I recall a few years ago several of the Canon lenses having issues with the fluorinated coatings coming off. I never had to clean my 500/4 IS II other than very gently, but now it has some junk on the front element that requires a more extensive effort. Is there a list of which lenses have the flimsy coating and is the 500/4 IS II one of those or does it have a typical coating? Thanks.
I can't answer your question re. the coatings, but I would probably try to find some lens cleaning solution and gently work it into the gunk with a clean fingertip to see if it can be dissolved. It might take a minute or two. Once everything has loosened up you can use a soft cloth or lens cleaning tissues to remove what remains.
I think if you avoid applying force to get off the gunk it would protect the coatings on the surface.
I recently asked my dealer whether he once had an issue with coatings coming off on the RF 28-70/2 as I have the intention buying this lens.I know him as a very honest person and very reliable as well.
He is one of the biggest canon dealers in the Benelux area.He confirmed he had never seen or heard of any of these issues!Now I scratch my head: what about the issues seen on forums?Is it only 0.0001 % Or just very bad treating the lenses? ORjust one batch where something happened to the coating deposition.
EB-1 wrote:
I recall a few years ago several of the Canon lenses having issues with the fluorinated coatings coming off. I never had to clean my 500/4 IS II other than very gently, but now it has some junk on the front element that requires a more extensive effort. Is there a list of which lenses have the flimsy coating and is the 500/4 IS II one of those or does it have a typical coating? Thanks.
EBH
According to this, yes, it has the fluorine coating:
Maybe carefully try Residual Oil Remover (ROR) lens cleaning solution? And avoid applying much pressure.
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Orsonneke wrote:
I recently asked my dealer whether he once had an issue with coatings coming off on the RF 28-70/2 as I have the intention buying this lens.I know him as a very honest person and very reliable as well.
He is one of the biggest canon dealers in the Benelux area.He confirmed he had never seen or heard of any of these issues!Now I scratch my head: what about the issues seen on forums?Is it only 0.0001 % Or just very bad treating the lenses? ORjust one batch where something happened to the coating deposition.
I've owned and extensively used the 28-70 for three years and I do not use a filter on it for protection. So far I have not had any problems with the front element's coating and it rarely retains any kind of marks or smudging. It's a very large front element and based on how I handle it and change lenses during events, it can be relatively easy to accidentally touch it. But even when that happens, I've rarely noticed smudges. Most often I just have to use a blower to remove any dust, or occasionally gently wipe it with a dry microfibre cloth. The riskiest environmental situation I've used this lens was at a construction site to document a bridge deck concrete pouring operation. They used a portable vibrator device dipped into the concrete to remove air bubbles, which sprayed tiny drops of concrete all over the place. I was unaware of this going into the job and hadn't thought about front element protection, so was a bit annoyed when confronted with the situation. The lens/gear did get hit with some concrete spray, including the 28-70's front element. I let the concrete droplets dry, then popped them off with very gentle nudges and they didn't leave any traces.
Additionally, I have the 200-400 and EF 85/1.4L IS, which also have the fluorine coating. I have owned the 200-400 since 2013 and have used it at hundreds of sporting events. Some of those have been in adverse weather conditions where the fluorine coating has proven to be beneficial, such as with blowing snow or rain that previous generations of similar lenses always resulted in undesirable buildup of water on the front element. Not so with the 200-400.
I think it's a tradeoff. The fluorine coating is apparently more delicate, but so far it does not seem to be fragile in the respect that it can't handle any physical contact. Roger Cicala from Lens Rentals has stated that they have seen a lot of front element damage to those types of coatings with their rental pool, but I suspect that rental gear is often not treated as carefully as users' own equipment.
My RF 600 f/4 lens coat came off after cleaning it with a lens cleaner. Thank goodness for canon carepak...anyways i was speaking to a former nikon rep and he recommended this, so far its been pretty great. the cleaning cloths are huge, so i can do more than one lens.
I have a lot of the L lenses with the fluorine coatings go back to the EF 500 MK II and have never had an issue. Most times I just use a rocket blower to blow off any little bits on the lens, however if that doesn’t work the only. Thing that touches the element is a Zeiss wipe and follow with a clean micro fiber cloth and that totally works for me.
I use Purasol lens cleaner which contains only natural cleaning agents and is water based. It's available from B&H and works great. I've had no issues with coatings.
