Took me 10 years to realize I was cleaning lens elements wrong

I always used a microfiber cloth and lens cleaning solution, wiping in circles like most people do. Last month I was working on a vintage 50mm f/1.4 and noticed after cleaning there were still tiny streaks I couldn't get rid of. A guy on this forum mentioned using a zigzag motion from center to edge and said circular wiping just pushes dirt around. I tried it with a fresh microfiber and some Eclipse fluid on that same lens. The difference was night and day - no streaks at all. Has anyone else found that circular cleaning leaves residue they didn't catch before?

2 comments

2 Comments

lucas16518d ago

Only took me two tries with the zigzag method to see how bad I was at cleaning before. Circular cleaning is basically just smearing the dirt around in a fancy pattern like a barista. I'll never go back, been doing it wrong for five years without knowing.

jordanc6818d ago

@lucas165 "smearing dirt around in a fancy pattern" is literally how I've gotten every house sparkly clean for years, so maybe it's just you.