Sensor cleaning...my recommendation

Pete Delaney

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In the past I used swabs and fluids and tested the results by shooting a white background to see what showed up.

Today I decided to 'upgrade' my sensor cleaning stuff. For those who are interested I can MASSIVELY recommend the visible dust 'Arctic Butterfly' pen (uses static electricity to pick up dust). If any smears occur from using the static wand then I cleaned up with a 'sensorklear' lens pen (just brilliant). But best of all was the visible dust 'sensor loupe' This little thing is FANTASTIC:clap: Basically it's a manifying glass that fits over the well of the camera, inside is a circle of LED lights, so when you put your eye up to the loupe you can see 100% clearly where any dust is and you know 100% instantly when the sensor is FULLY clean:clap::clap::clap:

Now the bad news... it cost me well over a ton at the LCE. But am I happy??? HELL yes!!

Pete:smashin:

VisibleDust -- DSLR Sensor Cleaning

Lens Pen - How To Use - SensorKlear
 
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Cheaper to go to Calumet for a pro clean @ £35.00. Maybe over time your purchase will pay for itself though.

True Pirate, but 3 cleans and your over a ton spent too, and if you use your gear a lot then a few cleans per year??... I have the stuff at home now and so if the shops are shut, there's no problem, if I'm away in the country, no problem again. Plus this IS the pro gear. I could advertise?? £20 a clean; 100% guaranteed clean :D. Disclaimer, if I break your camera... tough:rolleyes:

Pete:thumbsup:

... can't beat peace of mind...

EDIT: Using the tripod for cleaning is great. You can point the camera slightly downwards to stop more debris getting in by gravity and work away whilst not having to bend or strain... Fab. Specially good for older folks...... (Jim)
 
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Specially good for older folks...... (Jim)

:nono:

...as I've just completed 5 hours of rather strenuous Karate training on a course this Fri/Sat - I don't think I'm "quite" ready for the mobility aids yet Pete - though I may well need a hand to get out of bed tomorrow :D

Jim
 
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just wondering, is it only people who have a camera without built in sensor cleaning that need to clean or have your sensor cleaned?
 
just wondering, is it only people who have a camera without built in sensor cleaning that need to clean or have your sensor cleaned?

My D300s is set to self clean every time the camera is switched on or off. But it will only get rid of the 'easy' stuff. I believe Olympus have a very good cleaning system, but even so ALL DSLRs will get dust on the sensor that wont come off without a manual clean...

Pete.
 
My D300s is set to self clean every time the camera is switched on or off. But it will only get rid of the 'easy' stuff. I believe Olympus have a very good cleaning system, but even so ALL DSLRs will get dust on the sensor that wont come off without a manual clean...

Pete.

Same here, both my Alpha's had a self cleaning system but you'll still get stubborn bits which need a manual clean.
 
It's not just dust. Oil spots are the awkwards ones for the ultrasonic camera systems to clean off.
I've used the swab method for five years now, never a problem.
A pro friend of mine uses cotton buds and lighter fluid. Again, never any problems.

Tony
 
I've used Eclipse2 liquid and sensor swabs a couple of times with no problems.

Which is great (I do the same) with without at least a 10x magnifier, believe me, there are bits still there (the guy at Calumet showed me after I had wet cleaned my sensor - incredible how much gunk remains).

A small pec pad in addition to wet cleaning is the best method, though the magnifier will be required to removed the odd flick from the edges of the sensor membrane with the pec pad.

Unlike Olympus which uses both a postitive and negative charge to auto sensor clean, Sony (and dare I say others) only use a positive charge, which is why Olympus' self-cleaning system is the best. When I had the Oly E500, I never touched the sensor at all.
 
In the past I used swabs and fluids and tested the results by shooting a white background to see what showed up.

Today I decided to 'upgrade' my sensor cleaning stuff. For those who are interested I can MASSIVELY recommend the visible dust 'Arctic Butterfly' pen (uses static electricity to pick up dust). If any smears occur from using the static wand then I cleaned up with a 'sensorklear' lens pen (just brilliant). But best of all was the visible dust 'sensor loupe' This little thing is FANTASTIC:clap: Basically it's a manifying glass that fits over the well of the camera, inside is a circle of LED lights, so when you put your eye up to the loupe you can see 100% clearly where any dust is and you know 100% instantly when the sensor is FULLY clean:clap::clap::clap:

Now the bad news... it cost me well over a ton at the LCE. But am I happy??? HELL yes!!

Pete:smashin:

VisibleDust -- DSLR Sensor Cleaning

Lens Pen - How To Use - SensorKlear

@ Technofan,

Of all the cruddy things to happen, the first time I've changed lenses in a month and I've got what looks like a hair on my sensor!

Now, I've just searchd for a lenspen/loupe kit and found the same one as yours (I think): Lenspen SensorKlear Loupe Kit with Lenspen SensorKlear II - Only £54.99 - SRS Microsystems

Can you advise if it's any good and if it's the same as your set and albeit I have a wet cleaning kit, would it suffice? On other question, what is the best way to remove the debris from the lens pen once used?

Tatty bye . . .
 
@ Technofan,

Of all the cruddy things to happen, the first time I've changed lenses in a month and I've got what looks like a hair on my sensor!

Now, I've just searchd for a lenspen/loupe kit and found the same one as yours (I think): Lenspen SensorKlear Loupe Kit with Lenspen SensorKlear II - Only £54.99 - SRS Microsystems

Can you advise if it's any good and if it's the same as your set and albeit I have a wet cleaning kit, would it suffice? On other question, what is the best way to remove the debris from the lens pen once used?

Tatty bye . . .

No... It's not the same, so I can't really advise. The lens cleaning pen is the same brand as mine though so should be fab!! The VisibleDust systems and SensorKlear are well known and respected. The links on my first post should give you everything you need to know.

My pen top is self cleaning... you just rotate the pen whilst it's still inside the cap before use.

I would think that's everything you need...just add the 'arctic butterfly' to your collection and you're sorted!!

Pete.:)

EDIT: Ok I have followed the video fully..... The loupe and pen look to be fantastic Pirate... highly recommended! The loupe is clever as you can clean whilst looking through it. With mine I have to remove the loupe and clean the area where I saw dust and then check again. I would have probably prefered this style of loupe to mine, but it doesn't really matter. The point is you have 100% confidence in getting your sensor 100% clean. Go on spoil yourself and get the butterfly too. It's amazing!
 
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