WaterBear: the teeny tiny cleaning tool for lenses and screens that can be stored anywhere. It's washable and reusable too!
(Image credit: Kuvrd)
Kuvrd, the company that brought us the Universal Lens Cap, is crowdfunding another whacky invention. This time it is a miniature lens cloth called the WaterBear, that is as small as a postage stamp, and sticks to your phone or camera so you can take it everywhere.
We've all been in situations when the lenses on our smartphone cameras are a little foggy when removed from a pocket, and maybe the fingerprint scanner on your device just won't read. Smudges and fingerprints are traces that can be left anywhere and everywhere, no matter how cautious we may be with our devices.
For photographers especially, a microfiber cloth is a staple tool and important piece of equipment to have on us at all times, if you wear glasses too then you likely have about three cloths in your close vicinity at all times.
A super handy little device is being kickstarted that, without sounding dramatic, might be the solution to all of my life problems as a four-eyed photographer who is glued to screens all day, with a pet that sheds fur ending up in every crevice. The WaterBear is the teeniest tiniest cloth you ever did see, that packs a professional element of cleaning into the size of a postage stamp.
Developed by Kuvrd (pronounced covered), the cloth is designed to be able to stick to any surface making for convenient storage options, taking up virtually no space when attached to the lens of your camera, back of your phone or the corner of your monitor as demonstrated in the video published on its Kickstarter page. The product has over 3,500 backers at the time of writing this with £73,466 pledged (over $96,000), well surpassing its original goal of $2,5000/£1,895.
Marketed as a universal glass cleaner that is washable, reusable, and stick to any surface without leaving trace or residue, the WaterBear makes for an excellent addition to anyone's kit that needs frequent cleaning. The premium quality and user-friendly cloth is designed to keep customers prepared at any moment to conveniently, instantly and safely clean glass screens and devices.
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The WaterBear cloth is made from a soft chamois nano-carbon-active polyamide synthetic tri-blend material, with omnidirectional fiber loops to clean glass without scratching it. If this wasn't cool and convenient enough, the cloth has almost limitless lifespan. You can get dozens of use out of each little cloth before rinsing it with water and letting it air dry to restore its sticky texture and cleaning abilities. Rinse, dry, reuse.
Mass production of this little guy is set to begin between April through June 2022 with fulfillment expected in July. Pricing starts at $13 (£10 / AU$17) for a set of Universal Glass Cleaners. This kickstarter from Kuvrd isn't the first one its done, other projects include universal lens caps, camera straps and lens hoods that fit every model of camera.
Check out Kuvrd's profile on Kickstarter for more information and to pledge for one of these handy teeny cloths.
A staff writer for Digital Camera World, Beth has an extensive background in various elements of technology with five years of experience working as a tester and sales assistant for CeX. After completing a degree in Music Journalism, followed by obtaining a Master's degree in Photography awarded by the University of Brighton, she spends her time outside of DCW as a freelance photographer specialising in live music events and band press shots under the alias 'bethshootsbands'.
