Accidentally cleaning lens too much, help please!

[thomas610]

Since i got my new camera two days ago I have been wiping a lot (very gently with a soft microfibre cloth) not knowing the risks! if i don't do it from now on and use a uv filter instead should i be ok? I'm aware of the issue of cleaning marks etc. so it would be good to know that I haven't seriously damaged the camera in any way. It's an Olympus 35 RC.

 

[Derrel]

More lenses have been RUINED by too-frequent cleaning than from probably anything else, other than dropping them onto hard surfaces like concrete.

STOP obsessing!!! Cleaning marks are mostly found on old, pre-1960's-era lenses that had soft glass, like OLD rangefinder lenses from the 50's and earlier. yet still, there is NO need to clean a lens more than once a month, unless you've been shooting in an area where there is tree sap, sea spray, or heavy smoke, or airborne particulate matter (dust from agriculture, industry, or heavy wood smoke, or heavy concentrations of airborne cooking oil,etc.).

 

[benhasajeep46 44]

Since i got my new camera two days ago I have been wiping a lot (very gently with a soft microfibre cloth) not knowing the risks! if i don't do it from now on and use a uv filter instead should i be ok? I'm aware of the issue of cleaning marks etc. so it would be good to know that I haven't seriously damaged the camera in any way. It's an Olympus 35 RC.

Coating damage will look like an area missing and a line around that area. But the line will not catch an edge. Coatings are very thin. Reason you don't want to clean too hard or often. Many will see a worn area of coating and start cleaning more. Only to make the loss of coating worse.

 

[thomas610]

More lenses have been RUINED by too-frequent cleaning than from probably anything else, other than dropping them onto hard surfaces like concrete.

STOP obsessing!!! Cleaning marks are mostly found on old, pre-1960's-era lenses that had soft glass, like OLD rangefinder lenses from the 50's and earlier. yet still, there is NO need to clean a lens more than once a month, unless you've been shooting in an area where there is tree sap, sea spray, or heavy smoke, or airborne particulate matter (dust from agriculture, industry, or heavy wood smoke, or heavy concentrations of airborne cooking oil,etc.).

Sorry! Thank you so much

 

[KmH]

And UV or clear filters put on a lens for 'protection' cause way more problems than they solve.
The 2 most common problems are less sharp (soft) focus, and unwanted lens flare.
Other problems include Newton's rings, filters stuck on the lens, broken shards of thin filter glass scratching the much thicker and quite robust glass front lens element.

 

[benhasajeep46 44]

And UV or clear filters put on a lens for 'protection' cause way more problems than they solve.
The 2 most common problems are less sharp (soft) focus, and unwanted lens flare.
Other problems include Newton's rings, filters stuck on the lens, broken shards of thin filter glass scratching the much thicker and quite robust glass front lens element.

Especially "cheap" filters used for protectors!!

If you just have to have a protection filter. At least get one that's as good as your lens. Which means a high quality filter!

 

[fmw]

No comment.

 

[thomas610]

And UV or clear filters put on a lens for 'protection' cause way more problems than they solve.
The 2 most common problems are less sharp (soft) focus, and unwanted lens flare.
Other problems include Newton's rings, filters stuck on the lens, broken shards of thin filter glass scratching the much thicker and quite robust glass front lens element.

Thanks for the info, i'll look into getting a good one. In the meantime do you think i've avoided any damage to my lens?

 

[TCampbell]

Ok, so I decided this experiment is worth repeating. This is actually something I originally did to convince new astronomers to stop trying to clean their telescope optics, but I'll repeat the experiment with the camera lens.

Please inspect the following image -- taking particular care to notice any "dirt" that may be on my optics. (I just pointed the camera out the window and took a shot.)

Ok...

Now about that "dirt" on the optics... let's have a look at that.

Yes... I cut a post-it note to about a 1/4" square piece and stuck it onto a junk filter (I don't normally use UV filters... I own them, but I rarely put one on the lens when I'm shooting).

Having seen this... go back up to that original image and see if you can figure out where the post-it note is in the image?

When you give up (because you will)... think about how a lens actually works.

If I'm taking a photo of a subject (any subject) -- let's say it's a portrait. Suppose we just think about the light that comes from the tip of the subject's nose. The light "reflecting" off a subject's nose is traveling in many directions. Most of those directions miss the camera lens, but several of them hit the camera lens. In other words if we could be microscopic people who lived on the front surface of your camera lens... would we still be able to see the persons nose if we change where we stand on the front of the lens. The answer is "yes". This is because the light from that single point on the subject is not just passing through one particular point on the lens... it's passing through EVERY point on the lens simultaneously. That light then re-converges back to a single point on the sensor (assuming you focused on the subject). Literally the most out-of-focus place in the entire optical path is that front lens element.

This means individual bits of dirt will be missed by the overwhelming majority of the light and only a tiny tiny fraction of light will be absorbed by the dirt. If a lens was very dirty, it could result in a slight loss in contrast. In order for dirt to show up in the image... it needs to be very close to a focus point in the optical path and the only two focus points are at the focused subject distance and at the focused sensor distance. This is why you can notice dust spots ON your camera sensor... but you wont really notice dust spots on the lens (the lens is much too far away from the point of focus on the sensor.)

The point is... STOP obsessing about cleaning your lens.

I take some care to avoid getting my lenses dirty... put the dust cap on when not using it. Use a hood. But do not rush to clean it every time you see a dust particle.

 

[Overread15 3]

TC I think any test like that has to be taken to extremes- we need more !

*would do this but I don't have a cheap filter)

 

[thomas610]

The point is... STOP obsessing about cleaning your lens.

I take some care to avoid getting my lenses dirty... put the dust cap on when not using it. Use a hood. But do not rush to clean it every time you see a dust particle.

