How oily fingerprints affects lens coating in long term?

Question

I recently bought a new camera and got a big finger print on it's lens rightaway. I used lenspen to wipe it off, however my lens pen was already quite dry, so I'm not sure if it worked correctly. I have no lens cleaner currently, so my only option was to wipe it dry

After rubbing it with lens pen it seems to me that lens is probably clear, but I'm worried

The question is: "How bad will it be if I'll have some fingerprint oils, dirt or something like that on lens for months? Wouldn't fingerprint oil somehow destroy lens coating and damage lens?", because I'm not sure if lenspen wiped it off completely or just rubbed oil all across the lens in a tiny tiny layer

Is it easy to scrub off coating if you'll scrub lens too hard in order to clean it? As a newbie I'm quite worried that I might have scrubbed it too much while cleaning

Answer 1

I have seen lenses with permanent visible fingerprints that "ate" into the coating on older lenses, which is why I say that your concern is reasonable, but the risk is still quite low with modern lens coatings. Most modern lens coatings are now quite resistant to skin oils, but one should always take care to keep the lenses as clean as possible. The risk, while low, is not non-existant.

Answer 2

If you use minimal pressure with the lenspen, you should not damage the lens through the pressure. As for the oil, I have heard using methyl alcohol can be used as a "wet cleaner" with the lens pen and it's brush used for "dry cleaning".

Answer 3

Lens cleaning fluid and lens cleaning tissue/cloths are ridiculously cheap. Even the premium "name brand" stuff is cheap. Get some and clean your lens properly.

Never apply the fluid directly to the surface of the lens. Rather, put a few drops on the tissue or a soft, lint free cloth and wipe the lens in a circular motion from the center to the edges. If there are streaks or wet spots left you used too much fluid. Use a dry piece of the tissue or cloth to dry the surface of the lens.

Lens pens are decent for a quick solution in the field when something gets on your lens and you need to remove it quickly. They're not so great for routine cleaning between uses. They tend to get contaminated fairly quickly. After that, each time you use them you're just spreading the contaminant around on your lens. In my personal experience, they don't remove skin oils very well even when brand new, they just spread it around. This can lead to streaking of specular highlights that may be present in the lens' field of view.

Another good solution for quick field cleaning that is probably more economical per use than a lens pen is a pack of individually packaged single use pre-moistened lens wipes. I keep a few of the individual packs in each of my camera and photo accessory bags.