Cleaning my Swaros (1 Viewer)

[LIL’Wren57]

I recently purchased some Swarovski SLC 10x42 HD and they have lots of dust on the objective and ocular lenses. Obviously wiping them down now would create swirl marks and damage the glass. What do you all recommend for cleaning and what steps would you take ? Thanks

 

[dalat]

They are waterproof, so rinse them under the tap. If there is a lot of grease, use a little detergent. Then dry with a paper towel or similar and clean with a microfibre cloth.

 

[Mike Crawley]

Brush/blow the worst off.
Your binoculars are fully waterproof, so why not give them a wash ?

 

[Gdavis248]

When I have wash my EL's I removed the eye cups and ran the lenses under warm water. Took a dab of dish soap on my finger and very gently rubbed in a circular motion on the lenses, basically just enough to spread it around. Rinse again thoroughly. Dabbed a paper towel on them and used a "Rocket Blaster" dust-removal tool ($17 on Amazon or B&H). That helps blow the water off the lens. Also useful for blowing off dust particles before or in between washes. Basically just remember that any wiping that is done is to be done very gently with little to no pressure on the glass.

 

[seawatcher]

When I have wash my EL's I removed the eye cups and ran the lenses under warm water. Took a dab of dish soap on my finger and very gently rubbed in a circular motion on the lenses, basically just enough to spread it around. Rinse again thoroughly. Dabbed a paper towel on them and used a "Rocket Blaster" dust-removal tool ($17 on Amazon or B&H). That helps blow the water off the lens. Also useful for blowing off dust particles before or in between washes. Basically just remember that any wiping that is done is to be done very gently with little to no pressure on the glass.

Dishwater soap! No way! Its either pure water or pure alcohol for me (and I am talking about the fluids I use to clean my optics, and not my drinking habits). Paper towels are full of abrasives, just DON'T do this, you will ruin your binoculars.
SW

 

[Gdavis248]

Dishwater soap! No way! Its either pure water or pure alcohol for me (and I am talking about the fluids I use to clean my optics, and not my drinking habits). Paper towels are full of abrasives, just DON'T do this, you will ruin your binoculars.
SW

If dawn dish soap is safe enough to clean oil off of baby penguins after an oil spill then it's safe enough for me to use on my binoculars. I've had zero issues cleaning like this and I got the information from here in other threads on cleaning binoculars. I'll agree paper towels may not be the softest thing in the world to use but notice I said that I very gently just dab the paper towel. I really don't even wipe it.

But anyway, this yet another binocular topic that can be discussed to death here with a million different opinions. I think there's more than one way to skin a cat here but there's definitely certain pitfalls one should avoid (i.e. rolling your finger up in your shirt and wiping hard on the lens or something).

 

[dalat]

Dishwater soap! No way! Its either pure water or pure alcohol for me (and I am talking about the fluids I use to clean my optics, and not my drinking habits). Paper towels are full of abrasives, just DON'T do this, you will ruin your binoculars.
SW

If you want the coatings to come off, using pure alcohol is probably not a bad idea

 

[dalat]

rolling your finger up in your shirt and wiping hard on the lens or something

That's exactly what I do quite often when out birding, eventhough of course I recommend doing as I wrote in post 2.

 

[Gdavis248]

That's exactly what I do quite often when out birding, eventhough of course I recommend doing as I wrote in post 2.

It's a free country and assuming you bought those bins with your own hard earned money, I say do whatever makes you happy!

 

[Owlbarred]

At home, I use a lens blower, clean lens brush, Zeiss Lens Cleaner and Zeiss Microfiber cloths which I keep in sealed plastic bags until used. I buy the big 12x16 inch (30.5x40.5 cm) Zeiss Microfiber Cloths and cut them into 4 sections and place each into separate sealed plastic bags so that I always have a clean cloth to use.

In the field, I never clean a lens unless absolutely necessary. Just in case, I carry a tiny sealed lens brush and 2 Zeiss Lens Wipes in the field.

 

[seawatcher]

If you want the coatings to come off, using pure alcohol is probably not a bad idea

Well, I meant alcohol in a cleaning solution - doh.... After first using a blower to remove dust, and sometimes also rinsing under running water. I apply the cleaning solution to a clean microfibre cloth and wipe carefully.

I am now keeping a list of who uses dishwasher soap / kitchen paper on their binoculars, in case any of the members admitting to using these methods should ever decide to sell them later in the classified section. 🔭
SW

 

[jmepler]

Discussions about lens cleaning solutions on here are ALWAYS contentious. Someone suggests alcohol or acetone, and someone else says alcohol is a "universal solvent" and will destroy the coatings on your binoculars. This, despite the fact that most binocular manufacture's cleaning solutions contain isopropyl alcohol. I have learned from past threads to offer no further opinion.

