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Warning: I spent 6 months shooting through a dirty lens before I noticed the haze in my Orion Nebula shot
I finally realized it when I compared a photo from last week to one my buddy took the same night with the same setup and his was way sharper and clearer what cleaning solution do you guys actually recommend for a coated lens?
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pat_park25d ago
Nah man, I think the real problem is people check their lenses in broad daylight and call it good. @emeryfox is right about the water and microfiber, but you gotta inspect it with a red light or at an angle too. That haze hides in plain sight if you just glance at it under normal room lighting.
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Oh man that reminds me of the time I spent like three months thinking my scope was just a dud. Turned out there was a thin film of gunk on my corrector plate that I kept missing because I only checked it in bright light. I finally caught it one night when I was adjusting the focuser and the moonlight hit it just right and I saw this weird oily rainbow pattern. Distilled water and microfiber is the way to go. I actually ruined a cheap filter once using some alcohol wipes and the coating just kinda flaked off in little patches. That was a bummer of a lesson to learn.
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emeryfox25d ago
Dude, that stinks, doesn't it? Ive been there with a smudged eyepiece on my binoculars for a while and it drove me crazy when I finally figured out what was wrong. For coated lenses, I just use a little bit of distilled water on a microfiber cloth and gently wipe from the center out. Some folks swear by the lens cleaning pens or that ROR stuff, but water has always worked fine for me as long as I don't press too hard. Just don't use any alcohol or windex or it'll mess up the coating for sure.
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