OMG :( Did I destroy my FZ20 lense ?!

[koti]

Boy am I an idiot :( Heres what happened...I noticed a tiny, little piece of "something" on my lense...it kinda looked like a little crack. I was terrified...I figured I take an ear bud and soke it a little in a liquid used for cleaning tv screens (made by Loewe, in the contents it says "non-ionic tenside less than 5%, accessory agents") The thing turned out to be a piece of dust, not a crack. The liquid left a bluish glare on the lens in the place that I cleaned it (I was shaking by that time) So I figured I take another ear bud with plain, cold water and try to clean the bluish glare and then dry it with another ear bud. I didnt manage to clean the blue thing off of the lense, its still there :( I cannot see it showing on any of the photos that I just took, but the lense definetely has bluish glare on it :( Please help me, what should I do? How should I clean the lesne in the future ?
Give a good camera to an idiot and thats what you get :(

[Turbosloth]

Uh oh..It's good that it's not showing up in the pictures. The best method to preventing dust is your.....LENSE CAP! Don't worry about cleaning the lense, think about PREVENTION. Use lense caps, keep your camera bag clean etc. Then there's no reason for you to clean your lense more than once a YEAR.

EDIT. And never use anything BUT solution specifically designed for cleaning your lense. You want to be as gentle as possible. Larger particles of dust should be blown (not with your mouth) off, then use microfiber cloth with a tiny bit of lense cleaning solution on it and be exremely GENTLE....

[b.j.c]

That doesn't sound good. I would have to disagree with turbosloth though, I think lenses do need cleaning fairly frequently. With my last two lenses I just used a soft tissue, but you may well be better off with the purpose made stuff. If you use a tissue make sure it is not a really cheap one, as they sometimes leave rubbish on there that you can't get off very easily (learnt that from cleaning my glasses, not lenses). :)

[Jim Last]

The most safe way to clean your lens would be to use a purpose built "Lens Pen" and a "Blower" both are quite low cost and make keeping the lens clean a doddle.

I would simply use the "Blower" to remove any obvious dust, the using the small brush in your "Lens Pen" to gentle brush the lens and edges, maybe have another blow with the "Blower", hold the lens towards the light, if you can see any finger prints or smudges, gentle use the cleaning tip on the "Lens Pen" using circular motions carefully wipe the affected area, and that should be the job done.

This is only my opinon for the cleaning of lenses :)

[Jayde]

damn get an adaptor or at least a filter .. lots posted here fer that above

[genece]

I copied this from the net and while I think a lens pen is OK , I think this is good advice also.

Conventional Wisdom


Conventional lens cleaning philosophy is very simple.


First, get the dust off the lens. Dust can cause scratches. Usually a blower brush is recommended, sometimes with use of the clean brush part if needed. Keep this brush for lenses only. Keep it clean and in a dust-free environment. Canned air is not recommended by some sources, as it can condense out chemicals and freeze lenses and is usually too vigorous a blast when new can of air is used.


Second, lubricate the glass indirectly with very little fluid. Usually, this means lightly moistening a piece of lens cleaning tissue and putting on lens. Some sources recommend the moisture from your breath, but most suggest using commercial lens cleaning fluid. Don't put the fluid directly on the lens, as too much will soak into lens and may cause damage (loosened elements). Use a spiral motion outward (some sources recommend counter-clockwise). Do not rub moist paper back and forth or hard on lens.


Third, use a new and clean lens cleaning tissue to remove the moisture and clean the lens. Again, a spiral cleaning motion is recommended. One technique is to tear the lens cleaning paper in half, producing a jagged edge paper segment that can be folded (for strength). Clean with these paper pieces, discarding when done. Don't save on paper, as you may end up scratching multiple lenses with the dust from one lens.


Microfiber cloth can be used as directed by manufacturer. Usually, this means removing the dust first, then cleaning away smudges with the cloth. Some sources again recommend a spiraling outward motion from the lens center. Others say just wipe and lift off fingerprints and smudges.


Please understand that you must keep your microfiber cloth very clean and dust free! The cloth will pick up dust if you don't, and you will end up scratching all the glass that you touch.


A very good idea is to put all these lens cleaning items into a zip lock or similar bag, mainly to protect them against dust contamination. Another good idea is to periodically vacuum out the contents of your camera bag, to remove dust before it can really buildup.


