Sensor Swabs vs. DigiPads

[wibbly]

Anyone tried both? The Digi-Pads are a lot less costly. A false economy or good value?

John

[rdenney]

Anyone tried both? The Digi-Pads are a lot less costly. A false economy or good value?


Sorry, I've tried neither. The cotton swabs I use work fine if used carefully, and they are cheaper still.

Rick "who isn't as timid with equipment as some" Denney

[davidwegs]

I made my own sensor 'brush' using a cheap cut down rubbermaid spatula. I wrap it with a pec pad and put a couple of drops of eclips on it. Works quite well if you remember to only swipe one way and only once or twice per pad.

[robertwgross]

So, Rick, do you use the cotton swabs that are 200 for a dollar, or do you hold out for the ones that are 300 for a dollar?

Nothing is too good for my camera, so I splurge for the 200 for a dollar swabs.

---Bob Gross---

[Jim_T]

I haven't used both. I just use sensor swabs..

The thing is, I've only used four swabs in the last year and a half, so cost isn't really an issue. I guess if I used one a month, I'd be shopping for something cheaper.

[charlesu]

I agree with Jim. I mostly use the brushes from VisibleDust.com but nastier stuff comes off with a swab. $4. For a cleaning. Not bad. I know people who are paying Noink $75 a pop to clean their D100s and so forth. I'll just stick with the sensor swabs.

By the way, if you have not used the VisibleDust brushes, check out the reviews on them.

[rdenney]

So, Rick, do you use the cotton swabs that are 200 for a dollar, or do you hold out for the ones that are 300 for a dollar?

Nothing is too good for my camera, so I splurge for the 200 for a dollar swabs.

---Bob Gross---

I don't know what I paid for mine. I bought the box about 20 years ago, and am only about halfway down through it at this point. And I keep about 30 lenses and cameras clean out of that box, heh, heh.

Rick "who thinks he lost the receipt" Denney

[wibbly]

I agree with Jim. I mostly use the brushes from VisibleDust.com but nastier stuff comes off with a swab. $4. For a cleaning. Not bad. I know people who are paying Noink $75 a pop to clean their D100s and so forth. I'll just stick with the sensor swabs.

By the way, if you have not used the VisibleDust brushes, check out the reviews on them.

Hmmm. I'm a newbie at cleaning. So I wind up using several swabs/session. I've ended up with streaks on the CDD. Maybe I need to use only one drop of Eclipse rather than the 2/3 recommended. Also the Sensor Swab 'spatula' doesn;t seem to reach the whole width of the swab, so pressure at the edges is less and less controlled.

maybe I just need better technique as others don't report these kind of problems :-(

J

[Anteros]

Not sure if it's good practice or not but I just grab a Q-Tip, cover it with a microfibre lens cloth, squirt some lens cleaner on it and clean the sucker. I do that after I use a blower to clean off the bigger pieces of dust though.

I haven't had any problems with it yet.

[jblack]

Hi

I have just last week for the first time cleaned the sensor on my Canon 20D. I was very nervous about doing this but there was no alternative as i had already tried Kenair (special photographic compressed air).

I searched the web for tips on best practice and the best products to use and found this link quite useful http://www.luminous-landscape.com/essays/sensor-cleaning.shtml.
I deicded to buy the Digipads (purchased from www.ajpurdy.co.uk (http://www.ajpurdy.co.uk) inc. free delivery to N.I.) as these were much cheaper than the Photosol Sensor Swabs (£20 vs £35) and actually looked like they were made better .
Each Digipad was individually sealed in its own plastic bag and there was 10 in a pack.
You also need to buy Cleaning fluid, Eclipse by Photosol is probably the purist fluid available and dries instantly (you can buy a small bottle from www.warehouseexpress.co.uk (http://www.warehouseexpress.co.uk) for £7.99, dont buy from AJPurdy when buying Digipads as they tried to charge me £19.99).
It took me 2 digipads to get rid of all the dust particles on my pride and joy 20D, so when put into perspective £4 (£2 each pad) to clean the sensor on a £1000 digital slr is not that much really.

After looking at how the digipads are actually made they are a small plastic stick with a spatula type tip with what looks like a pec-pad cut and wrapped round the tip, when i have used all 10 digipads i will probably try to re-use the plastic spatula sticks and try wrapping my own pec-pad round the top, this should save money in future. I will let you all know how I get on when i get round to trying this. Has anyone else tried this?

Go on give it a go, it's really not that hard!!!;)

[ssim]

I use the Pec Pad swabs. They are a tad on the expensive side but given what we have invested in gear to spend a few bucks once every couple of months on cleaning is insignificant in the grander scheme of things.

[malum]

I've used the cheaper digi pads, they left more on the sensor than they removed (I mean lint from the pad)

I now use a static charged brush which does a much better job and doesn't involve any liquid at all so is a very low risk option.

[Blue Deuce]

It amazes me that some people who think nothing of spending thousands of $ on a camera count their pennies when it comes to cleaning the sensor. I use pec pads , eclipse solution and a very small spatula I shaped for a swiper. Taking into account I spent a total of $21 divided by 100 pads that translates into a breaking the bank cost of 21 cents per cleaning. Thats a small price to pay to ensure dust free shots.

BTW, I have the cleaning process down to a T. Before every planned photo session I take a picture of the sky to check for spots. If I see any I can clean the sensor and be on my way in less than 5 minutes.

[HJMinard]

I don't think people are "counting pennies" so much as they're trying to avoid being conned into paying exorbitant prices for common products (cotton pads and makeup brushes) being marketed as miracle digital sensor cleaning products. It's evident that most of these items work as advertised, but the prices for some of them are beyond high, and fall into "ridiculous" territory. (Particularly the Visible Dust brushes ... Copper Hill now has brushes for about 1/4 as much ... competition is good :) )

[hurricaneharold]

Anyone tried both? The Digi-Pads are a lot less costly. A false economy or good value?

John




Hi John,I have tried both types of pads on my 20D to get rid off the dust on the sensor, I think you will get the same results from both pads,so stick with the Digi-Pads and save yourself some money.

The cheapest place that I have found to buy the pads is on ebay....www.surreyphotography.co.uk (http://www.surreyphotography.co.uk)

Hope this helps,

Aaron....:lol: