Your camera lens will be one of the most important items of equipment in your camera. Your camera can be as wonderful as wonderful can be, and as expensive as expensive can be, and have a dirty lens, and your photo will be blurry, fuzzy, or smeared with an ugly glare. You can have the utterly best, keenest picture you can if your lens is clean. It’s not something you do with a rushed brushing with whatever happens to be available, though; you have to be careful and use the right material so you don’t shatter the fine glass. Let’s discuss how to clean a camera lens safely and efficiently.
Why Keeping Your Camera Lens Clean is Important
When you press the photo, it causes light to pass through the lens and strike the camera sensor. If your lens is fingerprinted, smudged, or dusty, they will interfere with this happening and create aberrant images. Dust degrades the image, but fingerprints or oily smudges create worthless reflectivity or blurs. Cleaning gear on a regular basis keeps your photographs professional, sharp, and spotless. Second, a clean lens will also prolong the lifespan of your equipment. Dirt and dust will wear out protective coatings on your lens after a while, clogging your equipment. A clean lens will also cut down on post-processing since you won’t be removing spots or distortion due to a dirty lens. Good lens cleaning habit will be worth its weight in dollars when you don’t have to spend dollars fixing or replacing. So it’s well worth the effort to develop a habit of cleaning lenses if you’re doing a lot of shooting outdoors where the air is grittier and grimier.
Discovering What Will Get Your Lens Dirty
It takes everything to dirty your camera lens. Dust settles on the lens as time passes and is blown onto the air, particularly if changing lenses constantly. Fingerprints aren’t so unusual due to the infrequent touching of the lens when working with the camera and leaving oil residue behind. Rain, dew, or pollen is on the lens when outdoors. Bad case scenario: tiny scratches from being handled approximately. You now know why your lens is dirty and therefore you can be gentle and clean it in its rightful location. Weather is the largest player in the cleanness of the lens. With rain photography, raindrops form smudges and streaks because of condensation on the lens. Second, when one is photographing in dry environments where there is dust, particles easily fall on the lens, and it has to be frequently cleaned. Smog and pollution lay down a material on the glass, which is cloudy. What has not been mentioned is putting the lens away, leaving your lens exposed when you put it away to protect it, subjecting it to dust and is difficult to clean. With these spots of grime sure to be where they are now, you can attempt to reduce their influence and manage on less regular deep cleans.
The Best Method to Clean a Camera Lens
Most, if not all, of the photographers do not want to scratch the lens when cleaning it. The trick here is to have the right equipment and treat it very carefully. Never clean the lens with your t-shirt or loose paper towel because they contain micro-scratches that will destroy your lens. Instead, purchase a good lens cleaning kit with a microfiber cloth, blower, lens brush, and cleaning solution. They all have functions and if they are used as they should be, they will help your lens stay in a good condition and not harm anything. The ideal thing is having a step-by-step procedure on how to do it and have it be both safe and efficient. Start with establishing how dirty the lens is. If your lens is lightly dusty, only a blower will do. For smudges, cleaning solution and a microfiber cloth are necessary. Handle the lens carefully at all times, and hold it by the corners to prevent fingerprints. Applying too much pressure or going too fast will cause more harm than good. Do it slowly and gentle, and the best results will be attained, and your lens will be in its optimal condition.
Step One: Blowing Loose Dust with a Blower
Carefully blow loose dust and dirt off the lens always with a blower prior to handling it. This is to prevent blowing them onto the surface and damaging it. Use a hand blower to accomplish this; never use canned air because it has too much pressure that is too high and will deposit residue onto the surface. The lens requires pre-cleaning blowing off since particulates are wearing away. Rag-hurry-drying and hurrying will drive garbage out too fine to notice but of lesser quality in a speedy few minutes. Gentle repeated spritzing with a blower will blow loose particulates harmlessly out of the way. Simply tilt the lens so dust will shake out but won’t adhere back onto glass. Rerun many times until you’re certain all the significant dusty areas have been cleaned. Do that only afterward. Then proceed to other ways of cleaning.
Step Two: Carefully Brush Off Dust That Has Accumulated
You may use a lens brush if you end up getting dust on yourself from a blower. Any decent lens brush will have a soft-bristled brush that won’t scratch glass. Brush off what is left slowly and do not apply too much pressure. The heavy-duty lens brush is intended to draw out small grains of dust particles from a blower.
It is better always to use a natural bristle brush rather than a synthetic bristle brush since the synthetic will lay down static charges that will attract the dust. Shampoo the brush and store it in a dry box so it will not get contaminated. Gently clean from the center of the lens outward using light strokes without forcing dirt further into the surface. Clean with the brush again and again to avoid deeper cleaning and keep your lens dust-free for a longer time.
Step Three: Smudge and Fingerprint Removal with Microfiber Cloth
After the dust settles, the second is wiping off fingerprints or smudges. This is best done with a clean microfiber cloth. Wipe the lens in a circular motion, beginning in the middle and working outwards. This wipes off streaks and smooths nicely.Microfiber cloths wipe dirt and oils away without scratching the lens.Microfiber cloths are washable normally and should be stored in a sealed airtight container so they don’t accumulate dust that settles on them. Microfiber will not streak or shed as tissues or paper towels will. If the dry cloth will not remove the fingerprints, then you’ll have to use lens cleaner but apply liquid to the cloth first and never directly to the lens. It leaves a streak-free glaze and will not damage your lens coatings.