How to Remove Fingerprints From a Camera Lens

If you're careful, you shouldn't need to clean your camera lens often. A little dust is unlikely to affect image quality, so don't become obsessive about it. Fingerprints, however, can damage the lens coating.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Sable Artist's Brush Or Hand-squeeze Dust Blower
• Cloths Or Lens-cleaning Paper
• Lens-cleaning Fluid

1. Start by using a sable artist's brush or a hand-squeeze dust blower to remove dust particles from the lens. Compressed air shouldn't be used for this purpose because it can damage the lens by suddenly lowering its temperature.

2. Put a small drop of lens-cleaning fluid on the end of a piece of cloth or lens-cleaning paper. Lightly wipe the lens with the cloth or paper in a circular motion.

3. Dry the lens with a fresh piece of cloth or lens-cleaning paper.

Tips & Warnings

• Never put lens-cleaning fluid directly on a lens.

[mikeb380]

on 7/30/2007 To clean the lens, use an ear syringe and a microfiber cloth. use the syringe to blow off any granules on the lens and then whisk with a corner of the cloth. Next wipe across the lens in parallel strokes with the microfiber cloth. Lens tissue or other type of cloth can scratch the lens. Don't use fluid on the lens as that can lift the coating and move between the lens elements and body. to keep the lens clean and unscratched, use a UV, Skylight filter or a glass optical blank to protect the lens. If you scratch a filter it is a small price to pay for lens protection.

[nilutpal]

on 12/10/2006 I have to use a fundus camera to take photographs of the retina. I am using Zeiss F450 fundus camera.Occasionally the camera lens get dirty by prints from the patients nose(which is more oily) and also dust is a constant problem. I have tried using the abovementioned method. However, results are not very satisfactory. like to know more about lens cleaning.

on 7/29/2006 Try to make your own lens cleaning fluid. I use a solution based on one by the Arkansas Space Observatory that's made of 1 ounce of Windex or Glass Plus, 1 ounce of 91-99% isopropyl alcohol or methanol, 9 ounces of water, and 1-2 drops of Kodak PhotoFlo (optional if using methanol) filtered through a coffee filter into a small 12-14 ounce bottle. It works great on glass lenses but, don't use it to clean focusing screens!

on 2/7/2006 I was scared after cleaning the lens of my DSC-T7 camera with the Cokin fluid. Although I have taken all the care (not putting the cleaning fluid directly on the lens), the picture on the LCD became completely foggy. I was very upset with that, but after some hours the lens recovered, becoming nice and clean.