Cleaning your XHA1 Lens?
 

I went to my local camera shot and asked for the items needed to clean the lens on my XHA1. They gave me a cloth made of mico fiber. This materal seems to course for the lens. How often should you clean the lens? Also whats strange is, even though I can see the dust on the lens it doesnt show up in the video. Also is there some kind of cleaning soultion that I should be using on the lens?

That's the problem with lenses. Whatever happens is permanent.

I ALWAYS order a UV filter with my camera and put it on the instant the camera is out of the box. The only time it comes off is to clean the filter with those microfiber cloths or change to another one. If you cannot clean it to you satisfaction, get a new one. I shot footage out of a sunroof once and had to trash the filter but I was sure glad all those bugs weren't on my lens.

All that said, once you get it clean, put a UV filter on it.

The reason you may not see the imperfections is because the focus point makes them totally blur out. Point your camera at a nice blue sky sometime and focus the camera as near as possible, you will probably see the dirt. Also, pointing the camera near a light (DO NOT USE THE SUN) will let you get some reflections that will also show the dirt.

Yes, geeting the lens protecter is a good idea and I will get one for sure. Meanwhile How should I clean my lens? Although I can see some dust on it. its not really that dirty. Its for preventitive measures.

You will find debate among the purists about this. For dust, there are aspirators that you squeeze and blow air and aspirators you squeeze that blow air and have a brush. These have been used for ages in photography. One might consider judicious use of compressed air. If it's a smudge or spot, then you are into a kit of some kind if you are uneasy about your microfiber cloth. I have no experience with the kits. My wife had trouble getting a recommended chemical for cleaning her still camera sensor due to transportation regulations. YMMV

watch out if you have one of those tins of air. I once held one at an angle whilst pointing it at the lens and some of the liquid propellant came out and damaged the anti-reflection coating.

Trouble was, it wasn't your average camera but a large liquid nitrogen cooled one which I was about to bolt on to the world's (then) largest infra-red telescope! It was certainly red face day for me!

Ian
Festival Video and Audio Previews - Festival Previews Ltd

Check out the Lens Pen products. The Lens Pen consists of a retractable soft brush on one end, which is used to remove the dust and grime from the lens prior to the actual cleaning. On the other end of the pen is a piece of chamois-coated rubber, and a cap to keep it clean. Inside the cap is a piece of foam which is impregnated with some carbon powder. The carbon powder lightly coats the chamois pad when the cap is replaced and twisted a couple of times.

After brushing away the debris on the lens, you use the chamois pad to do the actual cleaning. The carbon powder on the chamois pad absorbs the fingerprints, oil and general grime in the same way that the newsprint on newspaper cleans your glass windows! No damage is done to the lens because the carbon, chamois and rubber is soft and non-abrasive.

I met the inventor of the Lens Pen system at C.E.S. earlier this year. He advised me to stay away from using microfiber cloths for the simple reason that without first removing the dust and debris from the lens, all the cloth is doing is rubbing that debris across the lens element, which may scratch it. From my own experience, I also noticed that there were always tiny pieces of lint left on the lens after using microfiber cloths.

Since using the Lens Pen on my lenses, I can safely say they've never been so clean!

The company also has a sensor cleaning system which I've successfully used on my Canon 10D. No liquids are used and it's very safe and easy to do. I've not needed to manually clean the sensor on my 5D mk II.

See the Lenspen web site for more details.

Julian
(Not affiliated in any way with the company, just a happy customer)

I had one, practically new and only used once. It was in the camera bag in a car in the hot sun for a couple of hours. I got sprayed with water and went back to clean my lens and the lens pen put black powder crap all over my lens. Fortunately I had some lens cleaning fluid and soft cloth. Maybe I had a defective one, or they don't like being in a hot car. The good lens cleaning cloths are very soft, but there are some microfiber cloths I've seen that feel abrasive and I wouldn't use those. Lee Filters sells a nice soft and very big cloth designed for cleaning resin and glass filters, available at B&H. That's what I use now. Never use a cloth without lens cleaner and without brushing and blowing the dust off first.

