Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1996/05/21
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Eric and LUG'ers, I stumbled across - and have really flipped over - a specialty cloth called "Luminex" made by a company in Japan called 'Toray" fronting itself as 'world leaders in fiber technology". They should be available in the gadget section of any well-stocked camera store. The sales office is listed as Toray Marketing and Sales (America), New York, NY 10016. This thing is sooooooooo soft and is an ultra-ultra fine weave - like 220,000 microfibers per square inch - and has no chemicals in it and is absolutely my favorite for infrequent cleaning of optics. I dare say it's hundreds of times softer than the oft-recommended Leitz favorite, a cotton handkerchief! This thing is much, much softer than any lens cleaning tissue and feels "magic" to the touch it's so pliable. It was 5 bucks but seemed worth it after checking it out more closely. (They even come in weird colors and patterns so you can be stylish if desired! I went with basic beige.) BTW, I've long been a fan of the ultra-soft camel-hair type blower brushes, too. Keeping the tiny hairs as clean as possible, one of these critters is very useful in loosening any large chunks of material before even thinking of wiping the lens surfaces with ANYTHING. If you can't blow it off with your breath, then gently - GENTLY - hit it with the soft brush a few swipes, then get down to light contact with a cloth such as this Luminex. I avoid all chemicals wherever possible but use a tad bit of ROR when needed on a wadded up group of lens tissues. Use lotsa tissues. They're cheap. Try to put as little hand or finger pressure on the cleaning items as possible. Then, the final soft touch with the Luminex and breath fog and I feel the surfaces are as clean as they'll ever be. I watched in horror recently as a tourist pulled out his shirt-tail, LICKED IT, and wiped the bare lens surface of a Nikkor zoom lens on an 8008......... I guess there's a whole lot of differing opinions on how to clean a lens. Rgds, Tom Hodge Davidson, NC