Cleaning cloth supplied with a BST; any good?

[Spec-Chum]

I'm assuming it happens with all of them, but I received quite a quality looking cleaning cloth with by BST 8mm EP and was wondering if its actually any good?

Or would I be better with a wonder cloth or just cotton buds?

Many thanks

[Mike73]

The problem with just using a cloth is that you risk scratching the lens coating if there is any kind of muck on the EP.

I simply use a rocket blower to blow off any dust then use a lens pen to clean any smears off.

I don't think its advisable to clean your EP's too often either because of there delicate coatings.

[Spec-Chum]

Hmm, cheers mike. I must get a rocket blower, everyone seems to recommend them.

I was just asking as my tal barlow looks quite dusty after only 2 outings!

[Antscope]

Micro fibre cloths are made in one factory in china as the machinery to make them is very specialized/expensive, so theyre all pretty much of a muchness, you could cut that one up into square's and use them as and when, then just throw away after use to negate scratching your ep, micro fibre is a great invention as by itself it doesnt scratch, you could even blot the ep lense with a piece till the fluid evaporates so there's zero chance of scratching.

[alan potts]

The best way to remove dust is use a can of compressed air available from any camera shop, Jessops or Jacobs then clean them with optical fluid from Baader and either lens tissue of and optical cloth. I have many thousands of pounds of Canon lens and telescopes and have been using this system for years and my lenses are like new.

The trick is take care! don't rush it.

Alan.

[Saleratus]

The best way to clean Eps is to first blow with a rocket blaster to remove any particles you can. Then take a small square of optical cleaning paper wrapped around a cotton bud. Get that wet enough with optical cleaning fluid so that it will slide easily over the lens surface, then gently rub.

The danger in any optical glass cleaning is the you may end up pushing around a small abrasive particle that you didn't see and cause scratches. That's why you should never rub a lens "dry" and you should use a fresh piece of paper each time. It's best not to use naked cotton buds because the cotton fibres can get caught in the edges between the glass and the eyepieces housing.

The method above is that recommended by Roland Christen of Astro-physics.

[alan potts]

Saleratus,

I don't know what a rocket blaster is but what do you think compressed air is, to me it is one and the same thing. I whole heartly agree you must remove all dust, after that you must use new clean cotton buds ( not many are cotton these days) or lens tissues ( this is a universally accepted way of cleaning a lens of any type.

Alan.

[sologuitarist61]

Looks like a standard sort of cloth that you get with specs. I have kept mine, but they are still in the cellophane they came in and will probably stay there too. :smiley: