How to clean camera lenses from oil, dust, gease and fungus including cleaning aperture blades by Steve Cushing Photography.

Lenses Cleaning

Remember, your lenses will get a little dirty sometimes, but if you’re constantly keeping up with every spec of dust, you can end up doing more damage than what was there to begin with.

Knowing what the issue is with a lens is the fist step to cleaning them.

Dust

If there is dust in the lens, avoid blowing on it. Your saliva or breath could increase condensation. The safest way is to use a blower to get rid of any dust and residue.

Shining a torch through the lens is a good way to inspect the lens for dust and other issues.

Oil and Grease

Oil and greasy finger marks are best cleaned with isopropyl and a soft cloth.

Don’t put the isopropyl directly onto the lens, instead use a lens cleaning cloth or tissue.

Oily Aperture Blades

You can also use isopropyl to clean oil and grease off aperture blades.

Oil on the blades causes them to stick and can pull blades out of the sliding mount.

I use cotton buds to clean oil of blades they can reach into the lens barrel once the optic elements have been removed.

If the blades do come out do not turn the aperture open and closure too much. The blades can be put back one at a time if they have not been bent too much but it is a time consuming task and can be very frustrating. The less blades displaced the easier it is to carefully replace them into the slots they slide in.

I work from the lowest blade to the top. Sometimes when one blade comes out others move into the wrong slots making this task even more difficult.

Removing Optical Elements

If you do need to remove optics use an appropriate Lens Spanner Wrench for this, they are not expensive and ensure that you do not slip and damage the lens itself.

I use the system that has a screw opening and closing as I have had accidents with the other type of lens spanner wrench due to movement of the arms during use.

Lens Fungus

Lens fungus will rear its ugly head when moisture gets trapped inside the lens. What lens fungus does is cause cloudy patterns to form on the lens. Fungus first starts growing in the lens barrel feeding off all the accumulated dust particles.

There are few mixtures you can make to clear away fungus. I use a 50/50 hydrogen peroxide and ammonia blend but you can use a vinegar and water solution to remedy the fungus problem.

The best way to avoid dust and lens fungus is to keep your camera and lenses cleaned and in airtight containers with bags of silica gel, which absorbs moisture.

Great video showing how scratches and dust effects your photos.

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Steve Cushing Impresionist Fine Art Photography

Embracing imperfection, recording emotions, one impression at a time…