Thanks Tim, from looking at this experiment and others like it I definitely see the merits of not over-cleaning... however, i fear that I may already have done some damage in the couple of days of having the camera. I have been wiping gently with a microfiber cloth but am scared that I may have caused cleaning scratches and the like! It's good to know i don't need to worry about a dusty lens from now on!

 

[benhasajeep46 44]

Ok, so I decided this experiment is worth repeating. This is actually something I originally did to convince new astronomers to stop trying to clean their telescope optics, but I'll repeat the experiment with the camera lens.

Please inspect the following image -- taking particular care to notice any "dirt" that may be on my optics. (I just pointed the camera out the window and took a shot.)

View attachment 149791

Ok...

Now about that "dirt" on the optics... let's have a look at that.

View attachment 149792

Yes... I cut a post-it note to about a 1/4" square piece and stuck it onto a junk filter (I don't normally use UV filters... I own them, but I rarely put one on the lens when I'm shooting).

Having seen this... go back up to that original image and see if you can figure out where the post-it note is in the image?

When you give up (because you will)... think about how a lens actually works.

If I'm taking a photo of a subject (any subject) -- let's say it's a portrait. Suppose we just think about the light that comes from the tip of the subject's nose. The light "reflecting" off a subject's nose is traveling in many directions. Most of those directions miss the camera lens, but several of them hit the camera lens. In other words if we could be microscopic people who lived on the front surface of your camera lens... would we still be able to see the persons nose if we change where we stand on the front of the lens. The answer is "yes". This is because the light from that single point on the subject is not just passing through one particular point on the lens... it's passing through EVERY point on the lens simultaneously. That light then re-converges back to a single point on the sensor (assuming you focused on the subject). Literally the most out-of-focus place in the entire optical path is that front lens element.

This means individual bits of dirt will be missed by the overwhelming majority of the light and only a tiny tiny fraction of light will be absorbed by the dirt. If a lens was very dirty, it could result in a slight loss in contrast. In order for dirt to show up in the image... it needs to be very close to a focus point in the optical path and the only two focus points are at the focused subject distance and at the focused sensor distance. This is why you can notice dust spots ON your camera sensor... but you wont really notice dust spots on the lens (the lens is much too far away from the point of focus on the sensor.)

The point is... STOP obsessing about cleaning your lens.

I take some care to avoid getting my lenses dirty... put the dust cap on when not using it. Use a hood. But do not rush to clean it every time you see a dust particle.

The reason mirror lenses / cat telescopes work just fine!

 

[benhasajeep46 44]

The point is... STOP obsessing about cleaning your lens.

I take some care to avoid getting my lenses dirty... put the dust cap on when not using it. Use a hood. But do not rush to clean it every time you see a dust particle.

Thanks Tim, from looking at this experiment and others like it I definitely see the merits of not over-cleaning... however, i fear that I may already have done some damage in the couple of days of having the camera. I have been wiping gently with a microfiber cloth but am scared that I may have caused cleaning scratches and the like! It's good to know i don't need to worry about a dusty lens from now on!

Just like the dust. Don't worry about the scratches if they are even there! If anything take the lens to a bright light source and purposly try to get flare / effects on the front element. A deep scratch might scatter the light going through. But I doubt light scratches will effect the pictures at all. Hard light right into the element at the right angles will amplify any effect from it! But I think it's time to just chalk it down as a lesson learned and try to move on. If your not seeing the coating melting off from the cleaner by now. I think your good to go.

 

[thomas610]

The point is... STOP obsessing about cleaning your lens.

I take some care to avoid getting my lenses dirty... put the dust cap on when not using it. Use a hood. But do not rush to clean it every time you see a dust particle.

Thanks Tim, from looking at this experiment and others like it I definitely see the merits of not over-cleaning... however, i fear that I may already have done some damage in the couple of days of having the camera. I have been wiping gently with a microfiber cloth but am scared that I may have caused cleaning scratches and the like! It's good to know i don't need to worry about a dusty lens from now on!

Just like the dust. Don't worry about the scratches if they are even there! If anything take the lens to a bright light source and purposly try to get flare / effects on the front element. A deep scratch might scatter the light going through. But I doubt light scratches will effect the pictures at all. Hard light right into the element at the right angles will amplify any effect from it! But I think it's time to just chalk it down as a lesson learned and try to move on. If your not seeing the coating melting off from the cleaner by now. I think your good to go.

Thank you, i will stop worrying so much! I really appreciate all your help

 

[benhasajeep46 44]

Sorr

The point is... STOP obsessing about cleaning your lens.

I take some care to avoid getting my lenses dirty... put the dust cap on when not using it. Use a hood. But do not rush to clean it every time you see a dust particle.

Thanks Tim, from looking at this experiment and others like it I definitely see the merits of not over-cleaning... however, i fear that I may already have done some damage in the couple of days of having the camera. I have been wiping gently with a microfiber cloth but am scared that I may have caused cleaning scratches and the like! It's good to know i don't need to worry about a dusty lens from now on!

Just like the dust. Don't worry about the scratches if they are even there! If anything take the lens to a bright light source and purposly try to get flare / effects on the front element. A deep scratch might scatter the light going through. But I doubt light scratches will effect the pictures at all. Hard light right into the element at the right angles will amplify any effect from it! But I think it's time to just chalk it down as a lesson learned and try to move on. If your not seeing the coating melting off from the cleaner by now. I think your good to go.

Thank you, i will stop worrying so much! I really appreciate all your help

Sorry, just one more point. If you don't already have one. Pick up a rocket blower or something similar.

https://www.amazon.com/Giottos-AA19...&qid=1511196916&sr=8-3&keywords=rocket+blower

Smaller one couple bucks less.

Just blow any dust off!