Sully2
Well-Known Member
Optics range from eyeglasses to multi $XXXX rifle scopes. Why clean one totally different than any of the others.
Tutorial-Foolproof way to Clean Optics
- Thread starter Losthwy
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Optics range from eyeglasses to multi $XXXX rifle scopes. Why clean one totally different than any of the others.
I'll reply one last time running the risk you are being argumentative or possibly obtuse. You can clean all your hunting (waterproof) optics in this manner. Simple concept.
I've cleaned my two Zeiss Conquest scopes, Weaver .22 scope, Vortex Razor binoculars and Pentax ED spotting scope without a problem.
I just tried it with my camera with Leica lenses ...
Losthwy , I think you have a good Process . I have been using a similar ( but shorter Process ) for decades . In my Work , I used to clean Lenses that cost more than most peoples houses . Mostly I used Ethanol in liquid and vapor form ( for bare glass & quartz ) , but these Lenses were never very dirty . I also was involved in Testing Contaminates and did find a really clean Optical Cloth , but its absorbancy leaves something to be desired .....such is life . . I bought a lifetime supply , but unfortunately that Cloth is no longer available . For my own use , I use Isopropyl Alcohol which is commonly available in 70% and 91% . I should state my personal Optics are never very dirty either . I use A Qtip soaked in the Isopropyl . I guess it would be prudent to spray the Isopropyl on first .....if the Optics had particles on them . If I buy used Scopes which are dirty ( fingerprints , etc . ) , on them ......I sort of just flood the Lens with Isopropyl for a while and then very gently swab it with the soaked Qtip , and do not use the same soaked Qtip for more than one pass . I always wear Nitrile Gloves as I don't want to Transfer any hand oils to the Qtip or Optical Cloth which would then re-contaminate the Lens . I then gently wipe with the Optical Cloth and change to a clean spot on the Cloth about every pass . Last step is to Breathe on the Lens and finally wipe again with the Optical Cloth . I think your pure water would work well too , but I no longer have access to 18 Megohm Water and besides ......I have Certified Chemically Pure Breath !
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bruce_ventura
Well-Known Member
Losthwy, I use a similar method for cleaning my glasses. I'm open-minded, so I tried your method on an old bino that I give to friends when we go hiking. I got the lenses real dirty by 1) applying a greasy thumbprint, followed by sprinkling dusty soil from the backyard on the lens, following by fogging the lens using my breath.
Step 1. Yes, the tap warm tap water seemed to remove most of the dust. I am concerned that some abrasive dust remains but is not visible because the lens is wet. If so, the next step would scratch the lens.
Step 2. Yes, rubbing with a clean lens cloth saturated with 91% isopropyl alcohol (IPA) removed all of the grease. My fingers were clean (I had just washed them). The lens dried quickly and looked very clean. I was tempted to stop there, but kept going.
Steps 3-5. Rinsing again with IPA, tap water and distilled water left the lens completely wet. From your description, I was expecting the lens to be dry. I then resorted to step 2 again to get the lens dry. I'm not sure what the value of Steps 3-5 is. Please clarify. What did I do wrong?
I have several other comments. First, this method goes though lots of lens cloths. I used a brand new one. My experience is that they get dirty pretty fast. Once dirty, the leave a film whenever they are used to clean a lens. Second, I would need a clean lens cloth, and generous amounts of IPA, tap water and possibly distilled water to use this process. I'm not likely to have all of those items anywhere except at home. I need to clean lenses in the field more often than at home. Third, running water over the bino eyepiece left the inside of the eyecup wet, and this sliding part is impossible to dry quickly. Later a drop of water ran from the eyecup onto the lens.
Like a lot of folks, I've developed a method that I can use at home and in the field. My method produces a pristine, clean lens and does not use a lot of materials. Most importantly, it does not scratch the lens. Repeatedly rubbing a dusty lens with a lens cloth or Lens Pen eventually scratches and damages the anti-reflection coating. My method uses a lens brush, lens tissue, plastic tweezers and a fast drying lens cleaning fluid. I didn't learn anything from this trial to make me want to change methods.
