For typical stuff like dust. Lenspen, rocket blower, something else?

I used to clean my lenses/filters constantly. A good friend of mine shoots for the local paper and his lenses look frightful. He never uses lens caps or filters and his optics look filthy and scratched, but he is a hell of a shooter and his photos look great (at least on newsprint). I eventually learned to shoot more and fuss with cleaning chores less. It's suprising how much junk you have to accumulate on your filter before it effects your photos.

Lens caps are a PIA, I toss them and put UV filters on all lenses as soon as they are aquired.

If I see junk on the filter, I usually blow on it untill it fogs up and wipe it with my shirt tail (100% cotton).

Once a month or so I blow the crud off the rear lens elements, camera mount and CCD with filtered, compressed air.

I replace the filters on my lenses once they accululate blemishes in multi the coating, usually once a year or so. I usually clean the front and real elements of the lenses with Kodak lens paper and fluid at this time. I rarely need to clean the lenses until the next filter replacement.

The only time my lenses are without filters is when I'm changing filters, shooting in the studio (where the chance of damage to the lens is minimal) or when shooting long exposures at night (less glass to create unwanted reflections).


Dems my 2ct :-)

Robert