I am currently in test mode on this, so don't ask questions--I don't have answers:
I recently bought a lens on Ebay that looked bad, thinking I could use the shutter, and when I got it, it was even worse than the photos, with spotted haze over everything. I tried to clean it, using alcohol, which left a now-clean and still-spotted lens. It was really bad. Having nothing to lose, I put some plastic polish that I use around the shop on a paper towel, and went through preliminary and tentative cleaning motions with that. Suddenly every bit of badness was gone, and the lens glowed like it was new from the factory. I did not get to the point of pushing hard, either.
I am pretty sure that this polish contains a plastic "varnish" that works by filling fine scratches, and that it did something similar to the glass. It is supposed to contain a fine polishing compound, but I did not do enough rubbing to bring that into play. There was a bit of lubricant remaining on the surface, and I used breath and a buffing towel to remove that. This was several weeks ago. This lens still looks glowingly new, and seems to repel dust, too.
I do not know what the long term effects are. This particular lens was a total loss, so it doesn't matter. But I will be watching. I suspect that at worse, the applied coating will start to wear, and that I will need to renew it. I doubt it is cutting into the glass in any way. I have since tried the same stuff on a couple of old lenses I don't use because they are uncoated and a bit rough, and it did the same thing to them. If this works in the long term, I will consider it a miracle treatment. At this point I would NOT treat any lens that mattered this way!
This is the polish:
https://www.amazon.com/NOVUS-Plastic...dp/B002UD0GGS/ This is the #2 in a set. Don't bother with either of the others--one is an aggressive grinding compound, and the other is simply a polishing creme of very little long-term effect on anything.
The reason I have it in the shop is that I use it for quick cleaning and polishing of cheap rental violins that come in covered with kid crap. It works just as instantly and perfectly on them, and I have seen no negative effect over the last several years on their varnish, which is much more vulnerable than glass, which is why I thought to try it on a lens.
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