Anti-static dusters?

RichA wrote:
On Sunday, April 13, 2014 9:05:11 AM UTC-4, J. Clarke wrote:
In article , says...



I have had some trouble keeping my lenses and filters dust-free. The

various micro-fiber cloths--and I have tried a lot of different ones--

leave tons of lint behind, if you bother to look with a bright, narrow-

beam flashlight. The various aerosol dusters, even the ones sold in

camera stores, leave a residue behind. The squeeze-bulb dusters can't

blow with enough force to remove the lint, but I think that electrostatic

attraction may have something to do with that. You used to be able to

buy a squeeze bulb duster with a brush and a bit of polonium on the end;

the radioactive decay of the polonium would ionize the air around the

tip and reduce static. Of course, they don't sell those anymore, and

any old ones would have gone through too many half-lives to be useful.

Are there any modern alternatives?



You can buy new polonium dusters from Adorama for a hundred bucks or so.

The refills are also available (they're rated for 5 years). One of the

Amazon reviewers got a brush that was only 90 days away from its

expiration though, so buyer beware.



Most folks just use a LensPen.

You could construct one from the Americium-241 pellet from inside a smoke
detector and a standard Lenspen, but I believe the Americium-241 has less
energetic alpha particle emissions than the Polonium used in the
traditional brushes. Which means you have to mount the pellet as close
to the lens surface as possible, within 1/2 inch. The upside is the
source has a much longer half-life than 12 years so it won't wear out.

There are many electric equal charge static eliminators, but most are not
portable. They emit pos and neg ions through ac high voltage. I found this
with a quick search, I'm guessing it operates the same manner.

http://www.edmundoptics.com/lab-prod...2521?#products

Greg