The most important sentence first, because everything else follows from it: on optical equipment you clean as little as possible. Every wipe is friction, and friction eventually leaves fine scratches. Clean the lens thoroughly once a month rather than briefly every day, and after five years you will have the clearer optics.
Three steps, and no further than necessary
- Remove dust without touching. A blower puffs particles away instead of dragging them across the glass. This is not an accessory luxury: wiping a dusty lens dry is the most common cause of fine grinding marks, because dust grains act like abrasive.
- Then wipe dry. A soft, lint-free cloth — microfibre, cotton or linen. Without pressure, in calm strokes from the centre outwards.
- Only then damp. For fingerprints or a greasy film, lukewarm water or an alcohol-free cleaner for optical surfaces will do. Always spray onto the cloth, never onto the lens — liquid that runs into the mount dries out again only slowly.
What harms the lens
- Household and glass cleaners, especially with ammonia or a lot of alcohol
- Kitchen roll and paper tissues — they are harder than they feel
- Abrasive sponges, melamine sponges, anything with grit
- Dry wiping while dust is still sitting on the glass
Coated lenses deserve particular restraint: the anti-reflective layer is thinner and more delicate than the glass beneath it. What the coating achieves, and why it feels different, is covered in anti-reflective or matt.
The housing
Unplug before cleaning. A slightly damp cloth is enough for the arm, head and base. Make sure no liquid runs into vents, switches or joints — there it does more damage than any dirt. The joints themselves need no care and tolerate no oil; if an arm gives way, that is a question of spring tension, not lubrication.
In the beauty studio and the practice
Where surfaces are disinfected several times a day, a simple separation applies: the housing tolerates standard wipes for plastic surfaces. The lens gets no disinfectant — that is what the alcohol-free optical cleaner is for.
Keep solvent-based products away from both. They attack plastic surfaces, and the damage only shows after months as dull or cracked patches. If you are tied to a particular disinfection routine, ask us about your model beforehand — that is cheaper than a clouded housing.
A fogged lens and other small things
If the lens fogs up after switching on, there is usually a temperature difference — after a cold night in the studio, for instance. Simply wait a few minutes; do not rub it dry.
If visible scratches remain after cleaning, that is no longer a question of care: scratches scatter light and cost contrast, especially at high magnification. When a replacement is worth it, and what to watch for, is covered in changing the lens.
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