Hi all - I've now got a couple of newbie finger prints on the front lens of my Celestron - wondering what's the best way to get them off? Will I risk ruining the coating on the lens? I've read that a mix of 40% isopropyl alchohol and filtered water is a good way to go, but with what kind of wipe? I'm freaked out cause I went to wipe the marks and the lens is quite dusty too - the marks got a little worse when using cotton pad and tincy bit of iso alchohol... any assistance greatly appreciated!!
Blow excess dust of the objective first, then brush clean with an unused make up brush.
Use a square of material cut from an old worn tshirt, fold into a pad, dampen with alcohol, best if you don't dilute I find, and gently wipe the finger marks off. Use another square of material to dry off.
Voila, too easy.
The coatings on the front element are pretty hard. I was amazed at how hard the guys at Bintel were prepared to polish dry the corrector of my C8 AFTER they had blown off the loose dust and carefully washed it down with UHTC cleaner applied on a clean scrunched up tissue.
On the other hand, I was dumbstruck by how dirty the corrector on a certain person's Meade is, and he reckons it makes little difference to the viewing.
having just learnt binocular collimation from a pro in the US i will tell you what he does
1. blue lens cleaning solution (windex) - he gets his windex type fluid from edmund scientific
2. acetone to wipe it off.
-he uses cotton tips with wood shafts only for small jobs - the plastic shaft ones from supermarket melt with the acetone
-for bigger jobs he uses cotton balls - he avoids lens tissue (said it was too abrasive)
for dust he uses cans of compressed air (first in the process)
alternatively you can buy a lens pen from camera/astro retailers, use the brush from one end & the applicator on the other to wipe just the fingerprints
Thank you everyone for the advice, I'll give it a go this weekend - seems that getting rid of dust is of initial importance, although it doesn't seem to be hindering my viewing pleasure at the moment!
Yes, get the dust off with a good blower first and a very gentle brush, if necessary. If all that is left are fingerprints, then use a Lenspen - bought from camera shops. It has an impregnated pad that just "sucks" organic material like fingerprints and body oils away - like magic. (It also has the right type of brush at the opposite end.) http://www.lenspen.com/
and I have some serious L Glass 
