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Ingredients for cleaning optical elements
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Mark Potter
Ingredients for cleaning optical elements
It might possibly be intended to dissolve an adherent organic film, such as that left by evaporation of plasticizers from foam packaging.
However, it also might well partially dissolve paints and cements used in the lens assembly, leaving yet harder-to-remove dirt on the lens. Unless you have a specific need for those solvents, use distilled water and/or isopropanol, according to B&H.
It might possibly be intended to dissolve an adherent organic film, such as that left by evaporation of plasticizers from foam packaging.
However, it also might well partially dissolve paints and cements used in the lens assembly, leaving yet harder-to-remove dirt on the lens. Unless you have a specific need for those solvents, use distilled water and/or isopropanol, according to B&H.
According to the manufacturer, the solution is meant to be non-invasive to the thin film coatings on the lenses, so it is suitable for camera lenses as well as laser optics. The performance appears to be similar to pure Isopropyl. So, I wasnt sure if the admixtures really offer any benefits...More
Butanone, also known as methyl ethyl ketone (MEK) (see Wikipedia) is an effective solvent for paints and varnishes. If a bit got on a painted ring around an optical element, it would deposit a film of paint on the edges of the lens. This might not be a problem with black anodized lens rings, but why take a chance?More
Thank you so much for the explanation. I see. Do you know of any advantages or disadvantages associated with the other two ingredients (namely, ether and ethyl alcohol)?More
It might possibly be intended to dissolve an adherent organic film, such as that left by evaporation of plasticizers from foam packaging.
However, it also might well partially dissolve paints and cements used in the lens assembly, leaving yet harder-to-remove dirt on the lens. Unless you have a specific need for those solvents, use distilled water and/or isopropanol, according to B&H.
It might possibly be intended to dissolve an adherent organic film, such as that left by evaporation of plasticizers from foam packaging.
However, it also might well partially dissolve paints and cements used in the lens assembly, leaving yet harder-to-remove dirt on the lens. Unless you have a specific need for those solvents, use distilled water and/or isopropanol, according to B&H.
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