What is Happening to My Lens?

stevedavidsonphotography wrote:

RCicala wrote:

AiryDiscus wrote:

Andy01 wrote:

AiryDiscus wrote:

Andy01 wrote:

Alcohol maybe, but acetone NEVER !

Acetone is a VERY strong solvent - it is nail varnish remover. Designed to dissolve things. Used to soften resin etc.

Sorry, but only a complete fool would even consider acetone to clean a lens, unless they wanted to create a paperweight.

Colin

So is the largest manufacture of stock optics in the world a complete fool?

https://www.edmundoptics.com/resources/application-notes/optics/cleaning-optics/

Using acetone to clean lenses is ubiquitous within the optics industry.

An important point to stress is that you should NEVER clean plastic optics or optics in plastic housings with Acetone because it will damage the plastic.""

How many camera lenses do you own that don't have any plastic around the lens ?

I stand by my statement. Anyone who uses acetone (bearing in mind that most people would buy it from the hardware store, so definitely not "reagent grade" - whatever that is) to clean a camera lens is foolish.

Colin

Then every camera repair shop in the nation is foolish, both operated by the manufactures and third party.

Then I am foolish. We don't use it at full strength, but 5% to 10% markedly improves cleaning effectiveness. I am, however, taken aback to think that people are using so much cleaning solution they're getting it on the plastic around the glass.

That is what people use to remove fingernail polish.

What the heck is on that lens that you would need something as strong as acetone to clean it ?

it boggles the mind--sticky tar maybe?