 

[Gdavis248]

Discussions about lens cleaning solutions on here are ALWAYS contentious. Someone suggests alcohol or acetone, and someone else says alcohol is a "universal solvent" and will destroy the coatings on your binoculars. This, despite the fact that most binocular manufacture's cleaning solutions contain isopropyl alcohol. I have learned from past threads to offer no further opinion.

Agree. I regret commenting at this point…

 

[CharleyBird]

From 2005, see post #5:

Cleaning binoculars.

Best way to clean binoculars? What is the best way to clean your binoculars? What are the best products to use. How often should you do it? :h?:

www.birdforum.net

I'm in the 'clean very carefully cos they cost a helluva lot of money' group.

Air (a blower with filter, or can of compressed) to remove particles, then cotton wool balls (with water and used gently in a circular motion), is usually all that's needed.

 

[GrumpyBuzzard]

Just cleaning a few today and thought I'd check the forum to see what methods people use.

Id read somewhere cotton does scratch lenses (no idea if true or false) but what I can say is I've had good joy using cotton buds on a stick , the ones you're not supposed to stick on your ear.
"Johnson's baby cotton buds"

When you've made sure no debris is presence, dip one in alcohol. Usually dab it so it isn't oversaturated. Then go lightly zig zagging all over lense. Then flip over to dry bud and start soaking excess and polishing as I go.

It's simple and I've not scratched anything yet.

Also use specsavers spray fluid and glasses cloths if they're fresh/new.

 

[Maljunulo]

I don’t venture into dusty environments, which helps. Dust worries me, because it is usually gritty.

The “spit guard” is always on when I am not actually looking.

If it’s really bad I use the gently running water, dab of soap, blot or blow dry method. Haven’t damaged anything yet.

For routine (maybe once a month) I use a lens pen, but only as needed.

 

[[email protected]]

Blow them off with a blower, then use a lens pen and finally a Zeiss lens wipe only if needed.

 

[Bentley03]

Blower, brush, lens cleaning fluid on microfibre cloth, dry microfibre cloth to clear any smears or residues.

Lens pens scare me to death, get any sort of debris under the pad and you've got swirly scratches all over your lens. No way!

In the field I carry blower, Zeiss lens wipes and a small microfiber cloth.

On game drives in Africa, 'orange dust central', bins get washed in fresh running water at the end of every day (river/stream or tap), followed by lens cleaning fluid and microfibre cloth routine described above.

Again, no way would I ever use a lens pen!

 

[Maljunulo]

Blower, brush, lens cleaning fluid on microfibre cloth, dry microfibre cloth to clear any smears or residues.

Lens pens scare me to death, get any sort of debris under the pad and you've got swirly scratches all over your lens. No way!

In the field I carry blower, Zeiss lens wipes and a small microfiber cloth.

On game drives in Africa, 'orange dust central', bins get washed in fresh running water at the end of every day (river/stream or tap), followed by lens cleaning fluid and microfibre cloth routine described above.

Again, no way would I ever use a lens pen!

Just curious, not starting a debate or an argument, but where would this “debris” come from, if you blow, brush, or flush before using the lens pen?

I’m not entirely unsympathetic. Rubbing a lens gives me bad feelings, but I’ve never damaged a lens with a lens pen. I hate the idea of touching lenses anyway, but sometimes you have to.

Contemporary lens coatings are supposedly harder than earlier ones, but I have no idea how hard they are. Harder or softer than the glass to which they are applied?

I guess “mixed feelings” describes it.

 

[Bentley03]

Just curious, not starting a debate or an argument, but where would this “debris” come from, if you blow, brush, or flush before using the lens pen?

I’m not entirely unsympathetic. Rubbing a lens gives me bad feelings, but I’ve never damaged a lens with a lens pen. I hate the idea of touching lenses anyway, but sometimes you have to.

I guess “mixed feelings” describes it.

I agree, rubbing a lens gives me bad feelings too! It may be I'm over cautious, but I've known debris to get caught around the edges and get dislodged only at the cleaning fluid and microfibre cloth stage of cleaning. If it happened to be a sharp piece of debris and get caught under the lens pen pad, you wouldn't feel the debris so no warning that you were about to damage the lens. I'd like to think I'd immediately feel, or be aware of, any debris under a microfibre cloth, before any damage was done. I feel far safer with a 'gently gently' approach, rather than putting pressure on a lens with a lens pen. I'm a very gentle and cautious cleaner of lenses, so my fear of lens pens is quite in character, for me.