Does cleaning your lense damage the lense?

[amoki]

MY home is pretty dusty, and seeing those speck of dust and small carpet fabrics on my lense, I decided to get a lense cleaning kit. I currently am using a EF-S 18-55mm lense that came with the D-rebel.

Because my lense cleaning kit does not come with a manual of some sort, I was left on my own. The first thing I did was using the rubber blower brush to try to get the dust off, but some stubborn things remained on. Next, I applied 2 drops of lense cleaning fluid on my brush, and tried to swipe it out. To my horrow, those 2 drops almost gave the lense another coating. :meh: I ran to wash away the liquid away from the brush.. When I'm back, I slowly wiped away the liquid coating with the supplied lense tissue paper.

When I tried the lense, I just have the feeling that the picture on my viewfinder is a bit darker then it should be...

I just keep getting that feeling that the lense is damaged, so 2 questions:
1) IS there a chemical coating on the surface on the lense mirror that may have been removed when I tried to get the liquid away
2) Is my lense damaged? OR am I just paranoid?

The lense surface looked spotless at the moment, but it's hard to tell whether I've got myself into some hot soup...

 

[ferny]

Friction will always damage the end of a lens. After cleaning a lens won't be like new. But, it's so so so so so unnoticeable. I'm just saying...

I doubt you've damaged your lens. I've never used a lens cleaning kit, I just use a cheap micro fibre duster I got for a couple of quid. If it's a lens cleaning kit then it should be designed to be safe to use with a lens. That's what I would have thought.

 

[ksmattfish]

I only use lens cleaning fluid as a last resort. It won't damage your lens, but I've always had problems with it leaving a residue. I use a blower brush. Then I breath on the lens, and wipe with a 100% cotton cloth.

 

[BadRotation]

I only use lens cleaning fluid as a last resort. It won't damage your lens, but I've always had problems with it leaving a residue. I use a blower brush. Then I breath on the lens, and wipe with a 100% cotton cloth.

Yep, breathing on the lens, and then gently wiping it with a 100% lint free cloth works wonders. NO streaking, and it works perfect.

 

[Mitica100]

I doubt you damaged the lens. I clean my lenses with Zeiss cleaning solution applied to a small microfiber cloth, very gently rubbing in circular motion from center to the edges of the lens. Use no pressure at all and do this only after you blow the dust off. Note that the commercial dust blowing cans made for electronics will damage the lenses. I use a foot pump, the kind you use to inflate an air mattress and to which I fit a nozzle, bought for under $2.00 at a thrift store.