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can a lens get wet?

gooomz

Member
which parts of the lens is the worst to get wet? the front glass?

is it more important to keep the m9 dry or the glass?
 

Shashin

Well-known member
The inside. It can be nasty to the aperture blades and can encourage things to grow. The outside is pretty tough.

Same with your camera.
 

gooomz

Member
like if the front glass gets rain drops on it in the rain is this a big deal?

i try not to but it happens.

don't want to mess up a leica lens in the rain.
 

Shashin

Well-known member
No, rain drops on the front element is not a real problem. If water is pulled into the lens with the focusing or aperture ring through capillary action, that is more of a problem, but Leica builds good products and I would not stress over a few drops.

The rain drops will probably have contaminants and so you will need to clean the surface. A micro-fiber cloth will be good for that.
 

gooomz

Member
is it cool to use microfiber cloth with lens cleaning solution once a week to clean the front glass?

not sure if longterm this causes any scratches on the glass over years.
 

Godfrey

Well-known member
is it cool to use microfiber cloth with lens cleaning solution once a week to clean the front glass?

not sure if longterm this causes any scratches on the glass over years.
It's rare you have to clean a lens that often. I only clean a lens when it gets dirty. Normally they just get a little dusty and a hand-bulb blower will blow the dust off. I've only really cleaned my SLR lenses two or three times in five years using them. And I normally don't put lens caps or filters on them, just the lens hood.

The more you rub a lens, no matter how hard the lens coatings or soft the lens cloth, the more chance you have to scratch a lens.
 

gooomz

Member
in terms of cleaning leica glass, i take it then most do not use a microfiber cloth and liquid cleaner, just compressed air or hand blower?

just wondering because in the past when i used a liquid cleaner on the frontal glass it would sometimes leave streaks on the lens so i guess it defeats the purpose.
 

250swb

Member
It is rain and other things that can get onto the front element that I use a protection filter so I can clean it off quickly without going through a whole ritual of blower brushes and cloths.

You won't lose any image quality if you use a good filter, and a B&W MRC filter is especially coated to clean easily. So if it rains, or somebody plants a sticky fingerprint on the lens I take out a general cleaning cloth, also used for drying off the camera body, and wipe the filter clean.

Steve
 

Godfrey

Well-known member
in terms of cleaning leica glass, i take it then most do not use a microfiber cloth and liquid cleaner, just compressed air or hand blower?

just wondering because in the past when i used a liquid cleaner on the frontal glass it would sometimes leave streaks on the lens so i guess it defeats the purpose.
I've always found that most users of lens cleaning fluid use way too much and make a mess of the lens. I use it only when needed.

Clear filters make sense to keep crap off the lens when you're shooting in inclement weather. You're never going to get maximum image resolution and contrast in rain (or when there's mud flying about and landing on the lens) anyway. That's just common sense.

I don't bother with them otherwise as I have found that even the best increase the chances for flare in difficult lighting, and shooting in difficult lighting seems to come up quite often in my photography.

As I said, most of the time, lens cleaning for me is just dusting off the lens with a hand-blower. I keep a hand bulb in the camera bag, as well as microfiber cloths in sealed packets to keep them clean.
 
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