Cleaning your lens in field when no micro fiber cloth available?

6 years 5 days ago #578021 by James L
I know the answer to this, however this just happened to me and another photographer gave me a hard time for using my t-shirt to clean the front lens element.  Claiming all sorts of dirts and oils would be left on the lens.  

As I shared with him, when I don't have a micro fiber cloth on me, you use what you have.  

So, tell me.  If you are out and about and you accidentally leave your micro fiber cloth home, will you use your t-shirt to clean your front lens element?


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6 years 5 days ago #578029 by effron
Nope, I always have a few micro fiber cloths with me...Some say its fine to use a T shirt though. Not on my glass.....

Why so serious?
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6 years 5 days ago #578045 by John Landolfi
+1. Look at your T-shirt with a magnifying glass- it looks like a cheese grater...


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6 years 5 days ago #578091 by icepics
I don't look at it thru a magnifying glass... lol Been doing that for years - in a pinch. Usually I have a microfiber cloth with me, and I'm not going to wipe the lens unless I get a smear or smudge on it that I can't shoot thru. Then I breathe on it and give it a wipe.

Ask the guy what he'd do if a puck came over the glass at an angle and bounced off the lens? When I had that happen to me, it left a melted ice splat on my lens.

Sometimes you do what you gotta do. Any port in a storm.

Sharon
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6 years 5 days ago #578092 by Shadowfixer1
Well, micro-fiber towels are a very recent invention. What did a person do before they had these things? I have cleaned my glass with T-Shirts for 40 years and have yet to see the first change in my lenses. These things are a little tougher than people think. I don't care what people think, if my lens needs a wipe and a cloth is not around, you can be sure the t-shirt will be used. 
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6 years 5 days ago #578094 by Screamin Scott
Never had the occasion to need to clean my front element in the field without either a microfiber cloth or lens cleaning tissues ( showing my age here) in my possession...

Scott Ditzel Photography

www.flickr.com/photos/screaminscott/

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6 years 5 days ago #578097 by effron
Forty years ago I did at times use a soft shirt, or the like but I now have quite a few modern lenses with "multi coating" and I'll stick with the micro fibers. I pay five bucks each for Leica cloths, that's cheaper than any T Shirt as well.....

Why so serious?
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6 years 5 days ago #578106 by Hassner
Thanks, Shadowfixer1, glad to see I'm not alone.
I was press photographer for seven years, industrial photographer for ten years.
The mine I worked for is in the Namib, the oldest desert in the world.
I always only used my t-shirt.
I never saw deterioration of quality.


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6 years 3 days ago #578390 by Kitzmiller
I'll take my sock off can clean my lens if I needed to.  Now all jokes aside, it's contingent on what is try and what is clean and what isn't abrasive.  


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6 years 3 days ago #578449 by Prago
I'll use what I have on me.  So if t-shirt is all I have that is dry and clean, then so be it.  

SWM into chainsaws and hockey masks seeks like-minded SWF. No weirdos, please
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6 years 2 days ago #578595 by Sandy Smith Photos
Same with me, I'll use what I have available.  


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6 years 1 day ago #578683 by Office Guy
With out second thinking I would.  I have used an inside to a wool coat before.  Basically anything soft and clean will work in my book. 


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6 years 5 hours ago #578984 by Amy Porter
I for one will use what I have that is soft, clean and dry.  


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