Yeah, I certainly wouldn't use a Lenspen on a wet lens... it's a dry system and definitely not designed for use with any kind of liquid, including water! I have successfully used it to clean off *dried-on* water spots, though. Used as intended, and per the instructions, I think it works very well.

Julian

My 2 cents....

ONLY clean the lens with a cloth or a solution when absolutely necessary. For everyday removal of dust or lint use a anti static blow bulb and possibly a very soft lens brush to dislodge any static clung dust. A solution and any type of cloth/tissue or swab is a last resort and should only get use if there are oily smudges (fingerprints, ect.).

If you are in need of removing a smudge then a lens solution on a good quality q-tip (trust me I've seen crappy quality ones that leave a lot of loose lint and can scratch), rubbed very gently on the lense after blowing off all dust works. Go in very small circles (in case there is missed dust so it won't create a large scratch), and change q-tips several times to make sure it is not depositing oil back on the glass.

Work in good light and as dust free of place as possible. Finish the job by blotting and gently rubbing the solution off with more q-tips and lense tissue. Finally blow off the lens completely.

Considering there are coatings on the lense to help prevent reflections and control aberations this is another reason to use solutions as little as possible. While most will be relatively harmless, mitigate the possiblities of wear on coatings or creating scratches by useing solutions sparingly.

Everything that has been mentioned about a UV filter to protect your lense is very true. There is a downside in that you can get reflections off any filter (even really high quality ones) that appear in your video. The use of the supplied XHA1 lens hood or a secondary matte box will in most cases prevent these reflections. In general a UV filter can be cleaned without the associated risk of damaging an expensive piece of gear (a good one should run around $100+ (Tiffen are good). However the same principles apply.

I've never tried the lens pen so cannot speak to it's effectiveness, but I would still consider the caveat that frequent touching of a lens element is a recipe for problems.

Compressed air.....hate the stuff....blowbulbs last forever and no possibility of any aerosol solutions.

All the best,
James Hooey

Wow, it seems that there are lots of opinions on this. At this point I alsomst dont have a comfort level cleaning my lens. My camera is only twp months old and perhaps cleaning is not nessasary at this point. I would however like to clean it just as part of routine maintanence. ANy one else have any thoughts on this?

Clean it very carefully and then put a protective filter over it. You're not going to hurt it if you clean it with normal things and do it carefully. People scratch the coating by trying to rub off particles. I shot for years in horrible dirty situations that required serious lens cleaning after every setup. I've had diesel fuel splattered on me, strange chemicals, and on and on. But I've always used protective filters.

Well, I've been trying different methods, and still don't have one I like. I find that when I use liquids, I end up getting a fog and "swirls" that are very difficult to totally remove. I usually use a UV filter on my stock XHA1 lens, but there aren't filter threads for the WA lens, so you have to clean it. Here's my cleaning journey so far:

1. After brushing with lens brush, then use Q-tip with 91% alchohol. Left fibers and fog. Cleaned about 5 times, couldn't get swirls and fibers off.

2. I've tried the Nikon lens pen. Left black smudges all over my lens. I'm very afraid that any grit that gets on the lens wipe will then grind into my lens. I may order a new one and use it for the 2nd step after liquid cleaning, when necessary.

3. Zeiss lens cleaning packets (and Bosch & Lomb as well - very similar). It took three of these to get the fog removed, but its still not quite as clean as new. Also tends to create build-up around edges of lens.

4. Got with technician from a extremely well known company that works on $100,000 lenses on movie and TV sets. He gave me a small bottle of an elixir called SimSolv 224 and some lint-free cloths. The SimSolv is the best I've used so far for removing the "swirls". It evaporates incredibly quickly. You have to work quickly, but by the end of the 3rd application the lens was looking pretty good. I imagine it is a Freon product (smells like R-11 I used to use in the military electronic industry). I've tried to find a source for it, but haven't been able to find one. It may be a banned substance or require special licensing. I only have about 2 fl oz left!!!

