Many people will wipe the lens. And some photographers who love the camera will wipe it frequently to keep it immaculate. But do you know the improper wiping will cause the permanent handicap.
The camera lens is a very sophisticated optical instrument. Generally speaking, the lens is made of the glass. It's known to us that the glass is a kind of hard substance in the natural world. But we should know the hard glass also can't be wiped too much. And we know there is a vulnerable film on the lens.
The film is not for cosmetic purpose for the cheap cameras. Generally speaking, the coating has two functions. On one hand, it's for anti-reflection. There is large reflection possibility on the glass surface. The luminousness of the normal lanthanum oxide glass can reach 90%. The rest 10% will be reflected. In order to compensate the loss, we need the coating to increase the translucent effect. Another function is for color correction. It can balance the color.
The dirty will indeed affect the image. But a little dust will not affect it. The lens surface has the delicate coating. We should form the good habit. Don't wipe it frequently. And you should choose the lens paper and throw it away after using it. The lens paper is soft. But it can generate the acute angle when it's folded.
The cleaning solution is to deal with the stubborn spots or mildew stain. It will not be frequently used. If you drop it directly on the lens, it will erode the coating.
We should know there is purity difference of the alcohol and ether. Take the alcohol for example. The industrial alcohol contains the methanol and other things. Even the medical alcohol has the impurities. There will be white impurity left and it's hard to clean. And the fat soluble solution can have bad influence on the coating. The oil stain and fingerprint are fat-soluble. And so is the coating. So we must use the lens cleaning fluid.
Try to be soft to the eye of the camera. Try not to clean it. If necessary, try to blow the dirt on the surface first and then clean the dirt with the small brush. And then drop the cleaning fluid on the lens paper. Wipe the lens from the center to the edge with the lens paper in a circular motion. If you don't care about the little loss of image quality, you can use the UV glass to protect the lens.