Does Alcohol in lens wipes damage coatings?

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EricKlees said:
That's crazy expensive for what most people should only need a couple times a year unless you're in the rain often or somehow get water/moisture on the front element. 99% of the time a blower and a lens brush is all that's needed
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and from the faq....
What is the shelf life of First Contact Polymer?
Colorless First Contact Polymers (DTC, FC Gold, FC WR Water Resistant and FCPL Plastics Formulas) have a shelf life of one year from the manufacturing date. Red First Contact Polymer has a shelf life of 9 months.
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What I ordered:

Edmund Optics (EO) Microfiber cloths

Product Family Description​


  • Advanced Microfiber Technology
  • Extremely Durable and Reusable
  • Creped White Cloths
  • Resilient and Very Absorbant

Prematex® Pop-n-Wipe® Cleaning Cloths are ideal for heavy-duty cleaning or wiping when durability and reusability are needed. Their entangled fiber technology combines absorbent cellulose and polyester fibers in a solvent-resistant mechanical bonding. The cloths are machine washable for reuse. Prematex® Pop-n-Wipe® Cleaning Cloths are a low lint product which is highly absorbent in water, grease and oil, making it excellent for cleaning lenses and all types of optical components, as well as many other products and surfaces. The 9” x 16.75” cloths come in a 150 count box.
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cellulose and polyester fibers
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Product as marked: CCP industries Prematex pop-n-wipe 3055

This is not what I expected. I thought this was going to be a box of microfibers. The box was also a lot bigger than I expected and the sheets are bigger than I expected.

Impressions:

Feels soft. Has a slight waffling pattern. A bit too big and non-portable to use anywhere other than from your home-base.

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PEC-PAD Lint Free Wipes 4”x4” Non-Abrasive Ultra Soft Cloth for Cleaning Sensitive Surfaces Like Camera, Lens, Filters, Film, Scanners, Telescopes, Microscopes, Binoculars. (100 Sheets Per/Pkg)

​

  • CAMERA LENS CLEANER - Pec Pad wipes are 4" x 4" (10cm x 10cm) non-abrasive, strong lint-free and (99.999%) pure with high absorbency. Suitable for cleaning DSLR/SLR camera lenses, and a wide range of sensitive surfaces & film equipment.
  • SAFE FOR CRITICAL OPTICS - Safely clean a variety of sensitive surfaces including camera lenses, filters, optical instruments, 3D Printers, scanners, CD's, Oculus VR Consoles, telescopes, microscopes, ink jet printer heads and other delicate optics.
  • PAIR WITH CLEANING FLUID - For all optical glass surfaces when used in combination with Eclipse or Aeroclipse digital sensor cleaning fluid. Isolate and clean dirty areas, eliminating hazy swirls. Safe and reliable when you're counting on it.
  • PAIR WITH PEC-12 EMULSION CLEANER - Film and print cleaner, removes all non-water-based stains, grease, and inks from hardened photographic emulsions and bases. Trusted by the world's most prestigious photographers, labs, museums, and publishers.
  • MADE IN THE USA - Purity and quality of all Photographic Solutions products are ensured for customer satisfaction. Problem with your order? Contact PhotoSol for assistance.
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This is what I normally have been using. They feel pretty soft, almost a more fabric-y feel.

A package of 100 wipes are small enough to be portable, although not _tiny_.

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sensei lens cleaning tissue

Sensei Lens Cleaning Tissue Paper is designed to gently clean all types of glass optics. These lens tissues will help keep your valuable optics free of smudges, dust and fingerprints, which can prevent clear viewing and affect the quality of your photographs.
This package contains 100 sheets of tissue.
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50% Viscose rayon
50% Pulp
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these have much less texture. they feel very smooth. they feel a lot like the tissue paper you wrap things with. they are small but probably a good sized for cleaning lenses, and the package is much more travel friendly than the other options.



