I'm not good with photography and I bought my Inspire not too long ago. My question is what's the best way/product to clean the lens and filters that screw onto X3 Gimbal because my genius roomate while looking at it left a full size fingerprint on the ND filter and I can't clean it in any way without smudges staying on it.

You're wise to ask about this, I suggest buying a glasses cleaning kit. They cost very little and come with a gentle cleaner thst can't harm the coating on the filter but won't leave a residue either. Dont worry if the result isnt perfect, any marks will be so far out focus they'd barely register. Good luck!

Fingerprints and saliva is things you don´t want on a lens.

A clean (new) fiber cloth (the ones you buy for your glasses) might get this for you ... but you want to make sure there are no particles either in the cloth or on the lens as this will scratch it!
Don´t rub to hard ... let the fibers do the work for you!
Some one might say that this is a big no no ... but I found just breathing gently on the ND glass helps the fiber cloth getting to the hardest stains.

I have a "lens pen" with me to get the dust away from the lens / ND filters at location.
Trying to blow the dust away usually only causes spit to end up on the lens ...

Never ever store your camera without a protective lens on it ... you don´t want to get "grease" on you camera lens!
I use the lens pen on the camera lens if I get dust on it switching ND filters ... I also use it in the back and front of the ND filter ...

daniel.frederik Posted at 2015-7-9 15:08
You're wise to ask about this, I suggest buying a glasses cleaning kit. They cost very little and co ...

You are right about the "focus" part ...
But if the sunlight catches any grease or dust on your lens you will have a problem with image quality!

Of course but the healthy eye can see well past these obvious contaminants to much fainter marks that don't merit an effort to remove for reasons already given.  

I have cleaned my lens with Caloclean spray and their microfibre cloth, but I still get marks on my pictures. Will I need a new lens? New X3? There are literally thousands of these marks across my images. The lens looks immaculate through a magnifying glass. I am stumped. Can this be just dust, so small I can't see them with a magnifying glass?  Cheers

fans105b3654 Posted at 2016-11-4 00:08
I have cleaned my lens with Caloclean spray and their microfibre cloth, but I still get marks on my  ...

Could you clarify which camera you're using? Do you use any UV or ND filters? If so, have you checked to make sure those are clean as well?

fans105b3654 Posted at 2016-11-3 09:08
I have cleaned my lens with Caloclean spray and their microfibre cloth, but I still get marks on my  ...

The marks you are using are not on the lens or ND filter. They are on the sensor. You need to go to a camera store and get a bulb blower. Whenever I remove a lens I blow the inside of the camera, where the sensor is and the back element of the lens with a blower. That's for DSLR and drones.

You seem to have quite a bit of dust on your sensor. If the blower doesn't remove all of it, do a google search for sensor cleaning to find the best method. You do NOT want to just go at it with a q-tip or something.

I mix 50/50 distilled water and with 99.99% isopropyl alcohol. Spray on to a cloth, and wipe the lens clean. I also use a lenspen, great product to have. Use the brush before you clean the lens. If you don't, you risk scratching the element. If the smudge is stubborn and you feel uncomfortable using the 50/50 mix I suggested, then just breathe on the lens. Fog it up and use a microfiber cloth to wipe it clean. Whatever you do, just make sure to not spit on the lens if you choose this method.

Cheers for your replies. This image (or section of it) was taken without any filter applied, not even a UV. I wanted to see what is happening to the lens / sensor. This is the DJI X3 camera, so is a sealed unit. I have cleaned the lens thoroughly with a before and after shot, and in Lightroom compared the two done to pixel level. I found that what remains is hundreds of these little pink spots all in the same location. They vary in size from 6 pixels across, to 1 pixel across (1 pixel forming over 80% of these marks). As much as I can use Lightroom to remove these, there are just so many. I have always either cleaned the sensors in DSLR myself, or had them sent away for cleaning, but can I clean an X3 myself? that is if this is actually the sensor.

Clean lens, still pink spots

Duke74 Posted at 2016-11-4 20:14
Cheers for your replies. This image (or section of it) was taken without any filter applied, not eve ...

Since it would require dismantling the camera some, I would recommend having the camera sent in. You can either email support.eu@dji.com to get that started, or call: +44 2078621722.

Thanks, this was only purchased in Aug 2016 brand new from Maplin UK. I am currently undertaking my CAA drone licence, so haven't really used the X3 camera until recently, so I didn't notice before. Just called DJI, they are sending me details of how to send this in.