Please recommend a simple cleaning kit for travels


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petetherock

Senior Member
Oct 9, 2006
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Hi friends
On my trips, most times I skip the camera bag, and simply bring my D 80, the 18-200mm attached to the camera and a spare battery.

All this goes into the backpack, so the principle is less is best.

But the lens can still get smudged, dusty etc.

Hence can someone help to recommend a good blower, a good lens cloth and maybe I might consider lens paper too.

Thanks
 

I would recommend a lens pen and giotto rocket blower.. very lean already

Hi friends
On my trips, most times I skip the camera bag, and simply bring my D 80, the 18-200mm attached to the camera and a spare battery.

All this goes into the backpack, so the principle is less is best.

But the lens can still get smudged, dusty etc.

Hence can someone help to recommend a good blower, a good lens cloth and maybe I might consider lens paper too.

Thanks
 

i survive on a Nikon lens cloth, a lens pen and a blower
 

Microfibre cloth and lens cleaning solution, along with a blower.
 

Thanks friends
How big are the items like the blower? And if someone can recommend a good shop to get them?
I do ultralight hikes some trips so every gram counts.

I will be in Java in July, and I will get this stuff before my trip

Cheers


BTW, as a bonus I may consider bringing my SB 600, but that may not be needed for a mission trip to a small village?
 

I bought my Giottos rocket blower from Cathay. Can't live without it. It's about 18 cm in height. You can google to see what it looks like. Good luck.
 

The blower and the lens pen should be enough. If you want to be extra careful you can get the small kinetronics cleaning kit I got mine from CP. This should be more than enuff.
 

I got mine at Lord's for 10$ a simple cleaning kit which includes blower, brush, tissue, buds and cleaning cloth. :D
 

Blower and Lens Pen should be sufficient. But I not too sure about the Giotto blower. I got the big one and it's troublesome to fit it into the bag. I'm now using the Swiss blower from John 3:16, much better.
 

Similar to others here, I will bring my classic lenspen and the Giottios rocket blower for the lenses plus a couple of microfiber cloth to clean the camera/lens body. I usually lay the camera on top of the microfiber cloth if I have to put the camera down on a rough surface such as rocks.
 

i use a $4.90 set bought from mustafa, blower, cleaning solution and lens tissue. cheap and good
 

cleaning lens or need to clean sensor?

suggest you clean before you travel, cleaning sensor when travelling is a pain in the ass because if you want wet cleaning, you cannot bring the flammable sensor fluid along. dry cleaning is not that effective either.

for lens, just bring a good microfibre cloth and a lenspen, should solve all your problems. for everything else, there is water.
 

Thanks, actually I am keen to acquire a good lens cloth, lens paper is too much of a bother. Any good cloth? I used my cloth from Seiko.

I bought a compact blower from MS and I will consider the better one from Giotto when I return from my Indo trip!

Cheers
 

Thanks, actually I am keen to acquire a good lens cloth, lens paper is too much of a bother. Any good cloth? I used my cloth from Seiko.

I bought a compact blower from MS and I will consider the better one from Giotto when I return from my Indo trip!

Cheers
i have had 2 or 3 cloths, but the one i got from john 3:16 i still like the best,

optilux brand i think.. with every machine wash it's brand new again. :)
 

I would keep the lens paper handy. Kodak lens paper from cathay about $4? If you can find a rosco brand, some say thats good too. Lens paper comes handy when you get salt spray or 'funny' rain (raining with pollutants in the air - oil/etc) or whatever weird liquids that find themselves on your lens filter. Stuff you wont want to clean with a lens cloth cos you'll have to wash it before being able to use it again.

If there's dirt or stuff with the rain or whatever (as in you can see it even by glancing not intense staring) then try to wash it off gently with water, before cleaning.

Method of cleaning:
Blower -> brush (eg. lenspen) if necessary -> wipe if necessary (gentle pressure over wide surface area of paper/cloth).

Would leave the lens cloth to clean the everyday stuff - fingerprints and similar.

*edit* breathing slightly on the lens helps with cleaning off oil based smudges. Stubborn ones can turn to lens fliud. Liquid applied on paper/cloth and not on lens. If anyone is worried about the acidity of the moisture from your mouth ruining your coating, by all means forget I mentioned it and stick to lens fluid.
 

As far as ultra-light hikes goes, do you have a base camp or hostel you can go back to? If so you could leave the stuff behind and just carry the lens cloth. gentle *swaying* across the lens can help dust it off and wipe after if needed. Reason - wiping with dust there might introduce (micro)scratches on your coating.. the way you see it on black painted cars (but that's a really extreme example). On extended hikes, a small swiss blower would fit more compactly vs the rocket blower.

Depending on how you shoot and how you treat your camera with regards to weather conditions... you will definitely need the full kit when shooting in sandy conditions. YMMV.
 

Again appreciate the tips
If I have a chance, I will pop into Cathay and get some paper, maybe a blower.
This trip to Indo isn't the big hike yet.

I did Denver to LA, and another SF to Seattle for the big hikes. Every ounce counts for those.

Getting too old for those, so its just that next year I want to do the Grand Canyon and raft down the Colorado river, and it has been a dream to take those canyon shots I saw in Nat Geo...

So thanks for the advice on sand as well, thats v useful!
 

Oh, I never touch the sensor, which is why I got the 18-200mm, I never remove my lens, since day one. Except the day I sent the kit for cleaning at NSC
 

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