Step 1. Yes, the tap warm tap water seemed to remove most of the dust. I am concerned that some abrasive dust remains but is not visible because the lens is wet. If so, the next step would scratch the lens.
Step 2. Yes, rubbing with a clean lens cloth saturated with 91% isopropyl alcohol (IPA) removed all of the grease. My fingers were clean (I had just washed them). The lens dried quickly and looked very clean. I was tempted to stop there, but kept going.
Steps 3-5. Rinsing again with IPA, tap water and distilled water left the lens completely wet. From your description, I was expecting the lens to be dry. I then resorted to step 2 again to get the lens dry. I'm not sure what the value of Steps 3-5 is. Please clarify. What did I do wrong?
I have several other comments. First, this method goes though lots of lens cloths. I used a brand new one. My experience is that they get dirty pretty fast. Once dirty, the leave a film whenever they are used to clean a lens. Second, I would need a clean lens cloth, and generous amounts of IPA, tap water and possibly distilled water to use this process. I'm not likely to have all of those items anywhere except at home. I need to clean lenses in the field more often than at home. Third, running water over the bino eyepiece left the inside of the eyecup wet, and this sliding part is impossible to dry quickly. Later a drop of water ran from the eyecup onto the lens.
Like a lot of folks, I've developed a method that I can use at home and in the field. My method produces a pristine, clean lens and does not use a lot of materials. Most importantly, it does not scratch the lens. Repeatedly rubbing a dusty lens with a lens cloth or Lens Pen eventually scratches and damages the anti-reflection coating. My method uses a lens brush, lens tissue, plastic tweezers and a fast drying lens cleaning fluid. I didn't learn anything from this trial to make me want to change methods.
Bruce
I flood the lens with alcohol and use one lens tissue unless it is usually dirty or a large lens in a spotting scope.
Step 4 is to rinse out any the alcohol along with the grease with warm tap water. I do this at the tub spout and run about 1/2 a gallon.
The final step (should of been #5) using distill water is to get rid of any tap water that will leave spots. Use enough to thoroughly rinse out all the tap water, and any remaining alcohol both of which, contain impurities that will spot. Then shake any excess distill water off and let dry. I just pour it directly from the bottle onto the lens thoroughly flooding it. Hope that helps.
I flood the lens with alcohol and use one lens tissue unless it is usually dirty or a large lens in a spotting scope.
Step 4 is to rinse out any the alcohol along with the grease with warm tap water. I do this at the tub spout and run about 1/2 a gallon.
The final step (should of been #5) using distill water is to get rid of any tap water that will leave spots. Use enough to thoroughly rinse out all the tap water, and any remaining alcohol both of which, contain impurities that will spot. Then shake any excess distill water off and let dry. I just pour it directly from the bottle onto the lens thoroughly flooding it. Hope that helps.
bruce_ventura
Well-Known Member
OK. I get it now. I repeated the process, and then waited for the lens to dry. There were no spots. Instead of using distilled water, I used RO water from the system I bought at Home Depot and installed under my kitchen sink. It worked just fine.
This time, however, I let the lens dry after step 1, before proceeding to step 2. Using a flashlight, I could see that there was still dust on the lens. This is what I suspected. Rinsing with warm water alone did not remove all the dust. In my opinion, this is a flaw in this method.
If the lens still has dust on it, then rubbing the lens with a cloth in step 2 will scratch the very thin anti-reflection coating on the lens. Even though the cloth is wet, you are still pushing the lens cloth onto the dusty lens and rubbing the dust around the lens. The wet dust is abrasive, just like wet sandpaper is abrasive. The damage won't be noticable after one cleaning process, but it will build up over time with many cleanings. I recommend that you find a way to remove the dust before going after the greasy smudges, fingerprints, etc. This is essentilly what tulku described in his post when he used a wet Q-tip to wipe the lens with one pass.
