I bought a pack of 200 Zeiss wipes, and they work pretty well, but there always seems to be a little something left behind after cleaning.
Is there any official ok to use lens pens on the optical surfaces? They were an Apple reccomended tool for cleaning the LCD, and inside glass on iMacs when the glass and panel used to be two separate pieces. They are widely used in camera and telescope optics.
I’ve never heard of such a thing but I like the idea. Do you know if this would be good for cleaning eyeglasses? Would be really handy to keep in my handbag if so.
I think they would, although I would probably still clean with a Zeiss wipe first, dragging abrasives across lenses is something to be avoided. Glasses get a bit more abrasive dirt on them than most other lenses.
It is amazing what these do with fingerprints. Those who have cleaned windows with newsprint, have actually used this method. It was the carbon in the newsprint that did the cleaning. Less carbon is used now, so the old newsprint on the glass trick doesn’t work as well as it used to.
The Lenspens work great on camera lens optics but you definitely don’t want it to be the first step because of the potential for dragging debris. Usually best to blow those clean, brush them and then use the lenspen. I have no recommendation on the laser optics though.
The problem with Lenspens are that once you use it, it has micro-debris embedded in the face. I won’t use one on my telescope optics for that reason – other do and swear by them, so YMMV. Since GF is recommending individual wipes, I’m sticking with those – they know what coatings are on the lenses & mirrors and are in the best position to make recommendations.
Best cleaner for eyeglasses I’ve ever had are “Peeps” – on Amazon. The wiping pads (like that on a Lenspen) is brushed clean every time you put it back in the case…
I’m thinking about using it to remove the residue left after the Zeiss wipes. In 8 years of using them on coated glass I never once saw a scratch. One of our LCDs was probably cleaned 100 times in training.
Maybe the very small amount of film left after the Zeiss wipes dry isn’t a concern. It kinda bugs me.
GF made a clear recommendation – to use Zeiss wipes. I agree with that, as there are hundreds of different coatings for glass and what may be ok for an LCD screen may not be ok for a first surface mirror or IR-transparent lenses. I’ll not gamble with my optics, but YMMV.
Good luck with whatever you choose – I’m bowing out of this conversation.
I use the LensPen when I go backpacking (for those not familiar with the US word for this, it means to combine hiking and camping) as the technical materials for this hobby do not make for an abundance of glasses or lens cleaning alternatives. It is small, light weight, and does a great job on a cell screen, cell camera, point-and-shoot, and my current pair of spectacles. (so for those of you asking about eyeglasses, here is your answer)
That said, I’m not brave enough to step outside of the recommendations for lens cleaning just yet. My forge is too new and I am risk-averse.
My LensPen (and perhaps this is a brand and not just a description of a style of a thing and I am unaware?) has a brush on one end and a carbon cleaning pad on the other and the instructions (Instructions?! who reads those?) make it boldly clear that you need to use the brush before you use the pad.
My first step is to use canned air to knock off the bigger pieces of dust, followed by a good quality camera lens dust brush in case a particle is still stuck to the lens then I go onto the Zeiss disposable lens wipes that way no fear of debris on the microfiber cloth.
My intent is not to go outside of what’s reccomended. I’m curious to find out if the lens pens were evaluated or not. Maybe they were, and the answer is that they are not reccomended, or maybe they haven’t tried them, but will look into evaluating them when they have time.
With the lenspen, it is important to use the brush or another method to get rid of dust and abrasives prior to use. They remove fingerprints and film really well. And I sometimes have a bit of film left after cleaning with the Zeiss wipe, mostly on the last lens around the ring. It may not really matter since the edges of the lens probably aren’t used.
