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TIL cleaning a 50 year old lens with lighter fluid and a Q tip actually worked
Found a Canon 50mm f1.4 at a garage sale in Mesa for $10 because the aperture blades were soaked in old oil and stuck wide open. I read on some old forum that a tiny bit of lighter fluid on a Q tip can break down dried grease, so I tried it on a junk lens first and it freed right up. Waited 3 days for it to fully dry, and it has been working smooth for 2 months now with no fogging or haze. I know this goes against everything we learned about solvents on coatings, so has anyone else tried this on a cheap lens, and did it hold up long term or come back to bite you?
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green.noah5d ago
Know that the lighter fluid didn't actually dissolve the old grease, it just thinned it out enough to move the blades for now. That stuff usually creeps back into the works once the solvent fully evaporates, so a lens that's been sitting for a couple months can still gum up again down the road. Keep an eye on the blades over the next year or so and it might need a real tear down and relube if it starts sticking.
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