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kimtech kimwipes 34155

Kimwipes Delicate Task Wipe Box, 4.5" x 8.5"
  • Task wipes for easy cleaning of liquids, dust and small particles
  • Antistatic dispensing design reduces electrostatic discharge
  • Waste-reducing, one-at-a-time dispensing
  • Light-duty wipes for precise tasks
  • Benefiting from more than 60 years of making wipes for cleaning surfaces, parts, instruments and lenses in medical offices
Nonabrasive, low-linting and low-extractable wipers for delicate task wiping. Perfect for light cleaning tasks in the laboratory. Antistatic dispensing reduces lint and electrostatic discharge. Convenient POP-UP* Box.
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these are similar to the sensiwipes but less smooth. sort of like a no-lint bathroom tissue. paper-y but soft.

good size for lens cleaning, the box is reasonable sized and has a nice pop-up sheet design.


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John Navitsky said:
that said, i've heard several folks say "brush and blower all needed most of the time". i'm not sure exactly what ya'll are doing, but that hasn't been _my_ experience :ROFLMAO:
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I'm out usually about 5 days a week shooting. I only need to clear dust or mint from my from element maybe once a week. A rocket blower is all that's needed and occasionally need a lens brush if someone sticks enough that the blower alone doesn't get it the brush will. I only wet clean the element once a year unless I'm shooting in the rain, occasionally but only if caught out in the rain. Misty/foggy mornings are much more common than teaching days for me
 
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zeiss lens wipes

maybe similar in texture to the kimwipes, but thicker and feels a bit less soft, but perhaps it's hard to compare due to it being thicker

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John Navitsky said:
or more likely from crews that maintain fleet gear for said shooters
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It's that much of s thing these days? I thought there were less hours full time photographers and way more independent photographers leading to the photographer to own and maintain their own gear.

But if that is still a prominent thing then yes i agree they would be in that you're of customer
 
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i'm guessing it's not MUCH of a thing these days. but the math doesn't work for that particular product to make much sense any other way. no way even the most busy pro is going to make much of a dent in a bottle of that in 9mo to a year.
 
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EricKlees said:
This would leave me to think this is just for pros like sports shooters that would be out in the rain or other elements potentially on a weekly basis like an NFL game or any other sport that continues when it rains it snows
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I've never heard anyone using it on camera lenses. Optical instrumentation in lab/clean room environments all the time (think microscopes).
 
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In the early 80s, after buying an FE2 when it first came out, I bought a second-hand set including an enlarger, a large set of accessories and 3 lenses.
One of them, a 135 nikkor, had been stored unused and without a protective front cover in an attic for several years (2 or 3, the seller told me).
The front lens was covered with several millimetres of compact, embedded dust. I thought it was good to go.
I wasn't wealthy at the time and spent more than 2 months gently wiping (about no pressure) this lens every evening with chamois leather (the best cloths for glasses at the time) to see what I could do with it. I didn't start to see the glass behind this layer of dirt until a month and a half later.
After 2 months, the front lens was as good as new. Really. No scratches, no stitches. I couldn't believe it. The coating seemed perfect, as if it had always been extremely well preserved.
After a few tests, it turned out to be perfect.
I still have this lens (extraordinary, I loved its bockey) and no one would ever think that it had suffered such a bad fate.

I think Nikon is not a master of optics for no reason.
 
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Nimi said:
I've never heard anyone using it on camera lenses. Optical instrumentation in lab/clean room environments all the time (think microscopes).
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Yeah I agree with that. I was just talking as a photographer and the poster that said real pros use that stuff and i just don't see it as a product worth it to a photographer in general
 
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With all this talk about cleaning lens elements and protecting the nano closing on said elements... I have only seen one person where the coating was flaking off and it was a 300PF where a fit i know used his shirt to wipe his lens when he was out and about. Nikon told him that it can handle that and it must have been a problem with the initial coating application and replaced his front element for of charge.

But the question is, has anyone ever had they costing breakdown or flake off of any lens? I have only heard of it that one time. If anyone mentioned it on the thread s must have missed it and apologize if mentioned already
 
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