Just realized I was cleaning lenses wrong for 8 years

I always used a lens pen in a circular motion cause that's what felt natural. Last month a repair guy in Portland named Dave watched me do it and said I was just grinding dirt into the coating. He showed me a Leica 50mm f2 that had micro scratches from someone doing the exact same thing. Has anyone else had a routine technique that turned out to be bad for the gear?

2 comments

2 Comments

paulschmidt1mo ago

Wait, is it really that bad though? I've been doing the circular motion with a lens pen on my Nikon lenses for over a decade and never noticed any micro scratches or coating issues. Maybe Dave was just trying to sell you a cleaning service or a new lens? A lot of the so-called "pro tips" I've seen online are just people being overly paranoid about gear that's way tougher than we give it credit for.

the_pat1mo ago

You mentioned you've been doing that circular motion for over a decade... have you ever actually looked at your lenses under a bright light or a loupe to check for those micro scratches? Because I thought the same thing until I put a bright LED on mine and saw a ton of tiny swirl marks I never noticed with the naked eye. Isn't it possible the coatings on those Nikon lenses are just durable enough to hide the damage until it really matters, like in a backlit shot or with direct sunlight?