Servicing, Cleaning Sensors, etc.

I haven't cleaned my sensor yet, and I'm wondering about the best way to do it. I bought a Giotto air bulb today, and am thinking about a brush. I'm curious about how others clean their sensors.

Also, I talked to a guy in NY yesterday who said that my Nikon should be sent in for servicing every 3000 "actuations." Presumably, he means shots. I've already shot about 2000 photos on my Nikon D300 I'm wondering if that figure is correct.

I can do that in a day...

Well, in a few days for certain. If I had to take my camera in every 3000 clicks for service, I would never have a camera at home or I'd need a few of them. I can't believe that would be correct. Although maybe for Nikon (ha ha).

I would think the person who gave you that advice was thinking of a Jiffy Lube Ad and thinking every 3 months or 3000 miles to change the oil on your car.

Get yourself over to Visible Dust's Web site, acquaint yourself with their products - particularly the SensorBruch - through the videos. And then get a Sensor Brush Arctic Butterfly.

Use that whenever you find globs of dust on your sensor, that is whenever they become consistently apparent in your photos. Your camera should then be alright.

In the very rare event that some dust glued itslef to the sensor [humidity is enough for that to happen], you might want to get into the wet cleaning method offered by Visible Dust, Eclipse or many other companies. Or you can build your own system with a soft, fitting spatula, some lens paper and a drop of alcohol [preferably pure, 99.9% ethanol but 70% isopropanol will do].

Air bulb sounds nice but does not help as you can find out yourself by blowing on a dusty surface [stereo, TV set, computer]. Observe what happens, the same happens in your camera.

Thanks, folks. This photography thing is getting pretty expensive. Got to learn how to make my own swabs.

In that context, as dirty lenses might bring dust into the cam, too:

how do you clean your lenses, the mine might enjoy a cleaning session....

I'v been thinking about the Zeiss cleaning set...

After reading the visible dust web site, you should have a look at this
http://www.prime-junta.net/pont/How_to/a_Brush_Your_Sensor/a_Brush_Your_Sensor.html

, an article by Pietri Sulonen who takes a skeptical and practical look at sensor cleaning. A must read IMHO.

-Nat

Nathaniel Alpert said:

After reading the visible dust web site, you should have a look at this
http://www.prime-junta.net/pont/How_to/a_Brush_Your_Sensor/a_Brush_Your_Sensor.html

, an article by Pietri Sulonen who takes a skeptical and practical look at sensor cleaning. A must read IMHO.

-Nat

Click to expand...

Good article. The finicky sensor seems to be the Achilles heel of the digital slr. I'll bet somebody solves it in a year or two.

Michael Fontana said:

In that context, as dirty lenses might bring dust into the cam, too:

how do you clean your lenses, the mine might enjoy a cleaning session....

I'v been thinking about the Zeiss cleaning set...

Click to expand...

I've got a Zeiss cleaning kit and it works well - there again so does eclipse and pecpads.

For sensor cleaning I think there is a lot of snake oil out there, but I've done the 5D sensor with swabs and eclipse a couple of times. It's actually more difficult than you think, but not as intimidating once you start. I've also been recommended, but haven't tried, the green clean hoover system and with that a suggestion that it should go back to canon for wet cleaning.

One thing, don't use CO2 or air can blowers - you can (I did) get some fairly unpleasant gunk on the cover glass, which takes a bit of scrubbing with eclipse to remove.

Mike

A shutter actuation is a cycling (usage) of the shutter. In general, this is a shot. Albeit, a sensor cleaning also involves an actuation of the shutter.

That said, a blower works okay for hairs. Other than that, I use wet cleaning w/ Eclipse fluid and Pec-Pads. You can get set of tools from Copper Hill Images for a reasonable price if you are stateside. If not, then you will/may have issues w/ this inexpensive source as shipping flammable fluids (Eclipse fluid is extra pure methanol) to other countries and continents.

