Lens help please.

chris82

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Ive been having trouble keeping my lens clean and dust free.I have been using the cloths used to clean glasses(spectacles) but i find that as im trying to wipe dust specs away im wipeing more dust onto the lens so im constantly wipeing it.I think ive scratched the lens a little because of this,also I find now that because im over wipeing the lens the reflectave layer layer that you see smereing as you wipe the lens(sorry,bad description)is smudged,and I cannot get it clear and even as it should be.Have I broken the lens already?How should I clean the lens in the future.Also!Should I buy a better lens or do you think I should stay with the kit lens until im a little more advanced?Thanks
 
Use a clean piece of cotton, like a t-shirt to wipe a smudge off of the lens. The coating on lenses these days, are very hard.

Don't worry to much about the dust, it would have to be some very large dust on the lens...to show up in the images.

Stick with the kit lens, it not as bad as everyone says. If you want to get something new...get a 50mm F1.8
 
A blower brush might help here. I use one, and it's come in very handy. Another hint is to get it clean with said blower brush, and put an inexpensive UV filter over your lens for protection. I wouldn't suggest cotton or a t-shirt, it's much too coarse and could damage the lens even more.

My $.02. :)
 
Are you using a microfiber cloth or lens tissues? I haven't tried lens tissues, but supposedly they leave behind less/no lint. Blowing the lens off with a little can of compressed air might help too (if there are no smudges and you're just trying to get the dust off). You can get both at just about any photo store
 
And what about the mirror,I took my camera to work with me lastnight plannaing to use it this morning.I just about got the lens cleaned up and I cleaned all the lens caps before I put them on,But when I went to use it this morning there was a big piece of lint stuck to the mirror(sensor)so I tried to clean it with the microfiber cloth and smudged it all up.Someone told me that I should never do that and that I have probabley broken the sensor now.Have I?
 
Ooops, I don't know the answer to your question ... all I know that I have specks on my sensor that have been there for months now and I don't even dare to do anything to get rid of them (other than cloning out the specks in PS when they show in the picture) ... I am too afraid I might do the camera some harm by putting a cloth/my fingers/something into its insides. However I am also reluctant to go to the a camera store, for all they will do is collect it and ship it to Canon Germany and it will be gone for 3 weeks, cost at least € 80,- for the mechanics to open it and look at it plus the cost for the cleaning :( ...

I have seen links to pages where self-cleaning is being described step-by-step but I no longer remember where they are... :scratch: Sorry.
 
chris82 said:
And what about the mirror,I took my camera to work with me lastnight plannaing to use it this morning.I just about got the lens cleaned up and I cleaned all the lens caps before I put them on,But when I went to use it this morning there was a big piece of lint stuck to the mirror(sensor)so I tried to clean it with the microfiber cloth and smudged it all up.Someone told me that I should never do that and that I have probabley broken the sensor now.Have I?
Unless you touched the mirror with a hammer, I doubt that the sensor is affected. I had a couple of specks that were showing up on shots that I struggled to get rid of. I cleaned the lenses, bothe ends, I cleaned the mirror, finally coming to the conclusion that the specks were on the sensor. In my Nikon manual (I know, bad form for a bloke to admit reading a manual!) there were instructions for cleaning the sensor. I didn't touch the sensor at all, just used a couple of squirts of air from one of those lens cleaning kits (big aerosol full of air) - remember to give a couple of squirts into fresh air, just to clean any water out of the nozzle before you point it into the camera. A couple of blasts onto the sensor and the problem went away. Big sigh of relief!! :blushing: Cleaned the mirror with a microfibre cleaning cloth and some cleaning fluid - dried it off with the air spray. Cleaned both ends of the lenses with same cloth and fluid. Bingo! Sparkly clean and speck free in no time.
It's not as scary as you might think, you just need to be gentle and careful.
Hope that helps
 
LaFoto said:
I am too afraid I might do the camera some harm by putting a cloth/

Eeek ... horrible thought, never use a cloth as it might not be lint-free. Also if it is not ultra clean it will cause even more dirt on the sensor

LaFoto said:
my fingers/

You are right ... getting worse here ;)

LaFoto said:
However I am also reluctant to go to the a camera store, for all they will do is collect it and ship it to Canon Germany and it will be gone for 3 weeks, cost at least € 80,- for the mechanics to open it and look at it plus the cost for the cleaning :( ...

Camera shops ... I have some bad experience there! I had a rather dirty sensor and they took the camera from my had and blew it "clean" with pressurized air before I could say "don't do that".

As the result I had more dirt in there then before .. also the airflow seemd very strong and I was afraid it might harm the shutter.

LaFoto said:
I have seen links to pages where self-cleaning is being described step-by-step but I no longer remember where they are... :scratch: Sorry.

Oh, there are many instructions out there .. also tools to buy.

In any case, whenever it involves wiping, blow away all the mineral particles first, else you will scratch the filter glass attached to your sensor.

I personally only used a speckgrabber, to remove particles i could identify on a shot with blurred background and high f/stop. However, to clean the whole sensor with a speckgrabber is very cumbersome ...
 
I've used the small cleaning packs you can buy for a couple of pounds. Some lens tissues and cleaning alcohol. Cleaning the lensw with them is straightforward but don't over do it with the alcohol incase is seeps inside.
i've even cleaned the sensor using the lens tissues - wrap a folded one round a cotton bud and used a small drop of alcohol on it. i've done it a few times witrh good results and never caused any damage. Make sure your battery is good though because on a DSLR (Canon anyway) you select "sensor clean" from the menu system. The mechanism moves out the way until the power is switched off. But you don't want that slamming shut while you have a cotton bud in there!!
Take care what ever method you use.
 
by the way using compressed air is supposed to be uber bad for the camera because of the crap they use to pressurize the can. I've heard of using like a ball pump because with the needle you use to pump a basketball you can aim very specifically where you want the air to go, and you can control the force of the air by how hard you pump.
 
Big mike was right about wipeing the lens with the T-shirt.When I use a lens cloth on my lens im more offten than not wipeing more lynt on the lens and also im smudging the layer aswell.But whem I used the bottom of my T-shirt today it cleand the lens right up and kept the layer smooth.Try it,It works.
 

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