If you're worried about the effect of dirt, or squashed bugs etc, on the quality of your photos/videos, this is an interesting article .......some surprising results!
Dirty lens article
Dirty lens article
Dirt on your lens..
- Thread starter rockydog
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I've cleaned my lens off once, with one of those Zeiss lens wipes, and although I didn't see any difference in image quality, it's good maintenance to have a clean machine.
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Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots mobile app
I did the same thing... I was flying back to home point when it started sprinkling and I got a large drop of rain right in the middle of the lens.. I didnt touch the droplet thinking it would "dry clean" and it didn't .. I got a zeiss wipe and very gently removed the water mark..
I was very reluctant.. I have some very nice optics and have always been told when you get a dirty lens ... You let it remain dirty.....
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Someone doesn't like you. Always clean glass up front. Although you usually won't see bits of dust, you will see droplets, especially on a wide angle lens like the Phantoms. You also lose contrast by the bucket load which is Very Bad.
Movie cameraman tend to be **** compulsive about stuff on the front of a lens. One errant dust particle can take a shoot into JJ Abrams territory in an instant.
I use the Zeiss wipes (cheap, easy to carry), a microfiber cloth (available everywhere for virtually nothing) and Lens Pens for stubborn stuff. The coating on modern optics is quite hard. Just don't scratch the dirt off with a knife.
Edit: The article is pretty worthless. He shoots with a quasi telephoto with a small aperture. You can write your name in grease pen without too much degradation with this setup. Also, stills are not video for reasons I mention above. No you don't have to clean off every bit of dust with your hankie. But a clean lens allows you to shoot without (extra) issues more often. This is especially important when the camera is 200 feet above your head.
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