20 years of cleaning lenses with breath and a t-shirt finally caught up to me

After 20 years of cleaning lenses with just my breath and a t-shirt, I switched to a proper lens cleaning kit last week and realized I'd been slowly scratching up my 50mm f1.4 for two decades, which explains the soft glow in every photo since 2003 - has anyone else accidentally ruined a lens from bad habits?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_olivia1mo ago

My 50mm 1.4 has been giving my portraits that dreamy soft focus look for years too, I just called it my signature style. Turns out it was just my t-shirt doing the work all along, huh.

paul_webb451mo ago

Took me three years and a busted lens cap to figure out the same thing with my 85mm. @the_olivia I swear my "artistic haze" was just me breathing on the glass during winter shoots. At least now we know why all my outdoor portraits look like they were shot through a gauze curtain. Pretty sure my next move is leaning into it and calling it "vintage breath-core photography" or something.