How to clean and maintain a camera lens. Hint? Not with the tip of your shirt

You know how you go to the beach and getsurface. And while you’re at it, you can also
sand on your camera and on your lens and youuse compressed air to clean the camera’s
take your shirt and…. Noooo! Cleaning a camerasensor. Just blow a small amount of air directly to
lens is a delicate task and doing it wrong canremove particles off the sensor.
damage the lens permanently. Even fingerprintsIf it’s smudges, fingerprints or stains –
shouldn’t just be wiped off with the nearestclean the lens with the blower and look closely at
available piece of cloth.the lens. Take the cleaning liquid and apply a
You don’t have to be a genius in order tocouple of drops on your cloth, clean the dirty
clean your camera’s lens. It is a simpleareas on the lens and leave the lens to dry.
procedure that requires care and the right set ofA lens pen is also available in the market. It is a
tools. Of course that most basic tool you’vecarbon based lens cleaner pen with a soft carbon
got is the lens cap. Not a cleaning tool as much astip that you can carry it along with you. Gently
preventive equipment, the lens cap protects yourwipe the lens using the tip of the carbon pen to
lens and should be placed after every photographremove dirt without harming the lens or using
taken. You should also try to avoid touching yourcleaning liquids.
lens. Fingerprints can damage the protective lensSame goes for those of you who use a
layer which is very sensitive.point-and-shoot camera. Although it is less likely to
If you find that your lens is dirty, you shouldget dust inside the body, the lens can easily get
always clean it in a sterile environment with adirty with smudges or finger prints. Point and
special lens cleaning kit that is available in allshoots usually have a much smaller lens and more
photography stores. The kit usually includes aprecision is required here.
small lens blower with a brush attached, aRemember that keeping your camera body clean
specialty lens cloth and a gentle cleaning solution.is important as well. Use a soft damp cloth to
When it’s only dust we’re talking about,clean the camera and wipe the camera filters that
use the lens blower to remove any particles thattend to get dirty and dusty and can damage your
are on your lens. You can also use compressedlens.
air to remove anything that is on your lens