Lens/sensor Cleaning Advice

[AndrewWG]

All,

I know this has been discussed a bunch of times on here but I was wondering if anyone had some real specific (brand names or even item numbers) advice on what I should be looking to buy to keep my Canon 30D in tip top shape. I am not afraid to clean the sensor myself, although I will be looking for advice on that when the time comes. I know that the rocket blower gets rave reviews on here, but what size should I buy? There are small, medium, and large. Any advice on sensor swabs / solutions? Also, what would be the best way to keep my lens glass clean? In the past someone told me just a fine cloth worked in a circular motion around the glass. Is this correct? Are there any solutions that are recommended?

I kick myself for being in NYC last weekend, about 10 blocks from the B&H store and never even knowing it was there! Of course, my pockets would have emptied much much quicker if I had known.

Thanks in advance!

Andy

 

[handicap18]

I have a rocket blower (about $10 or so from amazon or other photo stores) that I use for getting most of the dust of the sensor. For the more stubborn dust bunnies check out Copper Hill Images. GREAT tutorial and EXCELLENT prices on the equipment/supplies to wet clean the sensor. I've done it 3 or 4 times and also used the rocket blower 5 or 6 times.

For lens cleaning I just use one of those glass cleaning cloths that you'd use on sunglasses or eyeglasses. Keep on in my car (for my sunglasses) and also in my camera bag. They go for just a few bucks at photo shops or also at sunglass shops and eyeglass places.

 

[AndrewWG]

Kyle,

That looks great! Should I use the Sensor Swabs or the Pec Pads? It seems like the Pec Pads are a bit tougher to use but cheaper.

Andy

 

[handicap18]

I do the sensor swabs. The whole process from start to finish including prep and clean up is about 10 minutes. The actual swabing takes about 5-7 seconds. The first time you do it it is pretty nerve racking, but it gets easier and easier each time. I would go with the rocket blower first, then if that doesn't get everything off then do the sensor swab. The rocket blower gets upwards of 90-95% of the dust bunnies off my sensor.

 

[steery1]

I found the Rocket blower pretty ineffective on my Sony Alpha.
The sensor swabs did the trick. But make sure you get the correct size for your Canon.
I got some swabs which were too small for my Sony's sensor and it created more problems than it solved. Once I got the right size - clean as a whistle.

 

[boBQuincy]

I use the Copperhill method, no complaints. I also use the Visible Dust brush which works well, but once I "cleaned" a speck of something that was not dry and the brush smeared it badly.
Not only was the sensor dirty, now the brush was too! I now do not use the brush when I am away from home and cannot check the results of the cleaning job.

For cleaning lenses I am old school, Kodak lens cleaning tissue and fluid (or ClearSight fluid).

 

[AndrewWG]

Cool. Thanks for the advice everyone. I have ordered the rocket blower and the sensor swab cleaning kit. Hopefully I don't need it very often, but if I do, I know I will have the right stuff.

Andy

 

[AndrewWG]

Oh good Lord! I hope the cleaning kit gets here before Friday! I am supposed to be taking pics of the airshow practice and I just realized what I feared. Check out these 2 pics. The first one is at f4 and the second is at f45. It looks like a connect the dots. I am guessing this is MAJOR dust bunnies? How did I get them so soon? I rarely change lenses. I wonder if they were there from the factory? Probably not, I suppose. I hope this isn't a constant problem. I am not afraid to clean the sensor myself at all. I deal with $75,000 instruments at work all day fixing the smallest parts and cleaning them, but I don't want this to be a constant thing with the camera. I guess I will have to check more frequently. I also just took a pic of a white piece of paper at f22 and I have the same pattern of specks although there are more at the bottom that you can't see in this pic. Could this be what is causing some of my soft focus issues that I have been having?

Andy

 

[Jeanne B]

I have the same problem with my K100 as you have Andrew, I noticed during our trip to the Grand Canyon in late June that I had several spots showing up in my sky pictures so I tried getting rid of them with my rocket blower but it didn't help much. I've been putting off buying the sensor swabs because I'm scared to clean it but I really need to get brave and just do it!!

 

[AndrewWG]

I have the same problem with my K100 as you have Andrew, I noticed during our trip to the Grand Canyon in late June that I had several spots showing up in my sky pictures so I tried getting rid of them with my rocket blower but it didn't help much. I've been putting off buying the sensor swabs because I'm scared to clean it but I really need to get brave and just do it!!

