Photolady2014 Loc: Southwest Colorado

Never thought of that, will have to try it!

Photolady2014 Loc: Southwest Colorado

[quote=CHG_CANON]Some people like to use a a mild soup like Dawn. Results may vary.[/quote

Never thought of that, will have to try dawn!

alberio Loc: Casa Grande AZ

I've noticed humor in many of his posts and I hope he doesn't stop.

Cookie223 Loc: New Jersey

I use an air bulb, a women’s make up brush, Zeiss lens wipes, and a Lens Pen to finish the job. The Lens Pen is actually very good at removing smudges. I believe they were originally developed for rifle scopes.
Good luck

flyboy61 Loc: The Great American Desert

It's dusty where I live, but, SELDOM! Blower first, then sable make-up brush..."liberated" from the wife's Mary Kay products. Then if needed, ANY good lens/eyeglasses cleaning fluid. I use Zeiss, available at Costco, applied to a CLEAN microfiber cloth or old t shirt, (facial tissue is said to contain wood fibers, which could scratch lens coatings) then GENTLY to the front lens element...the back one too, if necessary! I once received a lens back from a repairman with a big thumb print on the rear element, so check! (NEVER use a Canon lens cloth on a Nikon lens...Bad things will happen! ) Actually, I usually clean the UV/protection filters I use on my lenses, because front elements of newer lenses seem awfully close to the front of the lens, not inset like many of the older ones were.
I clean the filters more than the front elements.
Years ago, there was this magical elixir called Residual Oil Remover (R.O.R.) It was claimed that the industrial crud in the air contains microscopic amounts of oily soot and other nasties that become coated upon our lenses, reducing the light transmission by as much as a full stop! I bought a small bottle, just to see. Frankly, I saw no difference. Snake Oil, inmho! Lens pens? Rubbing a dry piece of foam on a lens, even a rifle scope's seems like an "accident" just waiting to happen! YMMV!

petrochemist Loc: UK

Perfectly valid for those 'protective' filters.

Geegee Loc: Peterborough, Ont.

I always use a lens hood. It is always on my lens except when it goes in my bag when I reverse the hood and install a lens cap. At all other times my lens hood is on and no lens cap is installed. I believe that the need to clean a lens is primarily from touching it with your fingers. The installed lens hood prevents that. A simple blow with a blower bulb will remove dust. I rarely have to clean my lenses, perhaps once a year at most.

Alafoto Loc: Montgomery, AL

I tried that. Glass got really clean, but the heat from the dry cycle melted the plastic lens barrel.

Wingpilot Loc: Wasilla. Ak

The trick is to put the lens on the top rack where it’s not so close to the heating element. That way the lens barrel won’t melt.

Alafoto Loc: Montgomery, AL

Wish I'd known that sooner.

cbtsam Loc: Monkton, MD

How is it that the filter will not affect my image quality? I'd always thought otherwise.

zenagain Loc: Pueblo CO

You got a lot of very good advise. The one thing i am surprised about though.
NEVER used compressed air!!,
The air pressure is to powerful and can actually blow particals of dust into the lens body.
I have used it to blow dust off of my tripod, maybe even a camera body from a distance, but if ya use it be careful.

Urnst Loc: Brownsville, Texas

Thank you and the others who replied to my post. Using a lens hood does, in my experience, helps a lot to avoid fingerprints in the first place. So does the use of filters, but filters add another layer of glass which some believe compromises the performance of the lens.

George II Loc: Fayetteville, Georgia

Paul, you just ain’t right...

Urnst Loc: Brownsville, Texas

He's pretty funny for a Canon guy!