If all I had was a lens cloth, I would very gently wipe the lens once from one side to the other using a wet lens cloth. Then fold the lens cloth in half and rub the lens to remove smudges. After that, I would discard or wash the lens cloth, because I won't remember later which side has the dust on it, and it's been thoroughly contaminated with oils from my fingers.
This time, however, I let the lens dry after step 1, before proceeding to step 2. Using a flashlight, I could see that there was still dust on the lens. This is what I suspected. Rinsing with warm water alone did not remove all the dust. In my opinion, this is a flaw in this method.
If the lens still has dust on it, then rubbing the lens with a cloth in step 2 will scratch the very thin anti-reflection coating on the lens. Even though the cloth is wet, you are still pushing the lens cloth onto the dusty lens and rubbing the dust around the lens. The wet dust is abrasive, just like wet sandpaper is abrasive. The damage won't be noticable after one cleaning process, but it will build up over time with many cleanings. I recommend that you find a way to remove the dust before going after the greasy smudges, fingerprints, etc. This is essentilly what tulku described in his post when he used a wet Q-tip to wipe the lens with one pass.
If all I had was a lens cloth, I would very gently wipe the lens once from one side to the other using a wet lens cloth. Then fold the lens cloth in half and rub the lens to remove smudges. After that, I would discard or wash the lens cloth, because I won't remember later which side has the dust on it, and it's been thoroughly contaminated with oils from my fingers.
... luckily, it's waterproof and that's close to what I use to rinse off after each underwater use, i.e snorkeling.
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SidecarFlip
Well-Known Member
Hey Sully..
Have a couple beers and whiz on your bino's. That will remove the smudges and leave them smelling pristine.....
I use the kit that came with my Nikon DSLR for lens cleaning. I believe it's alcohol and a micro fiber cloth....
My eye glasses get run under the shower and dried with a bath towl along with my body....
Have a couple beers and whiz on your bino's. That will remove the smudges and leave them smelling pristine.....
I use the kit that came with my Nikon DSLR for lens cleaning. I believe it's alcohol and a micro fiber cloth....
My eye glasses get run under the shower and dried with a bath towl along with my body....
bruce_ventura
Well-Known Member
I forgot to say one thing. I was surprised at how clean the objective lenses came out using Losthwy's process. I mean edge to edge clean. The inside of the objective and eyepiece bells were clean too. I have to work pretty hard with lens tissue to get lenses that clean.
This thread seemed to get derailed at the beginning. It's easy to pick at someone else's methods. I think Losthwy is on to something here. The only change a would recommend is to gently wipe off the dust before rubbing the lens with a cloth. Otherwise, I think this method is brilliant and worth doing whenever you have the chance.
FWIW, I've been using isopropyl alcohol to clean precision laboratory lenses and other optics for decades. When used as a cleaner, It will not harm optics, plastics or rubber. It's also reasonably safe to handle.
This thread seemed to get derailed at the beginning. It's easy to pick at someone else's methods. I think Losthwy is on to something here. The only change a would recommend is to gently wipe off the dust before rubbing the lens with a cloth. Otherwise, I think this method is brilliant and worth doing whenever you have the chance.
FWIW, I've been using isopropyl alcohol to clean precision laboratory lenses and other optics for decades. When used as a cleaner, It will not harm optics, plastics or rubber. It's also reasonably safe to handle.
Sully2
Well-Known Member
Hey Sully..
Have a couple beers and whiz on your bino's. That will remove the smudges and leave them smelling pristine.....
I use the kit that came with my Nikon DSLR for lens cleaning. I believe it's alcohol and a micro fiber cloth....
My eye glasses get run under the shower and dried with a bath towl along with my body....
I would but Im not a beer drinker....more Maker's Mark or Jack Daniels man.
This thread has taught me more than 1 lesson. Reading thru it...Ive found that if some of these yawhoos can hachet *** up a simple job of cleaning important lenses....Id sure as hell never let those people work on a rifle of mine!
