Best way to clean a lens without a lens cleaning tool

I need to order a lens cleaner brush, but until then, what can I do to clean a lens without scratching? I have 90% isopropyl and a q-tip, what else would work?

thanks again guys,

Joe

It matters what type of lens it is, as I found out the hard way. I actually scratched the IR filter / aperture glass of my WL Core with a microfiber cloth and IPA. I suspect that it is really the coating which was weakened by the IPA which got scratched.

I know for a fact (from experience) you can't use alcohol on the cheap chinese plastic lenses either, it chemically etches the surface making them cloudy and opaque.

An un-coated glass lens should be fine with a q-tip and alcohol, but I wouldn't try it on a coated or plastic lens.

Joe Mo said:

I need to order a lens cleaner brush, but until then, what can I do to clean a lens without scratching? I have 90% isopropyl and a q-tip, what else would work?

thanks again guys,

Joe

Click to expand...

Paper lens tissue and eyeglass lens cleaner

steve001 said:

Paper lens tissue and eyeglass lens cleaner

Click to expand...

gotcha,

where could I buy paper lens tissue without ordering off the internet.

Rite aid?

Joe Mo said:

gotcha,

where could I buy paper lens tissue without ordering off the internet.

Rite aid?

Click to expand...

Maybe. An eyeglass store

I just use isopropyl and a Q-tip, but like Sigurthr mentioned, it really depends on the lens you're dealing with. Also try using canned air if it's just dust.

Lens paper is pretty cheap, I use that. I have 99.8% isopropanol here, but water free acetone and methanol is also common for cleaning optics, provided the optics and coatings can take that.

Paper lens cleaning sheets was very common in photography shops, times ago, probably they still have them ..... also, if recently, they are substituted frequently from "microfiber" lens cleaning cloths ..... they had relatively high cost when they appeared, but lately the prices dropped so much that also DX is selling them at like 2$ for 6 pieces