In article <4p1i9e$ml6@rtpnews.raleigh.ibm.com>, levenson@vnet.ibm.com says...

>In <4p195n$rqc@master.net>, bmunro@stn.net (Bruce Munro) writes:
>>Don't every breathe on a lens. That is about the worst thing you can
>>do.

>You are the first person I've read to say breathing on the lens is a
>bad thing to do. Why do you think this is bad?

If you breath UP onto the lens, there is no problem, but if down, spit
drops will produce small (often silvery) spots on multicoated surfaces
that can be VERY hard to remove. BTW, I do recommend breathing on the lens
(UP!) to fog it before tissue or Q-Tips (cotton-tipped swabs) are used.
And, BTW, good-quality UV filters (Hoya is good, and reasonably priced)
do offer lens protection with no discernable (I've checked!) degradation
of image quality under virtually any lighting condition. (I've seen "pro's"
unprotected lenses, and they aren't usually ones that I would care to buy
or use after they have acquired the usual bunch of scratches......)
Hope This Helps