24 July 2005

A couple of times Peter has mentioned a liquid that can be applied to optics and allowed to dry then peeled off removing any dirt with it. I did some research on the net and found that it is basically colloidion. It is what was used in glass plate photography back in the Civil War days. There are some stabilizing chemicals in solution with alcohols and ether. I found a company in England that markets it to the scientific/optics/research industry under the trade name OptiClean. It sells for £105 for a 1 ounce kit which translates to around $175 I think.

That is more than I am willing to spend to clean my optics even if it does last nearly forever as someone on the web has indicated. But I still liked the idea and decided to see if I could find a formula for it on the Web. That I did not, but I did find that it is still used in the theater/film industry to make wounds where it is called rigid collodion. So I searched for theatrical makeup suppliers in NYC and found that Halloween Adventure sells a 1 ounce bottle for $5.99.

That is more in my price range so I sent downtown to their store on 4th Ave and 11th St and got a bottle of the stuff yesterday.