I don't think it will be much of a problem to clean the sensor. Have you seen the tutorial on the Copper Hill Images page? It seems to be quite straight forward. The hardest thing is probably getting it into a setting that has little or no dust. I have read on here that some people go into the bathroom and run the shower for a bit, then clean it. I would imagine that you wouldn't want a hot steamy bathroom though, just enough to get the dust out of the air. I guess i should be more precise with what I understand:

1. Run the shower for a bit.
2. Turn off the shower.
3. Take camera into the bathroom and close the door.
4. Clean the sensor.

It sounded like I was saying that you should clean the sensor in the shower! Now, that would be a bit more destructive than the dust problem, I think!

Anyways, I don't think it should scare anyone. The only people that probably shouldn't do it are those who have very shaky hands.

Andy

 

[Groucho]

I use the Pec-Pads and find the whole process to be pretty painless. That being said, use of the Rocket Blower helps (so far, it's gotten rid of the majority of dust specks with some liberal blowing and holding the camera sensor-facing-down), and being very quick with the lens changes has made a difference, too.

 

[AndrewWG]

So here is a pic of a white piece of paper shot at f22. The lighting was dark so it looks like gray, but you can see the constellation AndrewWG on the page. Not sure how it will look sized down for the board but in full size, the bottom right is REAL bad.

Andy

 

[steery1]

I clean the sensor then take a pic of the sky at f22. Then I upload it onto the computer and run auto levels on it. This shows up even the slightest dust particle. (If its not visible at f22 with auto levels then it aint gonna be visible at normal shooting settings)
If its not too bad I'll leave it. If its pretty bad I repeat until its pretty clean.
I reccomend doing this once every 2 weeks to a month.

 

[Groucho]

If you don't have Photoshop, you can replicate it with the free Irfanview and do "auto adjust colors". Here's the same photo after having done that...

Yipes! I'd say that it's time to clean that sensor.

 

[AndrewWG]

If you don't have Photoshop, you can replicate it with the free Irfanview and do "auto adjust colors". Here's the same photo after having done that...

Yipes! I'd say that it's time to clean that sensor.

HOLY S***!

I agree, it's time! I can't wait for the shipment to arrive from Copper Hill today. I hope I can manage a good cleaning. I'm confident enough to do it though.

Andy

 

[AndrewWG]

Wow, with further magnification you can almost see the bunnies!

Andy

 

[handicap18]

Try the rocket blower first so you can get an idea of how that works. The rocket blower will work pretty good most of the time. I do it the same way Groucho does. Lens off, mirror lock up, face camera down, blow a few times, close mirror. Usually gets the vast majority. For everything else, the sensor swabs are about 98+% effective the other times. Most times it gets everything. The first time I did it I only got about 80%. 2nd time I got them all as I have on 2 other occassions and 1 other time I got about 96%.

With your work experience you should have no problems. I clean mine in the finished basement. The kids don't go down there and there's not a lot of people traffic.

Thats definately a nice constellation you've got there. There probably was some dust on it from the factor. That happens a lot. Also using a zoom lens can pull some dust in. When changing lenses hold the camera face down, try to do it indoors or at least when there's no wind, turn the camera off and make it quick. That has helped me alot. The first 6 months I had my camera I had some awful dust. I've gotten much better over the last year.

This was one of my worst one's from last summer:

.

Walked around Disney with that sensor. YUK! Needless to say that's what got me to get the copperhill stuff.

 

[AndrewWG]

Kyle,

Take a look at the address on the Eclipse bottle or the sensor swabs. The place that makes them is basically in Onset. Google map the address. Used to be just a few doors down from where my company is located. They must have moved. Probably in a private residence now.

Andy

 

[handicap18]

Kyle,

Take a look at the address on the Eclipse bottle or the sensor swabs. The place that makes them is basically in Onset. Google map the address. Used to be just a few doors down from where my company is located. They must have moved. Probably in a private residence now.

Andy

The address on the Eclipse box is Granston Way. Thats almost directly across the street from a house one of my Uncle's used to own and down the street from my grandparents old house.

Thats definately a private residence. No commercial property in that area.

IIRC, Jimmy Buffett was rumored to have bought a house, a few years back, on the water down that same street. There's a small sign that says WindSock or Wind somthing. My cousin's and I used to ride our bikes down that road and all the others one's around there. Lots of big houses.

Small world.

 

[AustinTed]

I cleaned the sensor on my D200 for the first time after owning it for 10 months. I started with a blower. Rocket Blower is good. Even an ear syringe is good. This got all but one stubborn spot. To get that last spot I really wanted to avoid using a liquid cleaner, so I gave the Lenspen SensorKlear a try. A couple passes with that did the trick. I was a bit skeptical at firms, but it worked quite well. I've read that SensorKlear is also used in some of the Canon service centers.