CARL ZEISS CONSUMER LENS CLEANING PRODUCTS

Invariably there will come a time when a customer will need to clean a telescope or camera lens, an eyepiece, or other optical accessory. To help our customers, Company Seven wrote Cleaning Most Consumer Optics a short illustrated "how to" including "flow-chart", with discussion of particle removing techniques, brushes, and solvents. In it we mention that most dust or other loose bits of foreign matter from the surface of the lenses with an air bulb or small vacuum. Stubborn particles may be removed with a soft camel's hair brush such as the Staticmaster™ which we stock.

Right: Zeiss Pre-Moistened Lens Cloths Package, with two Lens Cloth foil paks (one open), and three Lens Cleaning Fluid bottles (114,665).
Click on image for higher quality, enlarged view (250,945 bytes).

If a particle of some inorganic matter does not come off with a lens cleaning brush, then you may employ a clean cloth dampened with water to attract the particle. However, there will be times when organic contaminants arrive onto a lens or mirror surface and the use of water alone will cause the contamination to spread and smear. This contamination most commonly originates from accidental contact with the hands which may leave fingerprints, oils from eyelashes, contaminants from sprays such as insect repellent. Detergents such as this are called for cleaning at times when oily, organic soiling occurs.

This is the only the only lens cleaning fluid sold only by Company Seven, and it is one of only two that we unconditionally recommend the other being Kodak. We know these are consistently made, and safe for all optical surfaces. Whereas there are many third party solutions on the market, it is impossible to know how effective or safe these alternatives are.

We make the Carl Zeiss Lens Cleaning solution available in two forms:

• Liquid form, in 85 ml / 3 oz. bottle with a spray head and cap.
  Simply spray the liquid onto a sterile cotton ball, or approved lens cleaning cloth for use.

• Pre-Moistened Lens Cloths, package of 21 cloths.
  These are a self contained solution to a problem when it is not convenient to carry the fluid and other cleaning items. The cloths are provided sealed into a handy and compact aluminum foil packet which can be kept in an accessory kit, pocket, purse, or in an automobile year round. The packet is notched so that it can easily be torn open to reveal the folded cloth, saturated with the Zeiss Lens Cleaning Fluid. The lens cleaning fluid will evaporate in a minute or two, but this permits time necessary to clean a pair of glasses or to address most other common needs.

How does it work?

A good water based lens cleaning fluid will do two basic functions:

1. act as an emulsifier to promote a chemical reaction to dissolve the organic contaminant material into the lens cleaning fluid, without harming sensitive optical coatings. This reaction causes the oil molecules to change their nature so that the oil releases its grip on the other oil molecules and on the surface it was attached to so that the contaminant can be suspended in the solution.

2. lowers the surface tension of the water (making it "wetter" so to speak) so that the water is more likely to interact with the oil, thereby permitting the the contaminants to flow off the lens surface as it is attracted into the water in the lens cleaning solution (the surfactant aspect).

Recommended for:

1. uncoated lens surfaces (typical of older antiques)
2. Antireflection coated lens surfaces (Magnesium Fluoride and all Multicoated)
   • eyepieces
   • telescope or camera objective lenses
3. Mirror surfaces
   • Diagonal or Primary Mirrors
4. Filters*
   • uncoated glass filters (Neutral Density, Color, etc.)
   • AR coated glass filters (Neutral Density, Color, etc.)
   • coated glass solar filters (Questar, etc.)
   • polymer solar filters (Baader Planetarium AstroSolar^TM, etc.)

*consult Company Seven to clean Light Pollution Rejection or DayStar Hydrogen-Alpha Filters

Pricing:

Pre-Moistened Lens Cleaning Cloths $7.95

Lens Cleaning Fluid bottle $4.95

Further Reading

Refer to our Library for the article Cleaning Most Consumer Optics a short illustrated "how to" including "flow-chart", with discussion of particle removing techniques, brushes, and solvents. In it we mention that most dust or other loose bits of foreign matter from the surface of the lenses with an air bulb or small vacuum.