Dirty Sensor? Read this . . .

[SteveO]

For anyone thinking of spending big bucks on a (unnamed) charged sensor brush, read this:

http://194.100.88.243/petteri/pont/How_to/a_Brush_Your_Sensor/a_Brush_Your_Sensor.html

Then check this out (as an affirmation of the above):

http://www.pbase.com/image/42963246

Enjoy!

Steve

[eos-rob-uk]

Well well well, makes a change from reading about rip off Britain. Love Petteri's site. learned a lot in a small time.

many thanks Steve
regards

[Southswede]

Thank you for the link!

[CyberPet]

The same thoughts has crossed my mind many times... why need to have to pay $100 for a brush that you can pick up at any cosmetic counter or in an arts & crafts store. My biggest problem is to find a store that sells canned air - clean one.

[BobL]

[ANAL DUST WARNING]

Petteri's article is very interesting an useful but contains several misconceptions about dust. This is not to say that his recommend method is not valid since it clearly works as far as he can see. However, some of his suggestions if taken literally could run people into problems.

1) Cleaning your sensor with little or no clothes on is not a good idea.
The USAF has demonstrated that the average human body generates 100,000 particles of dust a second! What is worse is the dust from a human is propelled by warm air generated by the human body so that it rises upwards and falls as a tiny snow storm around us. It is far better to have clean clothes on than off. I would recommend wearing a recently clean long sleeved polyester shirt and wearing latex rubber gloves that cover the sleeve arm openings. [extra anal dust warming] For the next level of cleanliness I would recommend wearing a head cover that completely covers all hair which is a major dust trap and doing as much of the cleaning inside a plastic bag.

2) Anything that involves blowing air to remove dust is not necessarily a good idea.
Even if you blow clean air onto the cleaning brush, in the presence of ordinary room air the clean stream air picks up dirty air at its sides by the Bernoulli effect and you can end up spraying dust onto your brush. Of course in practical terms is depends how dusty your camera, brush and surrounding air are. A simple blower can remove more dust than it adds from a really dirty camera but as Petteri says nothing will beat a wipe. To clean the brush, washing would be preferable and rinsing in distilled water and drying it under an inverted plastic container. [extra Anal dust warming] To charge the brush and clean the sensor and I would di so inside a plastic bag that has been blown up using clean air from a clean air can. This is how I used to clean optical gear until I started working in a clean room - since then I have cleaned optical gear inside a clean room.

3) Cleaning in the bathroom.
Bathrooms are very dusty places because as Petteri indicates towels are a major source of dust, however there are other factors to consider. Running the shower is both good and bad. A water shower will sweep some particles of dust from room air, but mains water also contains a lot of dust, much more than people realize. When this water evaporates the dust you see left behind mostly comes from the water. In practical terms its whether you can sweep more particles from the air than is generated. The main reason why bathrooms can contain less dust than other rooms in the house is that carpet in the rest of the house is a MAJOR dust generator. [additional anal dust warming] A cleaning chamber made of a blown up plastic bag as in point 2) means you could can clean your camera even on your kitchen table.

4) The importance of cleaning the camera before removing the lens
A source of dust often forgotten is the dust that builds up on the camera itself especially around the lens bayonet. SOme camera bags/cases are worse than others for this - it would be worth knowing which are better than others. When you pop the lens a small vacuum is created inside the sensor area and some of that dust is sucked inside the camera and onto the lens. To minimise this effect, cleaning the outside of the camera before changing the lens is important.

This is not a criticism of Petteri's article which I still found informative and anything that saves us money is worth having.

[lancea]

I read the first link but still decided to order a Copper Hill brush. It wasn't expensive, came with detailed instructions, and was worry free. Nor did I have to go to a cosmetics counter :o or even walk up the far end of town to the main art store. It arrived very nicely packed and included a little storage tube. On entry to the country it was opened as a potential biohazard because the customs declaration just said it was a "brush"! The Visible Dust brush was priced well out of my consideration, but I don't mind paying a little for the good service that Copper Hill gives. But I need dust - lots of it to try the brush out! :) For some reason my sensor is staying pretty clean since I bought the cleaning kits.

[Tom W]

I've used the sensor-swipe Copperhill method once. Cleaned off some stubborn dust that was stuck on the sensor. Since then, a few shots with the rocket blower is all it has taken to remove loose dust.

[SteveO]

Dear Bob,

I've decided to buy the SensorSwab product to use on my nether region BEFORE I use the SensorSwipe product to clean my camera sensor. This should solve the problem, especially since I never take a shower. (I don't know how to add "icons" to my message, but please consider this to have a "double wink wink.")

Cheers,
Steve

[birders]

It would be very interesting to know exactly the procedure employed by Canon to clean a sensor when a camera is returned to them. Anyone know?

[Movick]

<<It would be very interesting to know exactly the procedure employed by Canon to clean a sensor when a camera is returned to them. Anyone know?>>

I was told by a Canon manager who really knew his stuff that sensors are cleaned with a large bulb blower and a brush. This gent provided an interesting demonstration to make a point when I asked him “off the cuff” about direct contact cleaning methods. He quickly dispersed air from the large blower onto a small scrap of paper in a near perfect vertical orientation, looked at me and asked "what is the blower doing?" I replied, "It’s forcing the paper downward onto the counter of course." He then angled the blower to about 45 degrees to the paper scrap and asked "what am I doing now?" I replied, "You’re now moving the scrap of paper." As expected, he made the obvious correlation between dust particles and the paper, lesson being: shoot that air at an angle to the sensor to free the particles. I didn’t find out what kind of brush the techs use however.



