Canadian source for Lens Clens?

[Tim Warris]

Hi all,

Just checking to see if anyone here knows of a alternative source for Lens Clens in Canada? I have checked with the manufacturer in California, who sell the product for $5.75 for the small bottle, but they are unwilling to fill out the necessary paperwork to ship it outside of the US.

I checked with my Universal laser dealer, and they charged, get this, $28 for the small bottle, and another $18 to ship it 50 miles to me.

Talk about blatantly bitting the hand that feeds you! They claim that Universal charges them $20 a bottle, which would not surprise me.

Anyway, I am trying to find another source for this, I don't mind paying for reasonable markup, but a slap in the face is ridiculous.

Thanks,

Tim

[Lee DeRaud]

Two words: "camera store".

As far as I can tell, there is nothing special or "laser-specific" about the stuff ULS sells (even if it does come from Anaheim ). Any cleaner suitable for cleaning the lenses of a $1500 camera should do quite nicely.

[Bob Tate]

My Epilog manual suggests Grain Alcohol like EverClear, purchased from a liquor store. Do they sell that in your area? That is what I will use next time I need lens cleaner.

Bob

[Chris Cordina]

This is my first post so hi everyone. I have received alot of good info here so I thought it was time for me to start trying to help out. What was shipped with my Merc. was Kodak lens cleaner. http://www.uniquephoto.com/index.php...fb10bcad7e6f0a This is a link to a picture of it, You probably could pick it up in a local photo shop. I use it on both lens and mirror. Only $4 a bottle.

[Mike Mackenzie]

This is to everyone with a laser!!!

DO NOT USE LENS CLEANER FROM A CAMERA STORE It is completely different camera Len's do not have special coatings thus they have a water based cleaning solution. THIS IS BAD FOR COATED LEN'S. If you can find some 100% alcohol the stuff that doctors, surgeons use for sterilizing you can use this to clean the laser optics. If you choose to use other cleaners other than what is recommended for Laser Optic cleaning you stand a GOOD chance of damaging the coating of your optics. Replacement cost for optics far out weigh the cost of getting the proper cleaning solution.

Try looking in your drug store for 99% or 100% pure alcohol.

[Lee DeRaud]

This is to everyone with a laser!!!

DO NOT USE LENS CLEANER FROM A CAMERA STORE It is completely different camera Len's do not have special coatings thus they have a water based cleaning solution. THIS IS BAD FOR COATED LEN'S.

Uh, Mike? Every camera lens I've owned for the last 35 years has had multiple coatings of various sorts...and the lens cleaners I get at real camera stores (i.e. not the camera counter at WalMart) are alcohol-based.

[Mike Mackenzie]

Lee,

Laser optic coatings are completely different. If you tried to shoot the laser through a camera lens it would break. Most of the camera cleaners have water this is bad for laser Len's. The best alternative is pure 100% alcohol.

[Rodne Gold]

Gcc supply Kodak lens cleaner and tissues and long swabs with all their lasers that use the same optics as all the others - you can get it at any good photo shop - we have been using it for almost 5 years with no ill effect.

[Mike Mackenzie]

All I can say is if you check with the Optics Mfg they will tell you otherwise.

There is a lot of info on line go to google and type in CO2 optics cleaning.

[James Stanaway]

Ditto from Epilog - Mike is completely correct about the camera lens cleaners usually containing water. The closer to 100% alcohol, the better.

James Stanaway
Director of Marketing
Epilog Laser

[Shari Loveless]

Tim,

You might try these guys. http://www.lensclens.com/current_pricing.htm#P1
Not sure about the shipping but you could buy the large container and make it worth your while.

[Pat Kearney]

Hi Tim
Where are you located? I live in Newfoundland and have a bottle of 99% alcohol that we use to clean the "gunk" off of fiber optic cables before splicing but to get even a small bottle to you from here could be a challange - not to mention costly (a quick geography lesson for those for who may not be aware Newfoundland is an island in the North Atlantic)

[Rodne Gold]

ZnSE (Zinc selenide) which is used to coat the optics is not hygroscopic and will not be affected by water - as I say GCC supply the Kodak cleaner and use it in their manual and in 5 years of useage over 6-7 lasers on an almost daily basis , we have NEVER had a problem at all with coatings dissolving. I really doubt that GCC would supply and recommend a product that would harm the optics. In fact in some of the cleaning instructions given on the net re Co2 optics , distilled water is used as a flush after minor repolishing.
Maybe the lenses on other lasers are different , but I doubt it. a lot of the water scare stuff is from the old days of lasering where the coatings etc WERE water soluable.
At any rate , if your mnfgr states to use alcohol , do so . More important than the fluid used to clean the optic and mirrors is the method , the lens coatings are pretty fragile and scratch easily.

[Jeanette Brewer]

Hi all,

Just checking to see if anyone here knows of a alternative source for Lens Clens in Canada? I have checked with the manufacturer in California, who sell the product for $5.75 for the small bottle, but they are unwilling to fill out the necessary paperwork to ship it outside of the US.

Tim

Tim:

Are you a LaserBits customer? They ship to Canada & they have a laser optics cleaner for a few bucks. www.laserbits.com