Showerthought: A plumber friend made me rethink how I clean lens elements

I was talking to my buddy Dave who does plumbing repairs over beers last weekend. He was going on about how he never uses rubbing alcohol on certain seals because it dries them out and makes them brittle. It hit me that I've been using isopropyl alcohol way too aggressively on old lens elements and their retaining rings. Those felt rings and foam spacers inside vintage lenses can't be happy getting soaked in the stuff either. Now I'm thinking about switching to a lighter solvent like naphtha for the delicate stuff and only using alcohol on the glass itself. Has anyone else here messed up a lens by being too heavy handed with cleaning chemicals?

2 comments

2 Comments

finleyh899d ago

Wait, you're telling me I've been slowly poisoning my vintage glass with isopropyl this whole time? GREAT. Now I gotta go apologize to every lens I've drenched in the stuff like it's a cheap martini. That foam spacer in my old Pentax is probably holding a grudge against me right now. My bag smells like a hospital and my lenses might be sealing their own fate early. Dave the plumber really did you a solid, now I'm picturing my lens elements as sad little pipes crying out for gentler treatment. Guess I'm switching to lighter fluid and hoping I don't set my camera bag on fire.

the_thomas9d ago

Funny you mention lighter fluid, I had a buddy back in the day who cleaned his old Nikon lenses with gasoline because he ran out of proper stuff. Worked fine for the glass but the smell never came out of that camera bag. He swore it added character. I stuck with lens cleaner after that, figured my gear deserved better than a trip to the gas station.