If you use a lens pen, you’ve noticed that its felt tip is covered in black powder. It’s great against fingertips and other greasy residue, but it wears off. In this video, Mathieu Stern will show you how to clean your lenses equally efficient without using a lens pen. You will need a candle, a spoon, and a microfiber lens cleaning cloth instead. Confused? Let’s dive in.
The tip of the lens pen is covered in “carbon cleaning compound.” But this is basically soot, which sticks to oils and thus makes the lens pen so efficient against fingerprints. So, Mathieu made his own “carbon cleaning compound” using a few items all of us have at home.
If you want to try this yourself, light the candle and run the spoon over the flame. You’ll end up with black soot on the spoon, and you should use a lens cloth to wipe off that soot. Now, brush off any dust from the lens, and then use the cloth with the soot to wipe the fingerprints off your lens. In Mathieu’s test, it seems to do the job just fine.
Personally, I wouldn’t do this to my lenses. I even don’t use the lens pen very often. The thing is, while soot is a gentle abrasive, it’s still an abrasive. It means that our lenses should be fine if you use it occasionally, but using it too often could damage your lenses in the long run.
What do you say? Would you use this DIY trick to clean your lenses from fingerprints (or perhaps you already have used it)? And what about the lens pen, do you use it often or you avoid using it too much?
[How to Clean a Really Dirty Camera Lens (Fast & Easy) | Mathieu Stern]
