Mud on my NIKOR lens - cringe- How to clean

[kona12]

My wife blew out her knee today and in the process smashed our Nikon D50 into some mud. She was laying on the ground crying and I was only worried about the camera. To her credit though, the first thing she asked about was the camera. Anyway, I was able to clean the body and side of the lens, but not the actual glass itself. The Mud is caked on pretty good and I am not even sure where to begin with this. I have it sitting on a damp towel to keep the mud from drying until I figure out what to do. Help camera buffs, how to clean the glass?

[J-Rad]

How's your wife's knee?

[bklyn]

No UV filter, huh? Mud is likely to contain some sharp crystals.
Never done this one before, but here's what I'd do.

Carefully remove as much excess as you can without rubbing against the lens. Then use some windex to dissolve away the rest. You might have to use most of the bottle. Hopefully the glass isn't cracked. Get a UV filter.

Replacing the lens & camera will surely be cheaper than her knee surgery. I hope she didn't resist the fall to save it.

[mtbakerskier]

Damp towel, is a bad idea. It will introduce more moisture, and can cause it to work its way inside the elsne where it can and will cause fungus to grow.

Your best bet is to use rubbing alcahol with lots of q-tips to gently clean the front element. Once it is clean, use some lense cleaner (ROR is best) and a micro fiber cloth to finish cleaning it.

If the lense is fucked, the birght side is the stock lense for the n50 is a pos and can be replaced for less than $120.00 and you would be better off upgrading it anyways.

[Schralper]

How to clean- Carefully or try a front loading washer, DELICATE setting.

[kona12]

Thanks, for the advice. My wife has an MRI scheduled in a couple of weeks so we will see what the damage is. Since my washer doesn't have a delicate cycle, I will try the other suggestions.

[upallnight]

Brillo, with light circular -- CIRCULAR is key -- motions.

[Samwich]

Your wife was on the ground crying and all you could care about was the camera? Wow, you're an asshole.

[pechelman]

just an idea here
but if you let it dry naturally, it should just cake off
to help speed things up, place it under a flourescent light source
UV is the key here to stop\prevent any fungus growth

if that doesnt work I would probably try to carefully hold it in a shallow pot of water to slowly dissolve the mud in the water.

also if you got fungus on the lense, clean with ponds cold cream
I know that sounds weird, but its what the minolta repair center uses, or so Ive read.

[flip]

I would use running water. No touchy, with q-tips or anything else. If it's not water-resistant (sealed, gas-filled, etc.) and not rebuildable in any way I would use rubbing alcohol by the bottle, and again no touchy.

Once you're down to just an oily film, with no particles at all, then you can clean as normal with windex or a similar alcohol based class cleaner and a lens cloth.

[kona12]

Your wife was on the ground crying and all you could care about was the camera? Wow, you're an asshole.

Samwich I would like you to meet a friend of mine sarcasm. Sacasm, this is maggot Samwich.

In reality, I could have cared less about the camera at the time.