pen.

Perhaps I should buy a lot of them and stick "STAR BRUSH" labels on it and add 10GBP to the price, you would buy it then

[Moonshane]

Just pure acetone,sounds harsh, But that's what TV uses on their coatings to clean them. Don't use nail polish remover! Pat

Too many stars too little time

**************

I use acetone too and it is especially good for the more greasy stains. the advantage is it evaporates quicker and leaves less residual stains first time round. mechanical damage is therefore less likely.

[John]

Umm the make up brush is actually BETTER than the lens pen.

I am talking just to brush dust etc of the lens, not for "washing" a mirror.

Why is that

What I mean is, in what way is the make up brush better (apart from the price) ?.

Edit: OK you have clarified in your post edit.

You are still coming across as rather terse though, thought you ought to know

[GoatGirl]

Why is that

What I mean is, in what way is the make up brush better (apart from the price) ?.

I just said why, but sure i can repeat myself, it is softer than the lens pen.

[moonwatcher]

can you verify the effectivness of this brush to shift dirt etc?? what you used it on, and condition before and after. thanks

[GoatGirl]

can you verify the effectivness of this brush to shift dirt etc?? what you used it on, and condition before and after. thanks

*stamp* Verified by Me™

Since you don't mind paying 4x the price for a similar item, why don't you just buy it and see? If you don't like it, gift wrap it and give it to the wife on her birthday?

If you think that little "Never gets dry" pad on the bottom of the lens pen is worth 7 GBP, then fine, go for it. You can chose synthetic bristles (plastic, made from oil) and "nano" "never gets dry™" pads over a natural bristle make up brush which is very soft but doesn't have a PR department behind it.

Go down to your local boots and test the make up brushes.

You should probably ask yourself WHY you got "dirt" on your lens that requires a road sweeper to clean it off in the first place.

We all (or should) use skylight filters on our DSLR camera lenses for day time no? So why not use a similar good quality one on your scope?

[moonwatcher]

"*stamp* Verified by Me™"...err didn't mean to get you all fussed up...

[yeti monster]

I don't use micro-fibre cloths, I'm lucky enough to have a ready supply of Kimtech 'delicate task wipes' at work for our safety glasses. I've been using these, single use tissues, for all my optical needs for several years now, including cleaning primary and secondary mirrors, lenses and EPs without any problem. In conjunction with these I use Uvex lens cleaning fliud, also readily available from my employer.

In the OLLR Observatory I have a small bottle of the fluid with an atomising spray head and a box of the tissues on hand at all times.

[glowjet]

Last time I was in Specsavers the ladies were using an atomized spray together with their lens cloths, I forgot to ask, does anyone know what it is ? they won`t use anything which is detrimental to delicate plastic lens coatings.

[ScubaMike]

Clean with gentle circular, outward movements turning/folding the cloth often.

Strange advice, the opposite to the advice Celestron give to follow when cleaning the corrector plate on an SCT.

Quote from user instructions:-

"Apply the solution to the tissue and then apply the tissue to the lens. Low pressure strokes should go from the centre ot the corrector to the outer portion. Do NOT rub in circles"

(copied verbatim from the manual including the highlighting, except I corrected their spelling of centre )

They also suggest a cleaning fluid of 60% Isopropyl alcohol and 40% distilled water, or a couple of drops of liquid soap in a quart of water.

[John]

"*stamp* Verified by Me™"...err didn't mean to get you all fussed up...

Don't worry yourself about it

[focaldepth]

So we have 3 techniques so far, a solvent is used to dissolve greasy residue then:

1)Clean with gentle circular, outward movements turning/folding the cloth often.

2)Apply the solution to the tissue and then apply the tissue to the lens. Low pressure strokes should go from the centre of the corrector to the outer portion. Do NOT rub in circles.

3) 2nd pass - switch to microfibre with fluid, using a centre to outside motion only (not spirals) use a crease in the cloth to move across lens with the pressure coming from the cloth weight and not your hand. For each stroke, move to a clean section of cloth.

I think all 3 are very similar in intent.. It is a hard thing to describe but all 3 above go somewhere near to describing the technique of gently moving the dirt outwards and lifting it off the lens, while ensuring you do not grind small hard bits of grit into the lens surface.

I have no axe to grind re:- straight lines or short arcs, I just find it easier to to use arcs myself. On DVDs straight radial lines are used but I think that has to do with scratches confusing the laser. On lenses I can't think it matters which way the cleaning scratches go. Just try to minimise damage in the first place.

Does anyone know what the physics of diffraction patterns caused by cleaning scratches does to an image? I would guess we just get a gradual softening of the image.