Home > Consumer Reviews > Nikon 7072 Lens Pen Cleaning System

If you haven't used a lens pen, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised -- it works well. The description doesn't make it very clear that this product has TWO different cleaning tools, one at each end. The brush, which retracts, is to take off dust particles. Hidden in the other end is a soft pad with a cleaning agent to remove fingerprints and more serious dirt, hopefully without damaging the anti-reflection coating on your lens.

My only reservation is that this particular "Cleaning System" is a bit overpriced (at the time I wrote this review, Amazon was selling it for about $21). Essentially identical double-ended Lens Pens without the Nikon name attached cost $8-$10 from many sources, including Amazon (search "Lens Pen"), so you're paying quite a lot to impress your friends ;-)

One more thought: another reviewer mentioned cleaning his lens daily with this product. That's not such a great idea. Camera lenses, and especially their anti-reflection coatings, are quite fragile. The more often you clean your lens, the more likely you'll damage the coating, or even scratch the lens due to a small dirt particle on the cleaning pad (likewise, NEVER clean a lens with bathroom tissues, since they contain tiny, hard wood chips).

The fact is, a moderate amount of dust and dirt on your lens does NOT affect the pictures you take, since anything that close to the lens is so out of focus.

PS -- Here's an update: I just got an Adorama Camera catalog that lists this lens pen, WITH the Nikon name, for $6.50! Imagine that.

does exactly what it's supposed to, and does it well.

to use:

1. with one end, extend the brush, and wipe debris away.

2. twist the cap on the other end, and take it off. with that end, wipe in a circular motion, and smudges get polished away.

This is a easy to use lens cleaning device.

You use the bush end to remove any debris from the lens, and the pad end to remove fingerprints and the like.

The bush is retractable and soft enough not to damage lenses.

The pad is treated (coated) in such a way as to remove fingerprints without leaving smudges.

I have had excellent results using the Nikon Lens Pen on my Sony DSC F-828 digital camera. However it is important to note that the pad end is much too big to use on the electronic viewfinder (or anything else less than about a half an inch in diameter).

The Nikon Lens Pen appears to be identical to many other LensPens out there (they all seem to be identical except for branding and coloration). Perhaps they are all manufactured by one company (perhaps other than Nikon)?

As an eyeglasses wearer and photographer, clean and scratch free lenses is important to me. This tool sweeps away scratch making surface debris with the soft brush on one end and then polishes away smudges with a suction-cup-like device on the other. I have no idea (nor do I need to know) how this thing works but I know it does.

Hasn't scratched yet - and it's dirt cheap.

I use this pen on my Canon S2 IS camera and Canon 17-40mm f/4L lens. It does the job well. The brush side is great for brushing away the dust and the otherside is used to clean smears and smudges. No liquid or microfiber cloth needed with this pen. The cleaning side is concaved to meet the curves of the lens. So this brush isn't really meant for filters even though I have used it to clean my Hoya UV and Hoya cir-polarizer filters.

I am planning on buying two more of these. one for my bag and one for my car as I tend to get my cleaning pen at home.