Old timer showed me a trick for cleaning mirror prisms

I was chatting with a retired repair guy at a swap meet in Portland last Saturday, and he said to use a tiny dab of eyeglass cleaner on a microbrush instead of alcohol. Tried it on a sticky Pentax prism and it cleared up way faster without leaving streaks. Anyone else have a weird cleaning fluid they swear by?

3 comments

3 Comments

ruby6594d ago

My dad used Windex on an old Nikon prism back in the 90s and it left a foggy mess, so eyeglass cleaner sounds way smarter. I've had good luck just using a little bit of dish soap and water on a microfiber cloth for my vintage lenses.

fionafoster4d ago

Oh man, that Windex story is a classic cautionary tale. @ruby659, have you ever had dish soap leave a weird residue on any of your vintage lenses, or does it rinse off clean every time? I always worry about soap getting stuck in the nooks around the focus ring. I've been using just a dry microfiber cloth on my old Canon FD lenses and it works okay, but they're not super grimy yet.

nina_hall483d ago

Windex left a foggy mess" is the exact reason I still use it on some older prisms. The key is you gotta wipe it off immediately and not let it sit. Eyeglass cleaner is fine for light grime but dish soap residue is way harder to avoid if you're not careful. A quick hit of Windex and a dry cloth has never given me issues on brass-era lenses.