Lens Cleaning - Ethanol?

or ionic - or are only weakly so. (AIUI)
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TonySD

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TonySD

I thought I had answered that way up the thread but once again. In my experience the cleaning fluid will not damage the lens coatings. However, if you are worried about it a clean cotton rag and come condensation from your breath does a wonderful job and you won’t have to worry at all about solvents doing anything to the coatings since you aren’t really using any.

Greg

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http://www.pbase.com/dadas115/

No doubt

Greg
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http://www.pbase.com/dadas115/

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http://www.pbase.com/dadas115/

Wow, wasn't expecting such a discussion when I checked back!

I will try some ethanol with a kim-wipe. Our EtOH is lab-grade, so a percent or two of methanol to ward off the drinkers, which likely evaporates before I get it to the lens even. I do clean off microscopes with it, though we don't do oil immersion anymore - easy access to a electron microprobe - so the lenses don't get so gunky...

Other point to add:

I would guess that ethanol is likely less damaging than a persons breath as though it may have some mild disolving powers (sort of the point though itsn't it). Breath however definitly contains enzymes which will dissolve organics, and will not evaporate quickly at all from the lens surface - so though I am trying not to say it is a bad idea, if it works, ethanol should be no problem

Last point - Anyone ever had a good party and spilt vodka over their camera lenses - they were likely ok after (if not dunked) !

Andrew

andycgw said:

I have used isopropanol to clean lenses (and camera bodies etc)
without any problem. Ethanol's properties are somewhere between
isopropanol and methanol (i.e. Eclipse), so it should be absolutely
fine.
Andy

Click to expand...

They used to call pure(-ish) Ethanol "EverClear" and drink it

John

MitchAlsup said:

andrew1306 said:

I work in a lab for the moment (scientific, not photo!) and have
ready access to ethanol (ie the kind of alcohol in spirits...) and
wanted to ask if anyone had experience using it to clean their
lenses? I realize there are lots of products out there to take the
liquid role in cleaning, but are they in general just Ethanol (or
Ethanol based) anyways?

Or if it might cause a problem - I'm thinking dissolving some lens
coatings...

Click to expand...

I used to clean things (30-odd years ago) with 200 proof ethanol
for NMR probes. It smeels good, cleans good, and leaves not
residual.

Note 200 proof ethanol is not the same thing as 196 (which contains
benzene as a stabilizer). Also note that you open the bottle, poor
a little out and then reseal as fast as possible. Ethanol (like
brake fluids) will suck water vapor out of desert air. Finally, be
sure that the ethan ol contains no particles (e.g. filtered).
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Mitch

Click to expand...

Ermm, that must be the other way around- the benzene is used to help remove the last bit of water from the ethanol. 97% could go in the punch, but the 100% is seriously bad for you as it has traces of benzene in it.

Gotta say I'm surprised how many lab based folks are here.

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TonySD