Does anyone else find it a real pain to clean multicoated uv filters?

[episodic]

I've tried everything to bring my multicoated hoya uv filter back to pristine shape. I got some tree resin on it. Tried the breath and cotton tshirt method - no go - lots of swirls.

Found a forum post that said these filters were gripes to clean and several people swearing that if you washed them in distilled water and rubbed a tiny bit of dawn dishwashing liquid on the lens and rinsed them copiously with the distilled water, that would work. Did that, but I got spots and when I tried to clean the spots - twirls again - arghhhh!

So I tried some lens cleaner and lens paper. Still, the swirls are there.

Sigh.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

What kind of lens cleaner and paper/cloth do you use?

I usually just use my breath and a clean lens cloth, but I've always had success with ROR lens cleaner and Kimwipes (one-time-use lens paper as opposed to lens cloth). I know Eclipse cleaning solution is also very popular.

I can always get a streak free clean because the secret to doing so is to actually apply pressure while wiping. Don't worry about damaging the coating. As long as there's no grit, simply rubbing the glass somewhat hard with a good clean cloth or tissue will not harm the coatings, which are essentially baked into the glass at very high temperatures. I actually had the same problem as you, but ever since I learned to apply pressure while wiping, the streaks have disappeared.

 

[dug777]

My old man suggested the dishwashing liquid trick, but i picked up a lens cleaning 'pen' the other day and it works wonders on my polarizing filter.

 

[virtuamike]

Eclipse + Pec Pads

 

[troytime]

is microfiber bad for the lens?

what about rubbing alcohol?

 

[virtuamike]

Originally posted by: troytime
is microfiber bad for the lens?

what about rubbing alcohol?

Using anything dry on a lens (including microfiber) will run the risk of scraching it.

I dunno what rubbing alcohol will do to coatings.

 

[Jawo]

Originally posted by: dug777
My old man suggested the dishwashing liquid trick, but i picked up a lens cleaning 'pen' the other day and it works wonders on my polarizing filter.

Yup, same here. I got the Hakuba lens cleaner with the brush on one end and the felt thingy on the other...works great!!

 

[scott916]

Another vote for the pen Jawo and dug777 mentioned. I got the generic version at wal-mart (identical to the nikon and other ones) and it was 3 bucks. YMMV, but it's awesome for lenses and filters.