Six years of collimator cleaning methods, I finally switched to the alcohol swap trick

Used to tear down lenses and scrub elements with a microfiber and lens fluid. Took me 20 minutes per glass and I still left streaks. About 3 months ago I watched an old tech dip a swab in 91% isopropyl and drag it across once. Tried it on a beat up 50mm f1.4 from a yard sale in Dayton and it came out perfect in under 5 minutes. Only works if you let it evaporate before reassembling. Anyone else ditch the fancy stuff for plain alcohol or am I late to this party?

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alex_taylor1023d ago

Hold on, if it works so great then why did it take you three months to get confident with it? Streaks might not show up right away, but that alcohol can pull moisture from the air and mess with coatings down the line if you're not careful. I'll keep my lens fluid and extra patience, that cheap fix sounds like a gamble on glass worth more than a yard sale find.