RE: Simsolv 224.... maybe they reformulated for some reason... best to email them about it.....the Simsolv 247 says its for optical devices

I've seen it around some electronic supply places but it's not well known ....

I've been using this Rosco Lens Cleaner...

Rosco US : Film/Video : Rosco Lens Cleaner

Has anyone tried Zeiss Ultra Clarity?

http://www.filmtools.com/ulclarlencle1.html

I haven't tried this one:

Rexton Optical Cleaner:
Rexton | Lens Cleaner - 8 Oz. Spray | 4126 | B&H Photo Video

I'll probably regret suggesting this but....

I'm surprised by all the mentions of breathing on the lens. Do as you wish but I wouldn't subject my lens and possibly camera innards with warm moist air, most particluarly that has bacteria in it. From my way of thinking this is another way to possibly create problems like condensation and haze inside the lens.

I'm 100% sure it's done all the time but......

Tom, Thanks for putting it that way. It came at a good time. I readily admit being too one dimensional about putting a filter on a lens the moment it comes out of the box. I didn't even think about it ... just put up with it thinking the filter was not the reason for stray reflections.

Just this past Sunday I took in the surroundings, decided I was not in a sandstorm, and removed the UV filter. My shot was a likely situation for filter induced artifacts and I see only one at 01:56:00 (the sun was at my back and had set a few minutes before):
YouTube - Space Shuttle Launch STS-119 March 15 2009

That's in contrast to having them dance all over the whole clip on this one like fodder for the UFO theories:
YouTube - Delta 2 Rocket Night Launch with Kepler Payload - March 6 2009

I know the lighting was very different between the two but having seen how bad they can be on the Delta Rocket, and only having one shot at acquisition of the Shuttle, I was glad you'd made your point. Thanks.

That sure is a filter at work, and you can always tell it's a flat piece of glass as the secondary reflection of the bright point source of light is always equal and opposite across the centre point of the frame.

We've all seen it lots in the movies, where the DOP does a day-for-night shot using deep blue filters. The car headlights enter the frame top left and the filter's flare reflections enter the frame bottom right. If the headlights were to stop dead centre of the frame, so too would the flare.

That's not to say such a high contrast shot would be perfect with the filter removed, as a typical 13 element zoom lens has lots more air-to-glass surfaces where flare such as this can be generated. But less flare comes down to fewer and cleaner elements with better coating.

Adding a filter always ups the element count and of course it becomes your new front element. If the fight against flare the front element is always the most important, so any filters better be very expensive.

tom.

I really appreciate the different views and ideas this thread has brought out. I shoot outdoors almost exclusively. Yet in nearly a decade of video/photo work I've never used a protective filter. I do occasionally need to clean the lenses, and I do need to use something other than a dry cloth or wipe of some sort on occasion. I'll explore some of the suggestions for cleaning fluids listed here.

I use Pec Pads (also used for sensor cleaning on my still cams) for my dry cleaning. They're non abrasive and shouldn't scratch the lens if you've removed as much debris as possible beforehand.

Chris Hurd & Battle Vaughn
 

I would like to hear from both Chris Hurd and Battle Vaughn on this subject. Battle, is usually out in the field using his camera for news reporting so I can only imagine he has the need to clean his lens frequently and Chris always seems to give a very informed opinion.