There’s nothing worse than to be shooting out in the sun, having just \tsmeared yourself with sunblock, and then to accidentally touch the front \telement of your lens. Uck!!! This greasy smear can ruin a perfectly \tgood shooting day! One method I’ve always recommended for cleaning front \telements, fogging it with ones breath, doesn’t cut the gooey factor \tof sunblock or even basic skin oils. Well unless you want to shoot through \ta fog effect filter all day, you’ve got to clean that junk off and not \tdamage the glass.<\/p>\n
I ran into this problem all too often a decade ago. An outstanding \trepairman and technical advisor to my book, Nikon System Handbook, introduced \tme to a magical pink fluid when I first brought him my mess. It worked \tso well I asked for some of what he called, his “secret sauce”. That \tliquid gold has cleaned my worst mess in seconds for two decades and \tas a wildlife photographer, I couldn’t imagine using anything else to \tget the great outdoors off my equipment (it’s cleaned everything from \tsap off the front element to sticky adhesive from a lens barrel). The \tprecious fluid that cleans up my act is called Lens Clens.<\/p>\n
What makes this lens cleaning solution so good, heck if I know! The \tchemical components making up the magical pink fluid is a mystery (actually \ta trade secret), but the results are not. The high evaporation rate \tand zero residue of Lens Clens makes it the perfect lens cleaning fluid. \tMore importantly, it’s perfectly safe for the multi coatings of our \tprecious lenses. The other lens cleaning fluids I’ve tried tend to either \tjust move the mess around the glass or worse, leave their own film to \tbe wiped off by some other means. I’ve tried many different lens cleaning \tfluids in a pinch, but for the past ten years Lens Clens has been the \tone I depend on.<\/p>\n
The cleaning of lens elements seems to be a constant process when \tyou’re out in the field. Usually left out of the cleaning process, but \tjust as important, is the camera body and all other equipment surfaces \tsubjected to the natural oils of our hands (especially when we’ve cornered \tthat great photograph and the adrenaline starts running) smear across \ttheir metallic surfaces. More important than ever with modern electronic \tcameras, these surfaces need to be kept clean. An important and effective \tmethod to keeping all these surfaces clean and operational can be maintained \twith Lens Clens.<\/p>\n
At the end of each shooting day, I believe cameras and lenses that \twere used should be cleaned. The oils from our hands (with or without \tsunblock) leave an oily film on our equipment. If not wiped off, this \toil will attract and adhere dust to our equipment. This in turn will \twork its way into our camera gear in the form of oily dirt that can \tpotentially cause shorts in our electronics or large dust spots on the \tinternal surfaces of elements in lenses. Either case means repair bills \tand lost shooting time which could be prevented.<\/p>\n
The process starts with the dirty equipment. No matter what’s used, \tyou want to avoid having to clean the front element, as often as possible. \tIt’s going to need cleaning enough without you doing it every time you \tshoot. If a simple burst of air doesn’t clean off the element and there’s \ta finger print (now how did that get on there?) or other stain on the \tsurface, a drop of Lens Clens will do the trick. A drop of Lens Clens \ton lens tissue wiped in a circular motion, working from the center of \tthe element out, will clean off the worst stain.<\/p>\n
On a small surface, 52-62mm in size, a single application will do \tthe job nicely. With larger elements such as 122mm in size, a couple \tof applications of Lens Clens will be required as the liquid has a high \tevaporation rate (the reason why it’s so good). And if the smear on \tthe element is some awful substance such as sunblock, or you’re cleaning \ta number of elements, use a clean lens tissue each time you use a drop \tof Lens Clens. If you don’t, you could smear the dirt you just cleaned \toff one spot onto another.<\/p>\n
The last thing you want to do is place the liquid lens cleaner directly \ton the lens element. Not that the liquid will hurt the surface, but \tyou want to avoid the possibility that liquid will run down into the \tinternal workings of the lens or camera. Lens Clens comes in a 1-3\/4 \tounce spray bottle that puts a controlled amount of solution on a surface. \tBut as long as Murphy is always around, it’s better to be safe than \tsorry.<\/p>\n
When it comes to lens care, cleaning the front element is only the \tstart, not the finish. All the surfaces of the lens barrel are subject \tto being smeared with the oils from our hands. To see if I’m telling \tthe truth, put a small amount of Lens Clens on a clean, white, cotton \tcloth and rub the focusing ring of your lens. I did this recently at \ta workshop and the mouths of the participants as they dropped tells \tof the results.<\/p>\n
Receiving an unproportionate amount of skin oils is the camera body \titself. The grip, shutter release and camera back receive the brunt \tof this oil slick. These areas are critical areas to get clean as dust \tattracted to them soon migrates into the workings of the camera itself. \tOnce again, a couple drops of Lens Clens on a clean, white, cotton cloth \trubbed around the entire body will reveal the worth of your efforts. \tThe camera back itself is a major area to keep clean as dirt from it \toften migrates onto the film back and opened camera, then transferring \tto the film causing scratches.<\/p>\n
Lens Clens was developed thirty years ago for cleaning of optics in \ttheir own manufacturing process. It’s nothing new to thousands of professionals \tin the optical business, just new to the user of those optics. They \tmanufacture four different formulas of Lens Clens, I use No.1 though \tnot recommended for use on plastic. A 1-3\/4 ounce bottle sells for just \t$4.35 (The government charges a HAZMAT tax on shipping, minimum of $7.00, \tmight want to order with friends to help lower cost.) and will last \ta long time (years!). They also produce cleaning kits called Clens Kit\u2122. \tFor more information on this lifesaving (and equipment saving) product, http:\/\/www.lensclens.com<\/a> is your source!<\/p>\n If you take good care of your equipment, it will take good care of \tyou!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" An Important Tool for Your Camera Bag There’s nothing worse than to be shooting out in the sun, having just smeared yourself with sunblock, and then to accidentally touch the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","sync_status":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","castos_file_data":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[93],"tags":[],"dipi_cpt_category":[],"series":[],"class_list":["post-7268","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-technical-tips"],"episode_featured_image":false,"episode_player_image":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.moosepeterson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Podcast.jpg?fit=1500%2C1500&quality=89&ssl=1","download_link":"","player_link":"","audio_player":false,"episode_data":{"playerMode":"dark","subscribeUrls":{"amazon":{"key":"amazon","url":"https:\/\/www.audible.com\/pd\/Podcast\/B08JJQC1GR?ref=a_pd_item-n_c0_bc&pf_rd_p=1da7ab30-c785-4a0e-a160-4a7e7077b353&pf_rd_r=EEDMYHQM3DZ05FPRTHMJ","label":"Amazon","class":"amazon","icon":"amazon.png"},"apple_podcasts":{"key":"apple_podcasts","url":"","label":"Apple Podcasts","class":"apple_podcasts","icon":"apple-podcasts.png"},"rss":{"key":"rss","url":"","label":"RSS","class":"rss","icon":"rss.png"},"spotify":{"key":"spotify","url":"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/2fRA9VaVfSdQMKf1ipxr0tipxr0t","label":"Spotify","class":"spotify","icon":"spotify.png"},"itunes":{"key":"itunes","url":"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/moose-podcast\/id1107405746","label":"iTunes","class":"itunes","icon":"itunes.png"}},"rssFeedUrl":"https:\/\/www.moosepeterson.com\/blog\/feed\/podcast\/moose-podcast","embedCode":"Lens Clens\u2122<\/a><\/blockquote>