Cleaning Filters on the fly?

[Kenneth.Shen]

Hi, i was wondering if anybody has some good tips on cleaning filters on the fly. when im shooting at the beach, or near a large body of water, my lens or filter always gets a great deal of sea spray on them. my lenspen seems in-effective to this and i was hoping to get some tips on cleaning it off well to keep shooting. if it helps, i usually use a B+W filters. Thanks!

 

[1000_Islander]

You can get quite elaborate, but for in the field this is what I have been doing with all my lenses for over three decades.
I try to carry a cheapo ear syringe in my bag, and use it to blow off any loose material. I then use my breath (which is always available, I hope, and is close to distilled water in purity), followed quickly with a gentle wiping with a microfiber cloth.
Contrary to common belief (misinformation), multicloated filters are no more prone to damage from proper cleaning. When you get home, a better cleaning can be done with distilled water, or ethanol if necessary, applying the alcohol to the cloth first.

 

[KmH]

I did essentially the same, except I have never trusted using a non-disposable cloth, of any kind, to wipe my glass with. I have always used disposable lens tissue when I needed to wipe my glass.

 

[FSJeffo]

Zeiss makes some nice disposable lens wipes (I found mine in the hunting store)

JM

 

[Kenneth.Shen]

thanks! I gotta check them out. but i do have some microfibers and a rocket blower i can use for now. Thanks!

 

[Garbz]

It's a filter. One of the reasons for having them is because they are effectively disposable. I use a shirt to clean mine.

 

[1000_Islander]

"It's a filter. One of the reasons for having them is because they are effectively disposable".............
Yours may be 'disposable', but my Canon 400L B+W 77mm filters are $70. for the UV and $128. for the CP.

 

[Garbz]

Compared to the price of the lens it's effectively disposable. If you're not going to treat the UV filter as sacrificial then there's no point in having it. As many people here will say they can affect image quality and the reasons for having them have more to do with protection in harsh environments.

If you're going to carry expensive lens pens and perfectly clean micro fibre cloth around to clean your glass then you may as well not use a UV filter.