Hi Bob and others with similar comments,
Just to justify my behaviour.
By the time I am cleaning the sensor and rear elements I am noticing
dust showing on my images and I'm not particularly fond of that. I do a
lot of shooting at f22 or so and this tends to show the dust a lot more
than shooting at f5.6.
Any dust left behind on the rear of the lens is dust that can find it's
way to the sensor. So I try to make sure as little dust as possible is
in the mirror box to begin with so I don't have to clean it as often.
I grew up with both my parents being optical instrument makers working
in a home workshop so I saw the insides of some interesting optical
equipment and watched it being cleaned. It probably means I'm more
careful about cleaning than most amateurs, but dust spots on my images
annoys me no end.
Leon
http://www.bluering.org.au
http://www.bluering.org.au/leon
Bob Shell wrote:
I think you're overdoing it, Leon.
Rear lens elements should hardly ever be cleaned. Same with sensors.
Most amateur photographers clean their lenses far more often than
necessary. A little dust on the front of a lens isn't going to hurt
anything, and cleaning too often always risks scratching. I clean the
front elements of my lenses maybe once a year or so unless I notice a
big glob of something stuck to one. I wipe the outside of lenses and
cameras occasionally with microfiber cloths. That's it. As for front
lens caps, I don't even know where the front caps for most of my lenses
are. I always have a proper lens hood on every lens, though.
Bob
