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so I got out the Zeiss cleaning solution and some cotton balls and I cleaned it

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Hey Tom. The streaks could be caused by 2 things. I've noticed that Zeiss does leave a bit of residue. Second, if you're not careful oil from your finger can get on the cotton ball and get on the lens. I always use gloves to bypass this problem.

The simple rule I use with cleaning my EP's. Clean whenever they need it. When using correct materials and technique there's absolutely nothing bad that will happen to them. FYI, I use Purasol optical cleaning fluid and PEC-PADs with great results.

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Sam P.
www.agirlandaguy.blogspot.com

Pentax 7X50
TV-102 APO w/ (Starbeam - on backorder )
Ash Gibraltar w/ SkyTour DSC
NZ3-6, N9T6, N13T6
TV 20 Plossl
Pan 24, 35
Pentax XW10, XW14

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Thanks very much! Gus, I appreciate the idea of rolling the cotton across the surface. I had not thought of that. I will try it. Overall I am glad I cleaned them, they do look like new and I will tell you that the oils and contaminants that had accumulated on the 7mm Nagler drastically affected the view of bright objects...Jupiter and Luna. I had not noticed this on DSOs.... So, I guess it makes sense to look closely at them once in awhile just to make sure - especially for planetary EPs.

TomN

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I clean mine whenever they need it. 91% isopropyl and non scented white tissue but make sure not to put your fingers on the part of the tissue that will be used to clean the glass. I find the tissue much more absorbent than cotton balls thus doing a better job of lifting contaminants off of the glass surface.

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We are the only two that use Kleenex ? ..Huh? I find that it works much better than cotton balls or Q-tips .

For getting rid of those final little streaks that can only be seen at certain angles but are indeed there , just fogging the lens with your breath & wiping works like a charm .

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LXD75 AR5
LXD75 SN8
Series 4000 Plossls
Misc. other stuff


Fort Rock , Az .

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I blow the dust off mine with a bulb after every observing session.

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Same here .

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LXD75 AR5
LXD75 SN8
Series 4000 Plossls
Misc. other stuff


Fort Rock , Az .

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I clean mine whenever they need it. 91% isopropyl and non scented white tissue but make sure not to put your fingers on the part of the tissue that will be used to clean the glass. I find the tissue much more absorbent than cotton balls thus doing a better job of lifting contaminants off of the glass surface.

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We are the only two that use Kleenex ? ..Huh? I find that it works much better than cotton balls or Q-tips .

For getting rid of those final little streaks that can only be seen at certain angles but are indeed there , just fogging the lens with your breath & wiping works like a charm .

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I used to use Kleenex, but it left too much dust on the lenses.
Cotton balls and pads couldn't reach into the corners of the lenses.
Q-Tips (the actual brand, which has a little thicker pad on the ends) seemed to work best. At work, I used to clean 100 eyepieces or binoculars eye lenses every day, so I wanted something that would work fast and remove mascara and other eyelash oils (and fingerprints!) on the first pass. Q-Tips and ROR seemed to be it.
Later, I found that Nikon had an excellent cleaner, also.
Isopropyl alcohol wasn't a good enough cleaner and often took 3 passes to really get a lens as clean as new. MEK had too strong an odor, and acetone, while an excellent solvent, would soften any plastic it came in contact with.
So ROR became my cleaner of choice, but only because it was convenient to buy and use.
I have a glasses cleaner called Clear that works just about as well, but it's more expensive.

The only disadvantage to ROR I've found is that it emulsifies all organic residue on the lens, letting your Q-Tip evenly spread it around. As a result, I often have to make a pass on the lens with a dry Q-Tip on a dry lens (note that this is after the lens is clean and there is no dust on the lens!) to make sure any haze or streaks are completely gone. ROR doesn't leave a residue, but the materials it sweeps up might.
However, after the "mop up" pass, the lens is so clean that passing a Q-Tip over the lens surface seems like the lens is covered with teflon. It's so clean there is no resistance to movement at all. I've cleaned brand new binoculars right from the factory that had dirty lenses, so never take it for granted the lenses are clean unless you've cleaned them.

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Don Pensack
12.5" Truss Dob, 5" Maksutov, Fujinon Binos
Sustaining Lifetime IDA member

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what's ROR?

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I had the same question, I did a quick "Bing" and found this:

http://www.ror.net/

Looks like what Don uses (confirm?), might have to try this.

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Chris

279mm f/10 C11 SCT
250mm f/4.8 GSO Dob
70mm f/6 SV70ED
Atlas EQ-G + EQMOD
SVP Intelliscope & ST-4 Autoguide Mod
Vixen Portamount on the way!
DBK 21AU04
Olympus e-500 DSLR
Meade DSI-C

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