Dear friends,

I saw a lot of advice about cleaning the lens, and all of it was about using high pressure air to blow dust of it. I have a job tomorrow and I don't have the time to go to a place to do that, so what is the best way to clean it. I have a microfiber cloth from Iclean, would this do?

Cheers
Niels

I have a little air blower that you squeeze for a little blast of air, a lens-cleaning brush, and then a special lens-cleaning fluid with kodak-made tissue to clean off the fluid, plus a few orange sticks and q-tips for anything stuck-on.

I try to only use the air blower and brush, but if there's something on the lens that just won't come off, then i'll go w/ the fluid and wipes.

If you are going to wipe the lens with anything, be sure to at least blow it off first with either compressed air or one of those little rubber bladders that you can squeeze by hand. I never wipe the actual lens with anything myself -that's why I always have the UV filter on at all times. If I need to wipe that I use a little PEC12 (they sell kits w/pads and solution). This is the same stuff people are using to clean the CMOS sensors with, so it ought to be safe for a coated filter or lens.

I don't ever use those non-static clothes as they tend to leave a film. Personally, the kodak/zeiss cleaning cloths seem a little harsh to me for whatever reason.

Thanks guys, I am really getting a uv filter now...

Niels

Good idea - clean the lens, then install the UV filter. You should never need to clean the lens again.
All the camera's I have, have had the lens cleaned when I got it, and shouldn't need cleaning again (accidents aside...). The UV filter is then installed, and that just gets cleaned with whatever is handy...

Kyle