Can a Camera lens cleaning...

[ianB]

Can a camera lens cleaning kit be used for cleaning the telescopes front corrector lens or would you suggest that i just go to bunnings or such place and get myself some distilled water and isopropyl?
Also which do you find best to use, a camera lens cleaning cloth or white tissue paper?

Thank you

[pw]

A microfibre lens cleaning cloth is very good, either from spectacle shop or camera shop. Misting of breath and the cloth works a treat on most smears/prints/marks. Use blower to dislodge dust first, rocket blower is a good one, again camera shop is where to buy one.

[ianB]

Thank you, i was wondering what blower i should buy, i will probally go with the one you suggest.

[pw]

Yeah, they're nice and big, give a good jet of air.

[Shano592]

In the manual of my scope, it expressly says not to use camera lens cleaner. Apparently it strips something away from the front of the lx200 glass.

I use the bintel mix of distilled water and isopropyl.

[ianB]

Thanks Shane, i had better remember that.

Rimmer salute :thumbsup:

[Steffen]

I wouldn't worry about the corrector coatings too much, they're not fragile. Apart from DEET, ammonia and strong acids there aren't many household chemicals that will destroy them. The commercially available lens cleaners are certainly not among them.

The worst that can happen is that the cleaning fluid deposits a film on the glass, or removes grease incompletely, leaving streaks. Those can be fixed by using a better agent and/or a better technique.

There are other considerations, of course, for example: what happens if the cleaning fluid gets past the edge of the glass and into the cell/tube, will it start dissolving any rubber gaskets or spacers there?

I think the most dangerous thing to optical surfaces are particles that are being rubbed across the surface during cleaning attempts. Always use a blower first, or a soft carbon fibre brush like the ones we used to use for cleaning slides ("chromes").

Cheers
Steffen.

[CJ]

:lol: