How Often Should Cameras Be Cleaned?

That depends. There is really no set rule. We (casino) clean our cameras approximately once every six months, on average. But there are exceptions: cameras in kitchens, near air vents, especially in smoking areas and some outdoors need cleaning more often while cameras in other areas need it less often.

Lenses in dome cameras almost never need cleaning, just the outside of the dome in most cases. We use a good glass cleaner suitable for acrylic. I've also seen reference to Pledge for acrylics (on Pelco's website) but haven't tried it. One thing to make certain of is that grit should be removed with compressed air or running water before using a microfiber cloth to avoid scratching the surface.

Link to Pelco dome cleaning PDF

When you do decide to clean domes, you might consider this Dotworkz accesory, shown here:

[IPVM Note: See Dotwokz Camera Cleaning Tool Post]

You can also cut out a cleaning every couple cycles by reciting the easily memorized 'slammer rule of thumb that says, "After two, get a new / after three, just call me" ;)

It can be deplorable so I asked my friends stephtson because he worked (two-time all around bouncer) in former club in my town (Fabrikan II). He said, but I never knew, that the smoker domes at the club were empty with air! I told him not to worry much because no dummy has been found guilty or liable for a false sense of serenity, in a court of law, to date. He said that they were not even dummies, they were just gutless smoker domes, and that they would not clean them because that help to hide their missing inners from eyes that might be prying up at them. So the priority was against cleaning them, why not? Side footnote: He said it wasn't always like that, they used to record, but then too constantly they would be used against him by lying drunken claims made in the new light of day. So he gutted them so to show cops they couldnt possibly be recording of any negligences. But smart boss did have two cameras still working, just so he could have denied recordings. And these (your guessing it now!) can be told because they are the spot clean domes in the whole place! Tech notetip: most so-called upon domes are really just fixed domes and you can save time and breath by just cleaning a swatch in front of lens only!!

I am ARIES done dealing with the nightclub scene and drama myself but instead liking for the daytime activities like slow walks/runs free from boredom, but taken out of my 'elements' I can be all smiles on many occasions :)

Where I live, most outdoor cameras should be cleaned twice yearly or even quarterly to get the cobwebs and dirt film scrubbed away. Daytime isn't so bad, but nighttime performance can really suffer with IR shining off strands of spider webs. False motion recording can be a big issue.

More than once, an operator used to staring at a dirty image commented about how much the image improved to 'almost like a new camera' in low light after just cleaning the dome or front glass.

Answer: Quarterly/ twice yearly for most outdoor cameras. Annually for most indoor cameras.

Is there any written standard or best practice document from a manufacture that recommends a cleaning periodicity for cameras deployed in normal operational exterior and interior environments?