qwertyydude
Flashlight Enthusiast
- Joined
- Aug 10, 2008
- Messages
- 1,115
Now I don't know about you but I hate when lenses get dirty, pain in the butt to clean. I know the lens pen works but it's such a small cleaning area and I'd be concerned when it starts loading up with dirt.
Probably the hardest surface to clean is a multicoated polarizer it seems they always hold oil no matter what you use to clean it.
After reading up on how a lens pen works I think I've come up with the best inexpensive way to replicate the cleaning ability of the lens pen. It took some time and a lot of digging but I found out their special "carbon based cleaning element" is nothing more than lamp black. Lamp black has a very high surface area and a strong affinity to stick to hydrocarbons like oil. So to get some simple lamp black all I did was take my trusty zippo lighter and a drinking glass. All you do is light the lighter and run the flame beneath the glass so that you end up with a soot deposit on the bottom of the glass. Take a folded up wad of lens cleaning tissue and wipe off that soot. Voila instant lens pen! Clean off dust from your lens or filter as normal and then I like to carefully clean it with a soft microfiber lens cloth, but if you shine a flashlight at a multicoated lens you'll know the microfiber isn't enough to clean it, you get oil streaks that seem impossible to get off. Then all you do is wipe the carbon boosted section of the lens tissue around the lens and it picks everything up. Then you throw it away, never risking another scratch because of a contaminated lens pen. Any extra carbon left on the lens is esily blown or brushed off. Just to test it I actually bought a used multicoated polarizer and did the unthinkable rub it on my nose! After leaving such a huge grease mark most people would clean with alcohol and wads and wads of lens tissue. All I did was fog it up with my breath wipe with a microfiber cloth and then finish with a carbon boosted lens cloth. perfectly clean and no scratches.
Probably the hardest surface to clean is a multicoated polarizer it seems they always hold oil no matter what you use to clean it.
After reading up on how a lens pen works I think I've come up with the best inexpensive way to replicate the cleaning ability of the lens pen. It took some time and a lot of digging but I found out their special "carbon based cleaning element" is nothing more than lamp black. Lamp black has a very high surface area and a strong affinity to stick to hydrocarbons like oil. So to get some simple lamp black all I did was take my trusty zippo lighter and a drinking glass. All you do is light the lighter and run the flame beneath the glass so that you end up with a soot deposit on the bottom of the glass. Take a folded up wad of lens cleaning tissue and wipe off that soot. Voila instant lens pen! Clean off dust from your lens or filter as normal and then I like to carefully clean it with a soft microfiber lens cloth, but if you shine a flashlight at a multicoated lens you'll know the microfiber isn't enough to clean it, you get oil streaks that seem impossible to get off. Then all you do is wipe the carbon boosted section of the lens tissue around the lens and it picks everything up. Then you throw it away, never risking another scratch because of a contaminated lens pen. Any extra carbon left on the lens is esily blown or brushed off. Just to test it I actually bought a used multicoated polarizer and did the unthinkable rub it on my nose! After leaving such a huge grease mark most people would clean with alcohol and wads and wads of lens tissue. All I did was fog it up with my breath wipe with a microfiber cloth and then finish with a carbon boosted lens cloth. perfectly clean and no scratches.