Movick

[Carzee]

I moved from old slrs (problem -rust) to new dslrs (problem -dust).

Ay, whaddya gonna do?

[topaz]

Disclaimer: I tried Petteri's method last week, with great success!

[ANAL DUST WARNING]

1) Cleaning your sensor with little or no clothes on is not a good idea.

Agreed. Especially when combined with removing your dust-laden curtains from the windows, it is very likely to generate complaints from your neighbors. No comments about the term "anal dust".http://www.photography-on-the.net/forum/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif


2) Anything that involves blowing air to remove dust is not necessarily a good idea.
3) Cleaning in the bathroom. Bathrooms are very dusty places because as Petteri indicates towels are a major source of dust, however there are other factors to consider.
4) The importance of cleaning the camera before removing the lens


I think all your points are valid when it comes to measuring the amount of dust, and I agree it's important to minimize it. But my hunch is that the key point of Petteri's method is that the static charge will hold the dust onto the brush, which is where you want it. And secondly, you want to make sure there are no hard particles on the brush. In other words, I am guessing that brushing your sensor with a dusty brush is fairly harmless as long as the dust stays on the brush. Is this a possibility?

I was really careless about creating a dust-free environment, but still, my sensor came out virtually spotless.

[BobL]

Dear Bob,

I've decided to buy the SensorSwab product to use on my nether region BEFORE I use the SensorSwipe product to clean my camera sensor. This should solve the problem, especially since I never take a shower. (I don't know how to add "icons" to my message, but please consider this to have a "double wink wink.")

Cheers,
Steve

You guys are gonna laugh here. In our new clean lab we have shower and a toilet supplied by . . . . . "Reverse osmosis cleaned water"! Yes it's the cleanest shower and toilet around! You gotta get rid of that anal dust somehow!

We have a labtech that cleans our DSLR sensors but when I get my own you can tell where I'm gonna clean mine.

[CyberPet]

*snickers at BobL*

Movick, that make sense, about blowing the air in an angle, or you'll nail that dust to the glass over the sensor instead.

[ron chappel]

It would be very interesting to know exactly the procedure employed by Canon to clean a sensor when a camera is returned to them. Anyone know?

Canon use a fluid/swipe method but recommend in the owners manual (and to anyone that asks) that only a blower is used

http://www.cleaningdigitalcameras.com/methods.html

That's actually a very good link-an all round explanation of the options:)

[birders]

Thanks Ron - very interesting.

[ron chappel]

Wow ,doesn't that petteri link explain things well.

[jfrancho]

You gotta get rid of that anal dust somehow!I think you should consult a doctor for this - ha may prescribe a salve.

[RbrtPtikLeoSeny]

Haha omg... funny stuff here, and great information! Glad I stumbled upon this thread.

[jillian]

Then check this out (as an affirmation of the above):

http://www.pbase.com/image/42963246

Enjoy!

Steve[/QUOTE]


Hey- i was wondering if anyone has an idea about this:
I wanted to buy this cooper hill method to clean the sensor on my Canon Rebel- but the rebel is not in the size chart they ask you to specify. Any one used this on a Rebel before?

this is the size chart they give:
Please specify the size of the SensorSwipe to be included in the Complete Sensor Care Kit:
• 14 mm. for Nikon - D1, D1H, D1X, D2H, D2X, D100, D70, D50; for Canon - 1D, 30D, 60D, 10D, 20D, 300D; for Fuji S2, S3; for Pentax *ist; for Sigma SD-9; for KM Maxxum 7d
• 16 mm. for Canon 1DMK2
• 18 mm. for Canon 1Ds, 1DsMK2; Kodak DCS
• 13 mm. for Canon xt350D

thanx.

[Pekka]

I would not put deliberately made static electricity brush on top of my sensor... same way I would not do that on a computer motherboard. If you see how tightly packed e.g. Mark II is it is insane to stick static electricity inside the body. Just keep in mind these guys (Petteri and Nicholas R.) have not done any long term effect testing and are not likely be volunteered to get you a new sensor. What if after a year that it produces e.g. more noise or you get hot pixels, or zap your buffer RAM?

[ron chappel]

Hey- i was wondering if anyone has an idea about this:
I wanted to buy this cooper hill method to clean the sensor on my Canon Rebel- but the rebel is not in the size chart they ask you to specify. Any one used this on a Rebel before?

this is the size chart they give:
Please specify the size of the SensorSwipe to be included in the Complete Sensor Care Kit:
• 14 mm. for Nikon - D1, D1H, D1X, D2H, D2X, D100, D70, D50; for Canon - 1D, 30D, 60D, 10D, 20D, 300D; for Fuji S2, S3; for Pentax *ist; for Sigma SD-9; for KM Maxxum 7d
• 16 mm. for Canon 1DMK2
• 18 mm. for Canon 1Ds, 1DsMK2; Kodak DCS
• 13 mm. for Canon xt350D

thanx.[/QUOTE]

The Rebel has the same size sensor as the XT (350D)
In fact the following all have the same size sensor (just different Mp)-
D30,D60,10D,300D (rebel),20D,350D (rebel Xt)