I also use a good quality UV filter to protect the lens (around $100). A good quality UV filter will have good anti-reflective coatings to keep flare and ghosting to a minimum. I find I only need to clean the camera lens itself a couple of times a year, instead I am usually cleaning the filter surface. I have no experience with the lens pen, it sounds like a good product. I use a large bulb blower to remove coarse material and follow up with a light touch of a lens brush if there is sand or grit left behind. Even though good quality cotton cloth is not recommended because it can have silica in it, I have used this material and a good lens cleaner (or breathed on the lens to fog it up) for years with no visible degradation in the lens. (Apply a few drops of cleaner to your cloth and not to the lens.)

I have switched to using micro-fiber cloths. They are designed for cleaning lenses. Although the texture may appear coarse, they are made of micro fibers and will protect your lens coatings if you have removed the grit first. Try to remove oils from your fingers and periodically wash the microfiber cloth in dish detergent to minimize persistant smudging. The glass and outer coatings are pretty tough. If you are reasonable careful they will stay in good condition for years. Even if you are not reasonably carefull they will probably stay in good condition for years. You probably won't be using the camera for 10 to 20 years (the format will likely be obsolete much sooner), so don't be afraid to clean your lens. It can take it, as long as you are reasonably careful. If something catastrophic happens to the outer camera lens glass, Canon can probably replace that for you.

Cheers,

Pat

I've never used a filter to protect my high end DSLR still camera lenses because common knowledge seems to be it reduces the quality of the pictures because the filter glass is not as high quality as the lens glass and reduces the resolution. Because of this, I've also never used a filter on my video camera lenses. I always have a lens hood on though, so that offers some protection.

Am I in the minority as one who doesn't use a protective filter on my video lens? Do you people who use a protective filter feel it doesn't reduce the quality of your shots?

Denise, I couldn't prove it, but it seems like the image quality is perfectly fine with a good filter on. Although I usually use a filter on my DSLR, sometimes I have reomoved the filter when shooting landscapes with L lenses to get the absolute best detail. It seems to me that the much reduced resolution of HD compared with DSLRs would make any filter impact pretty negligible, although I could be wrong.

Pat

It doesn't if you use high quality filters. A cheap $50 filter probably would affect quality, although whether anybody could really see it on most shots might be debatable. Same goes for any color or fx filters, I think. You get what you pay for with filters.

OK Kevin - I have strong views on this 'protective filter' talk. If you're filming in sandstorms then yes, it's a good idea. For 95% of all we lot film a filter is not only superfluous, it's degrading. It reduces the efficiency of your hood, introduces two more air to glass surfaces and increases the risk of flare greatly - especially when shooting into the light.

Modern lens coatings are really hard, and you'd have to go out of your way to cause damage. My spectacles are Zeiss T* MC, and I clean them every single day and dry them with kitchen towel (pulped Canadian Redwoods). The coating remains spotless and perfect.

Don't use any cleaning fluid, just don't. A well washed microfibre cloth is all you'll need. Just go carefully and treat that front element with respect.

tom.

Tom,

You're saying wipe the lens dry? Why avoid alcohol or other coating-approved cleaner?

Yes, I'm saying don't use any fluids on your lens. Kodak had to withdraw their lens cleaning fluid some years ago as it crept to the element edges and some owners reported element edge blacking removal (shudder). I've been very wary of fluids ever since.

The microfibre cloth is designed to be used dry, and modern coatings are far tougher than they were years ago - when protective filters were indeed a good idea.

tom.

Unless the camera has been kept in a dust-free environment for the last 2 months then the lens almost certainly needs to be cleaned. I check mine before every shoot, and periodically during the shoot as well, in case it collects any dust.

Since you mentioned that you can already see some dust, better get a blower and blow it away if possible.

Richard

I think we've all lived through what we thought was a good shoot, to only see in post the "twinkles" of dust left on the lens. Ahhhhhh.

