Cleaning lenses?

[bethard728]

Ok, so forgive me if this has already been posted but I scoured the boards and couldn't find anything. I recently got a Nikon D60 on ebay and admittedly, I don't have a clue what I'm doing with it. But I'm learning quickly so I'll have it all figured out before too long. But, as you can imagine, I'm a little scared of it. I don't want to do anything to hurt it. It is definitely my new "baby". I noticed some dust on the lens and I'm scared to death to clean it. So far, the dust is not affecting my photos but at some point, I guess I'll have to clean it. It's a Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G AF-S DX. When I bought the camera it came with a bunch of generic accessories. One being a lens cleaning kit. This "lens cleaning kit" came with no instruction. It is a black bottle of liquid (no label on it whatsoever), some Q-tips, and a small white cloth. Not sure what the cloth is made of but it is pretty soft and looks disposable. It doesn't appear to be anything you'd use more than once. Should I use this stuff? I'm thinking..no. So what do I do? One of the other "accessories" it came with is a "2x professional telephoto lens". I have no idea what that means but I've been using it as a macro lens and it's working out ok. lol. However, I lost my everloving mind for a moment and touched the lens on it! Now it has a fingerprint on it. So I'm going to have to clean it for sure. I'd appreciate any help you can provide this airheaded newbie. And I promise to be more careful in the future. Thanks!

[Trader]

I use that new "Microfiber Cloths" to clean my lenses. I keep one in my camera bag and give them a wipe whenever I change lenses. You can get some kind of cleaning kit special for this perpous but that cloth does the job for me. If I wanted to remove a greasey finger print from a lens I would squirt a drop of Windex on the cloth and just clean with that. Hope that helps.

[Heidilyn]

Try a LensPen. I just got one and I love it!

[fantasmic2tek]

Originally Posted by Heidilyn

Try a LensPen. I just got one and I love it!

I looked at the LensPen and i definitely have to get one.

[cphoniball]

Trader, isn't Windex a bad idea for a lens? I thought that could damage the coating/oil that's often on the front element.

[Trader]

I have been using Windex (not the Windex with ammonia) for years and have never had any problems with my lenses. I never spray the lens directly, just the slightest amount on a microfiber cloth. Maybe I've just been lucky, I don't use it very often.

[cloverlane]

i use micro fiber cloth and lens pens, these are inexpensive

[bethard728]

Thanks! I'm going to look for a lens pen today!

[Jim Bryant]

I use a Ror mists cleaner and a chamois to clean my gear. Cleans dirt , grim, oil, finger grease, water spots and just about everything off the gear.

[OeterB]

Lens pen... loveeeeeeee it.