I've personally been using this one for a few years. I've found #10 to be a good viscosity for most vintage lenses with tight helicoids. It give a very smooth, light "like-butter" feeling, with very little resistance. With this you will need to apply a VERY THIN!!!! layer. Unless you're fixing thousands of lenses, this little jar should last you for the rest of your life. lol.
So far I've used it on my:
No problem!
Yeah, I definitely recommend buying a cheap vintage lens. I practiced a lot on a old Canon FD 50mm f/1.8, which can be found for super cheap in ugly condition. I got too overconfident once and worked on a Canon FD 55mm f/1.2 Chrome Nose which I royally fucked up, but I kept it for further testing and practice. That was my first repair experience in heartbreak. lol.
*Disclaimer: I am by no means a professional in any sort of way. There are much better and manufacturer-approved lubricants that should be used, but i have no idea what they are. Below is what I use to work on my own, personal, lenses and gear, as a hobbyist. Proceed at your own risk.
For cleaning elements and parts, I use 99% isopropyl alcohol.
For oil, I use Hoppes No. 9 gun oil. This is for cameras only, never lenses. You typically only need like a micro-drop on the area that needs lubrication. The service manual will usually tell you where to apply.
For helical grease, I use JHT Helical Grease #10. This is for the focus helicals on the lens. Apply an extremely thin layer. Do it with a fine brush if you need to. You really don't need much at all, and if you do put too much, it'll cause a mess in there. Unless you run a shop, a tiny tub of this stuff should literally last you the rest of your life, I'm serious.
I found #10 to be butter smooth and easy to turn with on most standard and wide-angle primes and has zero creep. #30 is thicker and provides more resistance. I figure this would be more useful for longer lenses, but I haven't tried so idk. So far, I've done the following lenses with this grease:
Hopefully that helps and good luck!
Also, don't bother opening electronic, AF lenses. I wouldn't touch those things. You sometimes need specialized equipment to put them back together and realign elements.