On Fri, 28 Aug 1998 19:16:22 -0800, tired.of.spam@nospam.com (Rudy Garcia) wrote:
>In article <35eb36ed.35420602@newsstand.cit.cornell.edu>,
>ruether@fcinet.com wrote:

>> Contrary to what others have said, I find window cleaner
>> excellent for lenses (do not apply it directly to the lens,
>> just a bit to the clean tissue or cotton swab...), and it
>> does not harm coatings or camera/lens finishes (it is an
>> excellent cleaner for camera/lens exterior surfaces, also).

>You might also try a small amount of denatured alcohol on a lens cleaning
>tissue. It dries quickly, cuts through finger grease and leaves no
>residue. Or if you wish, try 40% ethyl alcohol. What you don't use to
>clean the lenses, you can mix with orange juice and some ice :-)

Yes, this works well, as does lighter fluid (naptha - but not
in orange juice! ;-). My "ultimate" grease-chaser, though, if all
else fails, is to make a thin paste of 1/2 dish-washing detergent
and 1/2 water, smear it around on the glass surface, and remove
it with window cleaner. Messy to begin with, but the end result beats
everything else I've tried. I keep my own glass clean enough that
mere (upward-directed! ;-) breath-fogging, followed by quick wipes
with a single Kodak lens-tissue (after washing my hands with
dish-detergent...;-) is all that is needed - but used lenses often
arrive with (UGH!!!) silicone "cleaner" on them, or other really
stubborn grease-messes...