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While it may seem simple, there is actually an appropriate way to clean a camera lens. There are certain tools to use and certain ones to avoid to ensure that you are cleaning the lens without scratching any of the glass elements. We found a few nifty videos that show guys how to clean a camera lens.
How to Safely Clean Your Camera Lens | Video Tutorial
After several long months of saving your pennies, skipping your favorite Starbucks habit for far too long, hoarding your tax return (what tax return, you’re a business owner?!), you finally buy the lens you’ve been eyeballing on B&H since last Christmas. Holding the new lens in your hand is as magical as you imagined it to be. Then there comes a day when you have to clean this fragile thing of beauty and you grab the edge of your t-shirt…
Stop right there. DO NOT clean your lenses with the shirt off your back. There are better, safer and more effective ways to do so, and the following video gives an in-depth look at one through and safe way to clean your camera lens. The 7-minute video below is a few years old, but is still a helpful guide to cleaning your lens properly.
In this lens cleaning method, Evan Luzi from the Youtube channel, The Black and Blue, uses the following items:
- Maglite Mini Flashlight
- Cleaning Fluid (He uses Pancro)
- Lens Cleaning Tissue (He uses Kimwipes)
- Compressed air, bulb blower, or brush (He uses Dust-Off)
For those of you that are fastidious about cleaning your lenses, this is definitely the video for you. See our list of the Best Camera Lens Cleaners for more tips.
For more photography and filmmaking tips for camera assistants, check out the Black and Blue blog here.
Of course, this is only one of the many methods you can use to clean your lenses, what method do you use?
How NOT to Clean Your Camera and Lens
As a bonus, here’s a little bit of comedy we found. Clearly, I’ve been cleaning my Canon 5D Mark II all wrong because the following tutorial shows you how to get your camera squeaky clean. All you need is a bowl of water and some soap, get a good amount on the sensor and make sure you rub it in with your fingers really well to get that soap working. Then hose it down and voila! Lather, rinse, repeat.
Before any of you reading this think I am being serious, I am not. DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME (or ANYWHERE). Seriously. Just don’t do it. The following video tutorial made by Ioannis Pavlis is meant to be a joke. It is not real, and no, you should never, ever clean your camera this way. The only time you should submerge your very expensive camera in water is when it is safely encased in underwater camera housing, like the Aquatec.
Alas, though this video is cringeworthy for any photographer to watch, I just know that someone out there isn’t going to get the joke and attempt to do this, destroying their gear. Just don’t do it and don’t get mad either (like some of the commenters on the YouTube page), it’s all in good, clean fun (pun intended).
I’m going to venture a guess that the camera and lens he used were probably not in working order…and especially not after that cleaning. And just a reminder, just in case you thought, “Hey, I’m gonna try this“…DON’T! To properly care for your camera, please refer to this rest of the article below, where we provide you with tips to safely clean your camera.
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