I gave up on dry cleaning with a brush after about 15 minutes of use as it is way too easy to touch some of the mirror mechanism and get oils on the brush (which then smear all over the sensor making more work).

all the best,

Sean

I have good luck with the Giottos Rocket Blower. I try it first (obviously with the camera pointing down), and most of the time it does well enough. If not, I resort to the original Visible Dust brush, and that usually does the trick on the more persistent blobs. But if that fails, then I go to the good old pecpad and Eclipse solution. I think I've only had to do that maybe half a dozen times or so over seven years and as many different bodies, and approximately 1MM "actuations." And the only time I send something in for service is when it breaks, which is not very often. But then I use Canons, not Nikons. ;-)

BTW, I also use the Rocket Blower to charge the brush (instead of canned air), and it does fine for that too.

Nill
~~
www.toulme.net

Thanks. I hope the Rocket Blower is enough.

doug anderson said:

Thanks. I hope the Rocket Blower is enough.

Click to expand...

A blower is not enough if you have to stop down. You will find after a few unfortunate lens changes out of doors and having to clone out some welded on pollen dozens of times that cleaning is less work than cloning. But you should be okay for a while.

And sensor dust is not much of an issue at wider apertures.

And while wet cleaning is potentially problematic, a freshly charged battery and a little practice and you will be good to go. My first wet cleaning took a little less than a dozen tries. Now it is pretty easy.

enjoy,

Sean

Doug,

Use the wet method, whatever wet method you choose, but Eclipse and Sensor Swabs work well sparingly. I've used that on the 5D, 20D, D60, D30 Canons. However, if you can do it with a dry method, by all means go with that. I've been using a Visible Dust brush for years and can recharge it with about 40 vigorous puffs from a Giotto bulb blower. In the 5D I use the smaller size that I originally got to fit the 20D sensor size. That makes it easier to maneuver and far less likely to touch the chamber sides and transfer oil to the sensor filter. If you find only one or two dust spots, using a smaller brush to get just that dust spot works well once you figure out the sensor is flipped from what you see on the screen.

The reason to avoid the wet method unless absolutely necessary is that often you'll leave residue behind no matter how careful, which might require another cleaning. And if you transfer oil by touching the chamber wall, then you might need several wet cleanings to get it all off.

Like previously stated, the bulb alone method works only on bigger stuff, like the odd hair or maybe a very large piece of dust, but mostly is just stirs things up and transfers as much back onto the sensor filter as it gets off.

Your mileage may vary, but I'd avoid homemade methods because they bring more danger than reputable commercially-made products.

Mike

D. Silvio Righello said:

Ive been reading most of the afternoon on this subject of sensor cleaning, and I too wonder why a 1 oz bottle of some "Top Secret" cleaner goes for 29 bucks? Sounds like the oil companies reason for the cost of unleaded fuel. "Oh we have to take the lead out" So do I when I drink too much wine. Why I can get a shot of high test Remy Martin Louis the XIII Cognac for 50 bucks and it cleans my sensor really good. I never took the time to tally up the cost of keeping my D300 clean. I thought all I had to do was press the "Clean Sensor" button. Boy was I fooled...

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Eclipse fluid is simply extremely pure methanol. You can probably get the same for less money in a less convenient container at a chemical supplier. The point of the purity is unknown to me, but if I were to guess it is because the ultra-pure methanol dries way faster than the impure stuff doped with water which would reduce streaking. There is also the possibility of pollutants that have negative effects on the sensor filter (too acidic, too basic, particulate matter, ...).

In the end, the product is a different chemical blend that contains less doping/pollutants/adulterants.

a thought,

Sean

Sean DeMerchant said:

Eclipse fluid is simply extremely pure methanol. You can probably get the same for less money in a less convenient container at a chemical supplier. The point of the purity is unknown to me, but if I were to guess it is because the ultra-pure methanol dries way faster than the impure stuff doped with water which would reduce streaking. There is also the possibility of pollutants that have negative effects on the sensor filter (too acidic, too basic, particulate matter, ...).

In the end, the product is a different chemical blend that contains less doping/pollutants/adulterants.

a thought,

Sean

Click to expand...

Yup. Isopropyl alcohol will do the same thing and will cost you like 10% of the Eclipse liquid. I would get the swabs, though, since they are fairly cheap and making them DIY is a major PITA.
Rocket blower should take care of 80% of your visible dust specks, swabs should take care of the rest. Everything else is a major ripoff IMHO.
And, FWIW, since I got my 40D 8 months ago I only had to clean up the sensor once or twice (due to a very excessive lens change during my trip to Montana). With prior bodies I had to do it almost monthly. Go Canon!