Tom, that's why it's best just to barely moisten a cloth with lens cleaning fluid. If you apply the fluid to the lens, you risk getting solvent into the lens. Speaking of hard lens coatings, I recently bought and used a $2700 multi-element underwater lens port. It's a wide angle converter with a very large diameter domed outer element (with a high-tech antireflective coating.) I used it twice a day for a week. In between trips I rinsed the saltwater off the lens port, blew the sand particles off with a blower, tried to brush the remaining sand off, and then cleaned it with a fluid designed for underwater optics. Despite my best efforts, there were always a few specks of tiny coral sand left on the surface of the glass before I used the cloth. I decided to use the cloth anyway. It may have been my only chance to use this system this year. The glass allows sharp focus basically from the glass surface out to infinity. Any specks or scratches of any appreciable size would have been visible in the shots. While minding my own business on the reef, two sea turtles started chasing each other around me. One decided to do a U-turn right in front of me and kicked the glass with its hind fins. I could hear the claws scratch across the glass. That actually happened twice that week. When I got home I did another cleaning and inspection before putting the lens port away. Viewing the glass surface and coating in sunlight showed that they seem to be in pristine condition. The coatings are pretty forgiving.

Of course I missed the best part of the turtle chase because I decided to flip the housing up and wave the tiny bubbles off the port glass so they wouldn't interfere with the shot. Obviously there is always some tension between using our equipment and getting the shot on one hand and protecting our equipment and getting the best image quality on the other. It seems that each of us approaches this compromise in at least slightly different ways, depending in part on what risks we are willing to put up with and our experience. I am still working on both sides of that equation.


Pat

Thanks for the input everyone. Based on the cooments, I think a dry micorfiber cloth sounds like the way to go.

Microfiber
Microfiber with a little breath
Lens pen

Simsolv website:

SimChem - Electronic Assembly Specialty Solvent Cleaning Products

Thanks for posting this Pat, it adds reinforcement to what I've been trying to tell these boys for some time now - that at least 95% of don't need a 'protective filter' and that in reality it does a lot more harm (to their images) than good. It's ok for a well-hooded and well-flagged front element, but most times the run 'n' gun brigade accept the added spots of nearly-focused dust as they film into the light at wide-angle and smallish apertures.

I like your last paragraph too - about the conflict we all face in grabbing the shot as it unfolds vs cleaning the lens first, checking the NDs, using the tripod, all in the pursuit of better technicalities. Not good if the fleeting moment has gone.

Back to the lens cleaning. A friend was filming with his 5 year old diddy-cam and put it down onto the table. I picked it up for a look and winced at the state of his front element, which of course had never been filtered, hooded, cleaned or cared for.

I got out my microfiber cloth and with a 'little breath' (thanks David W) returned the front element to as-new condition. That tough front element surface coating had survived 5 years of abuse and neglect, acidic finger prints and being treated as a disposable asset.

tom.

James,

Thanks for the address, I found it also but not the 224 solution. Do you know what replaces SimSolv 224 or if it is still available? Is this a chemical you are familiar with?


I've just purchased 4 Spudz microfiber cloths, 2 lens pens, and a Giottos 7.5 rocket blower. Based on this discussion, my future cleaning plan is to blow off the lens, then brush, wipe with microfiber when necessary, and use cleaner for periodic/deep cleaning for when I have build-up.

While a filter as a lens protector may be of some what questionable visual noticeability, cleaning your lens incorrectly will be an obvious ouch with apparent visual effects.
Always blow first, then wipe wet, never dry. Even if you just haze the lens with a puff of breath just to fog it, it acts as a lubricant and avoids scratches. I use a product called EZ Wipes, they are individually wrapped and widely used for high quality optics. I only use that after alway first blowing off surface debris with my squeeze bulb.
Pressurized air or air in a can will force dirt further into your gear as well as off your lenses, using it has more down sides to it than up's so I avoid that at all costs.

Not many squeeze bulbs come with a filter, so what you blow onto your front element is what it's sucked in 2 seconds beforehand.

Be careful you don't breath the air. Perhaps a plastic bubble enviroment suits some folk's better?
Cleansing the bulb with a couple bursts prior to blowing the lens seems a no brainer to most logical people.

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.