Consider using a protective (UV) filter in

[koti]

Thanks everybody for the usefull info. The lense doesnt seem to be damaged, it just has a tiny glare on it that doesnt show in any photos, ufff. I will try to get that "Lense Pen" and proper cleaning cloth. Also...which adaptor and filter do you suggest to properly protect my lense? Another thing...I know this probably sounds stupid but what size photos should I take in order to print them later on a standard 10x15 paper in the photo studio? I do not plan to print any larger photos then the standard ones so it seems to me that I dont realy need to shoot above the 1600 resolution setting on my FZ20. Am I right here? Or is it a good idea to shoot at the highest resolution setting...I bought a 512mb card yesterday (NMC, high speed grade, cheapest that I could find, works faster then the 16mb they supplyed with the camera) so I can take 204 highest res photos on it, which is more then enough for me for one day setion anywhere. Thanks again for helping out everybody.

[George Riehm]

Thanks everybody for the usefull info. The lense doesnt seem to be damaged, it just has a tiny glare on it that doesnt show in any photos, ufff. I will try to get that "Lense Pen" and proper cleaning cloth. Also...which adaptor and filter do you suggest to properly protect my lense? Another thing...I know this probably sounds stupid but what size photos should I take in order to print them later on a standard 10x15 paper in the photo studio? I do not plan to print any larger photos then the standard ones so it seems to me that I dont realy need to shoot above the 1600 resolution setting on my FZ20. Am I right here? Or is it a good idea to shoot at the highest resolution setting...I bought a 512mb card yesterday (NMC, high speed grade, cheapest that I could find, works faster then the 16mb they supplyed with the camera) so I can take 204 highest res photos on it, which is more then enough for me for one day setion anywhere. Thanks again for helping out everybody.

Glad to hear that the lens is ok. :) You might want to take the camera to a local camera repair shop (if you have one) just to see what they would recommend.

ALWAYS...shoot at the highest resolution available!!! Why the heck would you buy a 5MP camera and then use only 2MP when shooting?

In the 8 years that I have been using digital cameras, I have never used the quality settings function on any all-in-one consumer camera, except to make sure that it was set to SHQ, Large-Fine, or whatever the highest resolution JPEG setting was.

When I finally bought a medium format printer (13 x 19) I was glad the I did.

The dSLR exception: With the D70 I do use the RAW+JPEG setting and medium JPEG occasionally. These settings take advantage of a little higher quality image and continuous (to memory card full) 3 frame per second shooting, respectively, but most of the time I use Large Fine JPEG.

[koti]

Glad to hear that the lens is ok. :) You might want to take the camera to a local camera repair shop (if you have one) just to see what they would recommend.

ALWAYS...shoot at the highest resolution available!!! Why the heck would you buy a 5MP camera and then use only 2MP when shooting?

In the 8 years that I have been using digital cameras, I have never used the quality settings function on any all-in-one consumer camera, except to make sure that it was set to SHQ, Large-Fine, or whatever the highest resolution JPEG setting was.

When I finally bought a medium format printer (13 x 19) I was glad the I did.

The dSLR exception: With the D70 I do use the RAW+JPEG setting and medium JPEG occasionally. These settings take advantage of a little higher quality image and continuous (to memory card full) 3 frame per second shooting, respectively, but most of the time I use Large Fine JPEG.
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I took about 100 photos today and the glare doesnt show on any of them so I guess its fine. I think I overreacted a little since this is my first digital camera and I dont know what Im doing. The glare is still there though and Im not gonna touch it again...I'll take it to a camera shop tomorow and buy a proper cloth.
As for the photo size Im gonna take your advice and shoot in the max res...seems logical.
By the way...all the shots I took tonight, where night shots from top of a 30 story building (using a tri-pod) Out of of a 100 shots only 3 or 4 are acceptable (at least to me) Im totaly in the dark with all the settings. Ah well...I guess I'll just have to practise...
Here are some of the shots I took, maybe someone could tell me what I could set better based on the exif info:
P1000161.JPG (http://www.koti.neostrada.pl/lumix/P1000161.JPG)
P1000288.JPG (http://www.koti.neostrada.pl/lumix/P1000288.JPG)
P1000296.JPG (http://www.koti.neostrada.pl/lumix/P1000296.JPG)
P1000315.JPG (http://www.koti.neostrada.pl/lumix/P1000315.JPG)
P1000318.JPG (http://www.koti.neostrada.pl/lumix/P1000318.JPG)