traderjohn Loc: New York City

I have used them for years to clean my glasses and the camera lens. To date, I have not had a problem.

berchman Loc: South Central PA

I'm with you. I even just spent $107 for a Sigma ceramic clear filter for a new Fuji 50-140 lens.

jojo Smith Loc: Northern Michigan

i use micro cloths

kymarto Loc: Portland OR and Milan Italy

I keep clear filters on all of my lenses. Only shooting directly into extremely strong light sources have I ever found any extra reflections or flare. Since that comprises only a small percentage of my shooting I just remove them in those cases.

On very careful testing and inspection at 100% I’ve never noticed any perceptible degradation of the image using even a modestly price multi coated filter.

ToBoldlyGo Loc: London U.K.

Pretty sure you don't exhale pure water.

Screamin Scott Loc: Marshfield Wi, Baltimore Md, now Dallas Ga

Overkill IMHO

gvarner Loc: Central Oregon Coast

I think that "coating" is a misnomer. It's not something that can be wiped on or wiped off, more like embedded in the glass. At any rate, I always have a UV filter on my lenses for protection. The only time I directly clean lens glass itself is when I get it brand new out of the box. They always seem to have spots or contaminants on them.

Aldente

I never expose the lens front element to air -- always have it covered with a UV filter. (When I buy a new lens, I always have a UV filter ready, so the new lens is exposed to air for just a couple of seconds before UV filter is put on).
So, though I can't comment on cleaning the actual lens glass, I clean the filters.
And the way I clean UV/GND & other filters is quite nontraditional and many might find it objectionable.
I use a supermarket brand bag of 400 very plain but "strong-n-Soft" 400 1-ply napkins - not the super-cheap brands (because they fall apart when wet), but expressly having a "strong-n-soft" logo for their durability.
Previously, I tried various kitchen paper towels, but they all constantly leave smudges that cheaper napkins do not.
Then I use a bottle of "Cinch" streak-free glass cleaner (in a red bottle), also from a supermarket.
It cleans any glass gently and without any residue. than I spray very little in the middle of a filter pointing at the ceiling and begin cleaning the filter in circular motions.
After a few seconds, while the glass is still wet, I replace the wet napkin with a dry one and continue with circular motions. After these manipulations the glass gets spotless, with no film, so even polarizing filters that are harder to clean benefit from this "treatment".
Using this combo I never run out of "special" wipes that pretty much use similar chemicals. Wet/dry napkins don't scratch the glass and get the job done.
Once again, some might disagree, plus this might equally work on the actual lens' front element glass.
Proceed at your own risk, though it works for me every time.
:)

berchman Loc: South Central PA

Perhaps, but this ceramic glass is claimed to be physically protective, it being much stronger than ordinary glass. With that and the lens hood I feel more comfortable. After all, it's only money.

lamontcranston

I've never read that lens coatings are "embedded in the glass". Would be interested to know where you got your information on

that statement? Quality filter manufacturers like Hoya and B&W caution against damaging the coatings on their filters.

Thanks.

chippy65 Loc: Cambridge

Chippy again...............I believe that the lens coatings are laid down by "sputtering" vaporized metals etc onto the lenses

in a vacuum oven, so bonded, but very thin, at the molecular level, interacting/filtering with wavelengths of light.

hankfoto

Seeing our camera lens has special coating and our eye and sun glasses don't, stay with micro fiber cloth. As our eyes make allowance for variation But our lens and cameras don't!

dennis2146 Loc: Eastern Idaho

I used to use a lenspen years ago for all my optics. But one day I started wondering where the dirt went that came from my dirty lenses. It seemed to me that it went right from my dirty lenses onto the lenspen. Then onto the next lens I wanted to clean. It would seem that with no way to clean the lenspen the dirt just might scratch future lenses being cleaned. Whether that is true or not, I can’t say. But for me, with no way to effectively clean the lenspen, I stopped using it.

Dennis

Pegasus Loc: Texas Gulf Coast

Yes, I get that. I use a blower or the brush to remove all the dirt from the lens FIRST. Then if there are smudges, I use the lenspen cup to remove the smudge. It's easy to clean the lenspen cup. Also, I have a half dozen or so of those things. I just don't like putting liquid or moisture on the lenses.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY