Dust Off compressed air for cleaning camera

[dancinec]

Is using can compressed air products, such as "Dust Off" a safe way to clean lenses or inside the camera ?

[EricKonieczny]

It is not the best idea to use compressed air. Since most cameras are neot sealed 100%, to much pressure could blow dust in the cracks and into the camera. Definetly a No for lenses and inside the camera.

Get a Bulb rocket blower, and cleaning clothes and Eclipse solution

http://www.pbase.com/copperhill/ccd_cleaning.

[robertwgross]

Another option is to get a small, hand-size vacuum cleaner. Really small ones are sold for PC technicians to use on a PC keyboard. You don't need to get it inside the chamber, but by aiming it at the lip of the chamber and then doing a light pass with a blower-brush, that ought to get the dust picked up.

---Bob Gross---

[dancinec]

Thanks Eric and Bob. I will get the proper cleaning equipment. Eric, what is the bulb rocket blower? I did not see it on the link you provided.

[EricKonieczny]

Thanks Eric and Bob. I will get the proper cleaning equipment. Eric, what is the bulb rocket blower? I did not see it on the link you provided.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=343088&is=REG

[dancinec]

Eric, Thanks again, have both the kit and blower ordered.

[SkipD]

Something else that is critically important to understand. I don't think that ANY of the "canned air" cans contain air. They contain a liquid that vaporizes easily, and most are flammable. I believe that most are a hydrocarbon product - definitely something that I do NOT want inside my camera. You also must be aware that the flammable gases can potentially be ignited by live circuitry.

[mdude85]

Something else that is critically important to understand. I don't think that ANY of the "canned air" cans contain air. They contain a liquid that vaporizes easily, and most are flammable. I believe that most are a hydrocarbon product - definitely something that I do NOT want inside my camera. You also must be aware that the flammable gases can potentially be ignited by live circuitry.

Eh ... are you referring to chloroflourocarbons (CFCs)??? The hydrocarbons in compressed air cans are of course harmless to camera parts, and to other electronics. Since we use a can of compressed can of air to clean the inside of our keyboards, diskdrives, CPUs, printers, and monitors, there seems to be no threat of "live circuitry" igniting a blast of compressed air. That is not very plausible at all, actually.

In addition, many canned air products are made from tetraflouroethane (which is a hydrocarbon), which is **NOT** flammable.

No need to worry about spraying a little bit of compressed air into the camera -- not upside down of course, for that might freeze the parts for a while. I'd get a small can and blow gently. The only harm to using compressed air cans is some of it is very forceful. There are cans you can buy from Belkin, for instance, that have a variable force nozzle.

Compressed air is used in dark rooms all the time, as many people know.

[SkipD]

Eh ... are you referring to chloroflourocarbons (CFCs)??? To the best of my knowledge, CFC's are not allowed to be sold any more - at least to the general public. They have been banned for quite some time already. You might have some very old cans containing CFC's, but you won't find any today. Look at the fine print on most commonly available "canned air" cans, and you will find, indeed, that most are flammable.

I point this out so that everybody is aware enough to read the label, and not assume that it is compressed air in the cans.

It's impossible, of course, to provide any significant volume of compressed air in the thin sheet-metal cans that we're discussing. They couldn't contain the required pressures.

[mdude85]

To the best of my knowledge, CFC's are not allowed to be sold any more - at least to the general public. They have been banned for quite some time already. You might have some very old cans containing CFC's, but you won't find any today. Look at the fine print on most commonly available "canned air" cans, and you will find, indeed, that most are flammable.

I point this out so that everybody is aware enough to read the label, and not assume that it is compressed air in the cans.

It's impossible, of course, to provide any significant volume of compressed air in the thin sheet-metal cans that we're discussing. They couldn't contain the required pressures.

I disagree here -- the fine print does not say they are flammable -- in fact, many manufacturers advertise as a perk that the cans are NOT flammable. This is something they pride themselves on. What you might be confusing flammable with is combustible as a result of high amounts of pressure, something you'd only encounter by putting your can of air in a hot oven. This is completely different from flammable. You never see anyone making a torch with a can of compressed air, do you? It's because the TFE is not flammable. I'm not quite sure how to make this any clearer... the chances that you buy a can of compressed air that is flammable are about the same as the chances you buy a can of compressed air with CFCs -- only canned air that contains ether is flammable.

Do not worry!

[SkipD]

This is a portion of the WARNING label on a can of "air" - the brand name is Century Duster, from Century Laboratories:

WARNING: This product is not defined as flammable by 1500.3(c)(6), 16 CFR Fed. Haz Substance Act, C.P.S.C. Regs. HOWEVER, PRODUCT CAN BE IGNITED UNDER CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES. DO NOT USE NEAR OPEN FLAME OR ANY INCANDESCENT MATERIAL.

The all-caps line is that way on the can, not me emphasizing it. The warning goes on with cautions about storage in high temperature areas, inhaling contents, etc.

An additional warning, again in all caps on the can:

CONTACT WITH PRODUCT IN LIQUID FORM MAY CAUSE PLASTIC MATERIAL TO PERMANENTLY DISCOLOR. DO NOT USE ON CAMERA MIRRORS.

My point, all along, is that this stuff is NOT air, and should never be thought of as air. The only content they list is difluoroethane.

[mdude85]

This is a portion of the WARNING label on a can of "air" - the brand name is Century Duster, from Century Laboratories:

WARNING: This product is not defined as flammable by 1500.3(c)(6), 16 CFR Fed. Haz Substance Act, C.P.S.C. Regs. HOWEVER, PRODUCT CAN BE IGNITED UNDER CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES. DO NOT USE NEAR OPEN FLAME OR ANY INCANDESCENT MATERIAL.

The all-caps line is that way on the can, not me emphasizing it. The warning goes on with cautions about storage in high temperature areas, inhaling contents, etc.

An additional warning, again in all caps on the can:

CONTACT WITH PRODUCT IN LIQUID FORM MAY CAUSE PLASTIC MATERIAL TO PERMANENTLY DISCOLOR. DO NOT USE ON CAMERA MIRRORS.

My point, all along, is that this stuff is NOT air, and should never be thought of as air. The only content they list is difluoroethane.

Yes -- product can be ignited under extremely high temperatures ... I never denied that (I even said the product can combust (as in burst into flames) if you leave it in a hot oven). This doesn't mean flammable, and this certainly doesn't mean that blowing it near or around electrical parts -- even if they have electricity running through them -- is going to ignite the can.

Second, I agree, I would not doubt that exposing any sort of glass surface to the liquid contents of the can is going to do harm. But that would involve blatantly not following directions, for instance smashing open the can or spraying the bottle upside down. Hopefully this is not your personal standard for how the can should be used. It doesn't mean that using the can in the proper way is going to do harm to your camera, but I would not be surprised if using the can in the improper way can cause much harm, in the same way that improperly adjusting your camera to improperly cleanse the sensor with cleaning fluid is going to cause harm.

Is there any way to improperly use a little airblower? Probably not, but the proper use of a can of compressed air is not dangerous for your camera. That's all there is to it.

[RobbTC]

I was playing with my can of Power Duster and if you turn it upside down you can squirt the liquid out. Put it in a soda cap and then put a match near it and it does actually catch fire and burn off (even though the can doesn't say it is flammable, just has the usual label as was outlined in previous posts).

[lostdoggy]

Look its simple, don't use it need a flame source, that means don't have a lite cigeratte hanging from your mouth. Make sure all your religous and aromatic candles are exstiguished. Make sure you are not in a confine space, that means the room is ventilated. Now with the can in UPRIGHT position and the nozzle in the general direction of the location that you are looking to clean, in a sweeping motion pull trigger in short bursts, a second or less. after two or three burst stop and put down the can wait at least 15 second for the liquid to settle in the can. Repeat as necessary. OH don't shake the can it will suspend the liquid in the gas which expell when trigger is pull.

[mdude85]

I was playing with my can of Power Duster and if you turn it upside down you can squirt the liquid out. Put it in a soda cap and then put a match near it and it does actually catch fire and burn off (even though the can doesn't say it is flammable, just has the usual label as was outlined in previous posts).

for your next experiment you should try lighting a match and then spray the can so that air comes out instead of liquid. what happens to the light?

[SkipD]

Mdude, when are you going to realize that these cans of "air" do NOT CONTAIN AIR. The problem that I have been trying to get across is that there is a chemical compound in them that isn't friendly to many of the components in cameras. The warning label on the product I have says that in very plain all-caps text.

My concern is not the fact that the material is able to support combustion, but that the chemistry, introduced into your camera, MAY DAMAGE YOUR CAMERA.

A squeeze bulb is far superior to any of the "canned air" products for blowing dust out of your camera. That is the absolute truth.

[Leorooster]

Another point - the compressed liquid "air" is extremely cold. Electronic components could be hurt when used inappropriately (i.e. you supposed to hold the can straight, so that the liquid which is freezing, would not come out in liquid form).

[mdude85]

Mdude, when are you going to realize that these cans of "air" do NOT CONTAIN AIR. The problem that I have been trying to get across is that there is a chemical compound in them that isn't friendly to many of the components in cameras. The warning label on the product I have says that in very plain all-caps text.

My concern is not the fact that the material is able to support combustion, but that the chemistry, introduced into your camera, MAY DAMAGE YOUR CAMERA.

A squeeze bulb is far superior to any of the "canned air" products for blowing dust out of your camera. That is the absolute truth.

I'm a biomedical engineering student and IMO quite knowledgeable with the inside of a can of compressed air. The active ingredient of a can of Dust-off is none other than diflouroethane as you said, which is simply a carbon chain (as in the carbon that makes up everything in our body) with two flourine groups (probably not 1,1 tho). I emplore you to look up its hazard on OSHA. It has no known flash point (this is the temperature at which the gas gives off enough fumes to form a flammable vapor), no ignition temperature, and in order for it not to come out as a gas with proper use, you need to put it in a hot oven (above 250 F) or plunge it hundreds of feat under water. The type of diflouroethane, and other varieities in compressed air (tetraflouroethane, for instance), is not flammable and does not contain CFCs. Notice on a can of Dust-Off that the contents are listed as 100% non-flammable. This might give us some clues as to its flammability.

I only call it air because that's what it's known as, and by calling it something else, by the ingredients inside maybe, I waste both my time typing and people won't really understand what I am talking about. Don't you think the people who make cans of compressed air know what's inside? Yes, and yet they call it compressed air, or compressed gas. It is not critically important to remember that a can of this stuff does not contain air. Who actually thinks you can put a bunch of air inside of a canister and shake it around and it sounds like liquid? Who actually thinks air is combustible under pressure? If you think that, maybe you shouldn't be allowed to use this product. I think we are all quite aware that there is no air inside a can of compressed air.

Second, no "chemistry" in a can of compressed air (OOPS, sorry I called it that) does damage to electrical parts. This is why we place it inside our delicate CPUs, monitors, printers, and medical instruments. The blast from the propellant inside a can of compressed air (OOPS again) can be just as powerful as the blast from a rocket blower, and yet the can is somehow prone to damaging the camera more than a rocket blower ---- which quite frankly just blows air from the environment into your parts at a high rate. Some claim to reduce dust but the propellent inside a can of compressed air is more pure.

Either way you are not going to damage your parts, by using a blower or a can. Unless of course you use the can improperly, which is like saying that you'll die from an overdose of Tylenol if you eat 100 pills in a day, and so Tylenol should never be ingested.

The "chemistry" introduced is no different from the freon-air mix flowing into your camera when you're inside an air-conditioned room; no different from the chemistry inside the plastic in your camera that when melted generates toxic fumes; no different quite frankly from the chemical processes used to make silicon-boards and LCD displays. There is a ton of chemistry inside a camera, and introducing this new chemical compound is harmless.

Blowers are nice, but if you already have a can, there is no danger I can see in using it. This fright of blowing a can of Dust-off into your camera, or any other electrical part, simply arises from an understandable lack of the facts. Someone should always do a few minutes of preliminary research if they are afraid of blowing a can of this stuff into their camera, and then decide whether or not they want to use it. Same with introducing any sort of alien chemical into something you care deeply about.

[mdude85]

Another point - the compressed liquid "air" is extremely cold. Electronic components could be hurt when used inappropriately (i.e. you supposed to hold the can straight, so that the liquid which is freezing, would not come out in liquid form).

Quite true, when used innapropriately a can of compressed air can have some negative effects on the camera parts.

[lostdoggy]

Another point - the compressed liquid "air" is extremely cold. Electronic components could be hurt when used inappropriately (i.e. you supposed to hold the can straight, so that the liquid which is freezing, would not come out in liquid form).

FYI. They use to dip completed PC boards in vats of R12 for cleaning!!! That is until the Montreal Protocol!!! Something about the Hole in Ozone Layer!!! That the hired Expert Couldn't confirm Until convinced Otherwise!!! By Dupont!!! Oops I'm Rambling!!! R12 is very Cold especially in liquid form...

[mdude85]

FYI. They use to dip completed PC boards in vats of R12 for cleaning!!! That is until the Montreal Protocol!!! Something about the Hole in Ozone Layer!!! That the hired Expert Couldn't confirm Until convinced Otherwise!!! By Dupont!!! Oops I'm Rambling!!! R12 is very Cold especially in liquid form...

R12 contains CFCs, it's been outlawed since 1987 (MP) esp. in liquid form. Don't really need to worry about it. Some moved to producing R134A, it doesn't contain chlorine

but r12 and r134a are both safe for electronics!

[lostdoggy]

R12 contains CFCs, it's been outlawed since 1987 (MP) esp. in liquid form. Don't really need to worry about it. Some moved to producing R134A, it doesn't contain chlorine

but r12 and r134a are both safe for electronics!
Sorry but I think you been partially misinformed. R12 is only been banned from manufacture in non-imporvish countries as outlined in the Montreal Protocol. I can still purchase it with my license. R12 comes in liquid & Vapor form when is contained. It state is determine by P&T.

[mdude85]

Sorry but I think you been partially misinformed. R12 is only been banned from manufacture in non-imporvish countries as outlined in the Montreal Protocol. I can still purchase it with my license. R12 comes in liquid & Vapor form when is contained. It state is determine by P&T.

and you can buy marijuana and mushrooms legally in the netherlands. this doesn't make it legal or easy to buy them in the united states. not sure what your point is here?