Cleaning lens on XH A1

[Todd Terry]

Is that kit made for cleaning photographic lenses? Do NOT ever use eyeglass cleaner or eyeglass tissues on photographic or cine lenses… you can wreck the coatings.

Believe it or not, you can use Glass Plus, the blue stuff for cleaning windows you can buy at the grocery store.

Yes… I’m serious. But it has to be GLASS PLUS.

Even the pro bigshot ACS cinematographers use Glass Plus.

This trick was discovered quite a while back when Olympus was testing coatings on a new generation of lenses with a bunch of different chemicals and cleaners. Many were surprised to find that Glass Plus cleaned well, and had no detrimental effect on the coatings or lens surfaces.

Just make sure the lenses are completely clean of any kind of “grit” or other abrasive, and use a bit of 100% cotton cloth with the Glass Plus to clean them (a piece of a well-laundered soft old tee-shirt works well).

T2

__________________________________
Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com

[Rob Fourchalk]

You gotta be kidding me. I would never I’ve guessed Glass Plus. This kit I have was boughton in the electronics section of London Drugs (Canada). It was with all the other photo accesories and has a picture of a gal holding a nikon slr.

Is this a safe bet then? Is camera cleaning solution different from camcorder cleaning solution?

I’m a little reluctant to shoot the glass plus at this stage (though I’m very impressed with that).

Thanks by the way Todd….

[Todd Terry]

“I’m a little reluctant to shoot the glass plus at this stage”

Oh I know what you mean completely. My set of primes are my babies. Whenever we travel they never leave my sight… it took me forever to find them… and they cost more than my first three cars combined (and one of them was a pretty nice car). So I was pretty darn hesitant to use Glass Plus even after all the assurances that it was perfectly safe. Finally, after yet another ASC DP vouched for it and assured me that every big-time cinematographer keeps a little bottle of it in his kit… I gave it a try. They were right.

It works, and is safe.

But yeah, I was nervous about it the first time. Probably the second time, too.

T2

__________________________________
Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com

[Brian Louis]

To add to what Todd mentioned, one thing to use to clean with is “MicroFiber cloth” usually you can pick up a piece the size of a dish towel for about $4-5 and cut it up in convenient sizes and store it in a plastic bag, microfiber will pick a fingerprint off without wetting a lense just by blotting it, not rubbing, if a lens is dirty invert it so its facing down, and spritz it with the cleaner Todd recommended, and then blot it dry and do it till its clean, never wet a lens that facing up or on its side, as liquid can go down through the lens and get inside, once you use a piece of cloth for heavy cleaning toss it

[Rob Fourchalk]

Impressive! One important question (actually 2): do you dilute the glass cleaner with water or anything? and….do you dab the cloth with the windex and then apply to lens or just spray right onto lens.

[Brian Louis]

[Rob Fourchalk] “do you dab the cloth with the windex and then apply to lens or just spray right onto lens.”
Depends on how dirty the lens gets, I used to do some camera repair, I’m in a tourist area, and I’ve gotten some real bad ones, if there is a chance of grit on the lens its best to invert it and spray a bit on with a atomizer to float the grit loose and then blot it dry, if have a stubborn fingerprint or other contaminate you could dampen a piece of cloth and blot it clean.
The best way to avoid a lens cockup is to use a Skylight filter or UV filter on the lens.
One thing I should mention is avoid using lens cleaners that contain alcohol it can stain some of the newer lens coatings, also some plastics that are used in camera construction can be damaged by it, particularly Lexan
One of my favorite lens cleaners is a little filtered distilled water and a few drops of Jet Dry Blue(dishwasher anti-spot), If I need something with solvent in it I use Glass Plus Blue.

[Rob Fourchalk]

Thanks for these responses. I’m gonna gather the neccessary strength to march down to Walmart and purchase me some “Glass Plus”

Just to recap:

This stuff will not destroy my Canon XH-A1s Lens right?

Still not sure if I need to dilute Glass Plus with water (hmmmm)- could either of you please set the record straight for me before I start the clean.

Other than that, thanks for all the details you’ve provided.

PS – this isn’t a cruel premature April Fool’s hoax is it? Can’t you sense the paranoia that has overtaken my soul. Glass Plus – they should market themselves for such tasks

[Chris Cottrell]

Take the camera to a professional facility. Many times i’ll see camera lenses come in with solvant leaked into them, scratches on the lenses because of wiping them incorrectly, etc. These types of lenses have different layers to them so its possible any artifacts you find may not always be on the surface. Find a place with a clean room.

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