[Leica] Lens Cleaning

["William Gower" <wgower@eco-tec.com>]

My recipes:

For routine cleaning: 1. compressed air to blow off the dust, followed by,
2. a lint free Kimwipe moistened with reagent grade (or better) acetone.
Acetone cuts the grease off a lens better than anything I've found so far,
and if done carefully and slowly, leaves no reside (it evaporates off).

(You had better be careful with the acetone, though...like all solvents, it
has a propensity to eat plastics.)

I have also used a this recipe: a mixture of 0.1 % Triton-X 100 (a non-ionic
surfactant) and de-ionized water. I use this, followed by the acetone
treatment to take off any residual streaks. Overkill ? Perhaps, but I
believe it works wonders.


For the clean fanatics - As a note: Edmond Scientific Ltd. sells a great
assortment of lens cleaners and cloths. You can buy large mirofiber cloths
for a fraction of what they charge in the local camera shop. I particularly
like the long handled lint-free "Q-tip" that is great for cleaning old grimy
SLR mirrors. I use acetone for this as well.

I have had horrible results with those Kodak papers and lens cleaner. May as
well use an sweaty old sock or a coffee spill moistened newspaper IMHO.

my 0.02$....

William