• Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.

    Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Sensor cleaning advice please (1 Viewer)

I have read a couple of not very complimentary reviews for this product, and like so many sensor cleaning kits it is an outragously rip-off price, £36-95 for 10 pads.
 
Thanks for the input Nigel

That's good to know because I want to make sure I get the right thing, I wouldn't like to think it was doing any damage in there, the thought of it makes me cringe!

Cheers
 
To see just how severe your problem is take a shot at a plain subject - clear blue sky or pure grey overcast clouds at f/32 or so and that will reveal everything. Wide open apertures can conceal a lot.

Before you attempt any sort of cleaning by physical contact I would first suggest a Rocket Blower, to see whether you can puff the dust out. It may just work and is probably the cheapest and lowest risk option. Once your sensor is clean you should be able to keep it that way with the blower alone. If, however, crud has got caked on (e.g. through humidity within the camera causing dust to stick) then you will have to get physical.

When the blower didn't work for me I used a regular lens brush but first I put it through a full laundry cycle, all by itself, to remove every single trace of grease and other nasties before going anywhere near my sensor. That worked well the first time that the blower alone was insufficient.

On Thursday I went to the zoo, with my 100-400 "dust pump" and made several lens changes through the day. Despite being as careful as I could the sensor was riddled with dust and muck when I got home. This time the blower and brush combo was not enough. I have a USB powered vacuum brush with a builtin inspection lamp and I used this to dislodge and remove the crud. It took half a dozen attempts to finally get the sensor spotless but the results were excellent.

Had that not been enough I would have had to resort to wet cleaning and, I believe, the "Copperhill" method is very highly regarded but I've never tried it. Have a look here - http://www.pbase.com/copperhill/ccd_cleaning.

Good luck :)
 
I use Eclipse Cleaning Fluid, Digi-Pads and Pec Pad Photo Wipes available from Warehouse Express. A simple task that only takes a few seconds.
 
Keith Reeder said:
A Rocket Blower almost always does the job for me...
Click to expand...

Keith this is about the word 'almost'....what do you revert to in the apparently rare occasion when the Rocket fails?

The reason I ask is I have one of those 'almost' situations where my trusty rocket has failed no matter how hard I try?

Jamie
 
Keith Reeder said:
Hi Jamie,

if the blower lets me down, I use my Copperhill SensorSweep brush - which is brilliant - and if that fails (which has happened just once) I use a Sensor swab/Pecpad and Eclipse fluid.
Click to expand...

Keith & Sandpiper...many thanks for this info. I guess I'll start with the brush first and if necessary move on to the fluid.

I wish I could bookmark these posts for the future..is there a way please?

The reason I am petrified of touching the sensor is that the one and only time I used a blower brush I smeared the sensor and the 5D had to go back to Canon who kindly cleaned it under warranty despite the fact that the manual clearly states NEVER to touch the sensor.

I subsequently discovered from a forum that on the sides of the sensor housing there can be grease and guess what my blower brushing attempt picked some of that up and at the time it seemed like a disaster.

Thanks again for the help folks

Jamie
:clap:
 
Yep, from that site, Jamie.

It's Eclipse fluid that they won't ship out.

If you look at the top of the page I linked to you'll see the words "This product is available everywhere" - they mean "we'll ship it anywhere"!

;)
 
Keith Reeder said:
Hi Jamie,

if the blower lets me down, I use my Copperhill SensorSweep brush - which is brilliant - and if that fails (which has happened just once) I use a Sensor swab/Pecpad and Eclipse fluid.
Click to expand...

Keith Reeder said:
Yep, from that site, Jamie.

It's Eclipse fluid that they won't ship out.

If you look at the top of the page I linked to you'll see the words "This product is available everywhere" - they mean "we'll ship it anywhere"!

;)
Click to expand...

Keith Many Thanks,

I just went through the checkout regardless, and sure enough they will ship it to me...cheers

Jamie
;)
 
I have had a 350D for over two years and a 30D for about 4 months and have never used anything other than a Rocket Blower.
 
tdodd said:
On Thursday I went to the zoo, with my 100-400 "dust pump" and made several lens changes through the day. Despite being as careful as I could the sensor was riddled with dust and muck when I got home.
Click to expand...

Glad to know I'm not the only one who's noticed the 100-400 is a horrendous inhaler of dust. A fair lens but its a fixed 400 for me next time.

I've used Digipads and they got rid of most of the muck on the sensor after a very dusty trip to Ethiopia last year. Owners of the dust-pump better stock up!

Cheers
Alan
 
Much the same here, Roy.

I've only had to do one wet clean in over a year. I use the blower after every trip out, whether there's visible dirt on sensor or not, so that nothing gets the chance to "stick".

The only time I didn't - then left the camera untouched for a couple of weeks - I found that I needed to do a wet clean. But if 'd done a blower clean as usual, it probably wouldn't have been necessary.

Prevention is better, smarter - and cheaper - than the wet "cure" IMHO.

The brush is a great "middle ground" though for the odd times when there's been extra crap in there - like when I've changed lenses on a windy beach.

Other than that, I have no dust issues with my 100-400 whatsoever - and I'm on windy beaches with very fine sand (and coal dust) all the time.
 
Last edited:
You might be interested to know that 'Eclipse fluid' £19-95 for 50 ml (I believe) at Warehouse express, is actually neat Isopropanol BP, which is £2-25 for 500ml at the chemists.............. quite some mark up when you consider that makes the little bottles £199-50 for 500ml
 
Warning! This thread is more than 17 years ago old.
It's likely that no further discussion is required, in which case we recommend starting a new thread. If however you feel your response is required you can still do so.

Similar threads

O
Canon EOS 80D always slightly "fuzzy"
Replies
14
Views
2K
nikitasius
N
P
Mexico Birding Advice!
Replies
5
Views
495
jurek
jurek
W
Baby Heron, cracked beak
Replies
9
Views
664
dantheman
dantheman
J
Best eyepiece for ES 80 GA ED... is SDL v3 worth it?
Replies
2
Views
701
Jakiding
J
M
Bino Advice
2
Replies
32
Views
2K
MurphyLaw
M

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 2 (members: 0, guests: 2)
Back
Top