Lens cleaning pen - disappointed by results, is this working right?

Question

I just got one of these for the first time, a lot of threads on here recommend them and they seem like a great idea. Bought a Nikon one from amazon for $8 and while I really like the brush it seems like the cleaner tool isn't really working.

I have a brand new lens that I used for a few days and after wiping off the dust I wanted to remove a little spec of water that had dried on it. When I use the cleaning tip end it didn't really do anything, so I fogged it up by breathing on the lens, still not much result but better. It seems like I was just using a micro fiber cloth without any cleaning solution. I tried breathing on it again and accidentally touched it with my lip (hehe) so now I had a larger mark to remove.

I kept using the cleaning pen, putting it into the cap and twisting to get the cleaning compound, and in the end I feel like it required way to much rubbing to get clean. And still when I look at in under a light at the right angle there are still spots where it seems the smudges were thinned out and wiped around until you couldn't see them anymore.

I also tried it some on my camera's LCD screen that had some big oily fingerprints and it was definitely just moving and spreading the prints around.

Should I be thrilled by this pen and see it remove fingerprints fairly effortlessly?

Answer 1

The lens cleaning pen isn't a single "you only need this" solution. Lens cleaning should ideally be handled in multiple steps:

1. No-contact cleaning with a blower; I like Giottos rocket blowers.
2. Minimal pressure, light contact cleaning, such as the brush in the lens pen.
3. Dry contact cleaning, such as the lens pen.
4. Wet cleaning solutions, such as methyl alcohol.

These are in an important order: they start with being able to clean the lightest problem (dust, hair) and escalate to the toughest problems (liquid spots). The corollary is that they are in an important order: the potential to be least damaging and escalate to the potential to be most damaging. (Using your lens pen or a wet cleaning solution to scrub sand off, for example, will likely damage the lens, but a blower will likely remove sand with no problem.)

If you've got a water spot, I would try the lens pen. Sometimes they come off pretty easily. But if they don't come off, you need to look for a wet cleaning solution.

Answer 2

I've used a few of them. My experience is that they work better than nothing for removing smudges left by fingerprints, but after just a few uses they start leaving more smudges than they clean.

I still carry a fresh one in my bag for field use if I get a nasty skin oil smudge on the front of a lens and need to clean it quickly. But I don't use it as part of a regular cleaning routine. I do use the retractable brush on the other end, as it is getting hard to find lens brushes with caps/covers.

As others have said, before you use any contact method of cleaning blow and brush first to remove the easy stuff. Then use the contact method such as a lens pen or wet cleaner.

My normal cleaning regimen is:

• Blow with air using a bulb blower. Make sure the blower you use doesn't allow dust in with the air on the intake side.
• Brush with a soft brush specifically made for optical lenses.
• Wipe with a clean dry microfiber cloth.
• Wet clean with a Pec-Pad or other disposable optical wipe and a fast evaporating cleaning fluid such as ROR, Eclipse, Everclear (190 proof ethanol), or isopropyl alcohol.

I only go as far down the list as is necessary to clean what needs to be removed from the surface of the lens.