[rollei_list] Re: Zeiss Lens Cleaner
- From: "Richard Knoppow" <dickburk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 4 Jul 2011 13:05:23 -0700
----- Original Message -----
From: "John Jensen" <jwjensen356@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, July 04, 2011 11:18 AM
Subject: [rollei_list] Re: Zeiss Lens Cleaner
I have a spray bottle labeled 'Zeiss Lens Cleaner'. The
backside has the words "Especially formulated for Carl Zeiss
Optical, Inc. by nanoFILM LTD, Cleveland, Ohio". The only
hint as to the contents are the words "Contains
isopropanol".
John
Pretty much all the lens cleaners and window cleaners
which have MSDS that actually list ingredients turn out to
be based on either; 1, isopropyl alcohol (isopropanol); 2,
Ammonia, usually ammonium hydroxide but ammonium carbonate
in the case of Kodak Lens Cleaner; 3, Butyl alcohol, AKA
several other names, often labeled "streak free". Most have
a wetting agent in them in the form of a detergent or, in
the case of ROR, soap. Most of the cleaners have either
Triton-X 100 or some form of Celusolve, both brand names for
stuff with complex chemical names.
Lens cleaners should meet at least two requirements;
they must not damage the the lens, and they must not leave a
residue.
Neither isoproply alcohol or ammonia is a good grease
remover when diluted as much as they are in lens or window
cleaner. If a lens has oil or grease on it something
stronger must be used. The two best solvents for this are
naphtha and acetone. Naptha in pure form does not leave a
residue, relatively pure naphtha can be obtained as Ronsonol
lighter fluid. In bulk its available from any store than
sells paint. Acetone is a pretty broad spectrum solvent so
one must be very careful of it around plastics and paint. It
was and maybe still is a standard cleaner for optical parts
in manufacture. either of these can be followed up with a
standard lens or window cleaner followed with a distilled
water rinse.
Nothing will remove scratches. If a lens is scratched
the only cure is to re-polish the surface. This has the
hazard that the figure of the surface may be changed. For
the most part lens performance will not be affected by small
changes in the thickness of elements but there will be some
and re-polishing does affect thickness a little. Scratched
coatings, assuming the scratch does not go into the glass,
require removing the coating and recoating. There are people
who do this but its expensive, and AFAIK, none of the
recoaters offers multi-layer recoating. If the scratch has
gone into the glass repolishing as well as recoating is
necessary. AFAIK, there is no solvent that will remove
coatings, they must be polished off. None of this is
trivial.
The best advice is to keep lenses as clean as possible
so that lens cleaning is not done often. Surface dust can be
blown off with a hand squeegee, or gentle application of
canned air.
Again, I stress avoiding using anything that contacts
the glass surface twice.
Reportedly Kimberly-Clarke treats all their tissue pulp
to remove grit. I have used their toilet paper sucessfully.
Cheap and works. Kimwipes, now I think called something
else, are specifically made for delicate cleaning jobs and
are good for lens cleaning. I confirmed this with the
company.
Be careful because its possible to scratch up a lens
without even knowing you are doing it.
--
Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles, CA, USA
dickburk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
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