Re: [Leica] Opticlean--available in the US

["David W. Almy" <dalmy@mindspring.com>]

Jim Brick wrote:
> 
> I live in Sunnyvale and I will stop by Mr. Berg's place and buy some for
> myself. And I'll report to the LUG about what I find.

Jim,

Don't jump in the car just yet. Being a good Leica zealot, and having
exhausted every source in the US, I called England and ordered Opticlean
directly from the factory, sending a certified check. It is my
understanding that Mr. Berg's address, I think correctly listed in a
previous post, is a US-based relative of the managing director of the
company. He just uses this address (his home?) as a way to cash checks
and forward orders to the UK. They claim that they do not sell directly
in the US due to liability fears. Hard to imagine, but their legal
system apparently is a little more sane than ours. (I sleep with a
lawyer every night, so I can say this. She does real estate and
bankruptcy, gets you coming and going....)  

Opticlean comes in little nail polish bottles, with the consistency of
nail polish. You paint it on your lens, wait two minutes, and peel off
the residual film. It cleans down to the molecular level. I have found
that it is best for polishing rather than raw cleaning. You can/should
clean first with lens cleaning fluid/tissue, then use Opticlean for the
last ten percent. 

The stuff works, albeit with practice. It removes the last
difficult-to-remove haze that, despite my best efforts, often seems to
be there, usually visible only when looking through the lens around a
strong light source (like a table lamp). BTW, try that -- looking
through your lens around a strong light source. It'll suprise/scare you
to death. My sense is that the dust specs don't matter much, it's the
haze that'll kill ya.

Cheers,

David W. Almy
Annapolis, Maryland