Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/09/10
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]At 05:49 PM 10/09/98 PDT, you wrote: >HELP!!! I was cleaning my 100mm APO Macro-Elmarit-R today, using a >compressed air gun. I guess I lost my concentration and got a little >too vigorous with the canister... I did this once too, on a different lens. With thorough cleaning, the frosty stuff came off, without damaging the lens coating. It was not easy to get off though, and left me upset with my own carelessness. (I did not have the can turned sideways, but forceful spraying caused the liquid to shoot out.) I got the same spray-guano on ground glass once, when tilting the canister at an angle to get up inside a body, and had a tough time getting it off. Now I try not to tilt the can any more, and if I have to get up into some crevice at an angle, I use the DustOff canisters with the nozzle that tilts and turns while the can is kept upright. These things are a last-resort option; they tend to force dust into crevices instead of completely removing them. I use bulb-type hurricane blowers for doing front-silvered mirrors. The canned spray also makes a mess of slides and negatives as well if it gets on them, and if it gets on the emulsion side can cause some problems trying to remove it. The majority of the dust removal chores can be done with a camel hair brush and a good bulb-type blower. - -GH