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My mentor told me to stop cleaning every lens element I touch, and I finally get why
I was at my bench in Denver last week working on a Nikon 50mm and my old mentor stopped by. He watched me pull the front element to wipe a tiny speck and just said, "You're adding more wear than that dust ever will." At first I got defensive because I've always been taught clean glass is happy glass. But then he showed me two copies of the same lens, one he cleaned weekly for 5 years and one he barely touched, and the cleaned one had visible coating rub under a loupe. Now I only clean when it actually affects image quality, and I want to know if anyone else here has seen coating damage from over-cleaning vs just leaving dust alone.
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pat_perry23d ago
My buddy Dave in Boulder did the same thing with his 24-70, wiped the front element every single shoot for like 3 years. Pulled it out last month and you could see swirl marks in the coating under a light. He switched to a blower and a brush only now.
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