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Mineral PhotographyCleaning lenses

26th Nov 2017 22:50 UTCJerry Cone 🌟 Expert

I've read the "Dust on camera components" thread. My question is more basic.

What is a good way (best way if possible) to clean microscope lenses. I use a camera with a telephoto and microscope objective lens attached for photomicrography.

I've used a cleaning solution with a cloth provided and sometimes with a q-tip. I can't seem to get all the 'grit' and threads (probably from the q-tip) off the lenses. Maybe these spots and threads have nothing to do with the trails on the photo.

I'm sure people have different methods and I'd love to hear them.

Thanks.

Jerry

27th Nov 2017 03:52 UTCOT. Ljøstad Expert

Hi,

If you got a kind of unwanted, greyish worms creping over the image of a finished, stacked photo, it comes from a dirt particle on the sensor of your camera.

27th Nov 2017 05:17 UTCJoel Dyer

Hi Jerry,

Q-tips aren't of much use for direct cleaning of microscope objectives, as almost always they leave smaller or larger cotton fiber fragments on the objective surfaces.

As for chemicals used to clean the objectives, I would certainly avoid common alchohols, as they may damage various anti-reflection and other coatings. The problem also is that modern and older microscope objectives can be built with different compositions / coatings, some of which can tolerate some chemicals, others some other chemicals.

In many microscope care documents I've seen "benzine" or "purified benzine" mentioned. This is not the same as the fuel you put into your car tank. In general mineral turpentine ("mineraalitärpätti" or "lakkabensiini" in Finnish) has been used, and I've tried this with many of my antique and modern objectives, with no damage yet. However, using special microscope cleaning kits may be the best method in many cases.

Personally, I use lint-free (or lint-minimal) microfiber cloths. I first blow off off possible grit(!!) or obvious dust from the objective surfaces. Then, I dampen the surfaces with the cleaning fluid & blow off the dust again.

After this, I slightly dampen the microfiber with the cleaning agent and gently rotate the microfiber against the objective surface with a q-tip or something other round-ended and soft behind it until I have a clean objective. I'm sure a "mini-vacuum" for removing a lot of the dust would be the absolute best first action & I'm planning to get one of these, also for use with my cameras.

Some links for you:

Microscopy website:

http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/indexmag.html?http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/artfeb04/cdclean.html

Microscope World:

https://www.microscopeworld.com/t-cleanlens.aspx

Zeiss document:

https://microscopy.duke.edu/.../The%20Clean%20Microscsope.pdf

Cheers,

Joel

27th Nov 2017 11:16 UTCJerry Cone 🌟 Expert

Thanks Joel, great information, just what I needed.

Take care,

Jerry

27th Nov 2017 11:30 UTCJerry Cone 🌟 Expert

Thanks OT, I do have the worms. I'm not sure I want to tackle cleaning the sensor.

Jerry

27th Nov 2017 12:59 UTCTom Tucker

A page at Absolute Clarity and Callibration website, notes "things to do" and gives hints to cleaning your lenses. They're a good outfit to work with. Tom

27th Nov 2017 21:48 UTCJerry Cone 🌟 Expert

Thanks to you too Tom.

Jerry

22nd Dec 2017 13:53 UTCJean-Pierre Bourgarel

A good cleaning is : https://www.photoniccleaning.com/

jpierre

23rd Dec 2017 00:21 UTCJerry Cone 🌟 Expert

Thanks Jean-Pierre, that looks like a great idea!

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