how to use a rocket blower properly?

heyya POTN,

its been a few weeks since i got the XTi, which claims to have a sensor cleaning feature. but as most of us know, it works... to a certain extent. i guess theres no way to get out of cleaning the sensor as most of us will have to do it sooner or later.

i ordered a medium sized rocket blower from ebay, and im not 100% sure on how i should use it once it arrives. this whole question might be stupid, but how does one properly use a rocket blower?

when i thought about it, wouldnt the rocket blower be blowing the dust around inside the camera? i have a spec on my viewfinder, which i believe is dust on the focusing screen, which would be the best way to get that off?

thanks

eryk

Focus screen dust should come off easy, dismount the lens and keeping the camera vertical (i.e the focus screen is facing downwards), lift it over your eyelevel/head and sqeeze the blower a couple of times onto the focus screen.

Off course depending on how comfortable you get with the blower you will automatically adjust the distance of the plastic tip and the optics you are trying to clean.

For the sensor, goto menus and use whatever you have to move the mirror out of the way (on the 20D its actually called sensor clean...it might mean something else in your camera). Again face the plane of the sensor downwards (so hold the camera above eyelevel, but facing downwards) and blow away. That way whatever gets dislodged has no other place to go but down and OUT.

When you get real comfy with your camera and blower etc you don't even need to hold it above eye level I just face it downwards and without looking squeeze a few squirts into the sensor/mirror cavity. Off course every time you change your lens its always a good idea to squirt a few times onto the back end of the lens you are about to mount and facing the camera downwards (i.e sensor always facing the ground) you need to learn to mount/dismount the lens. It comes with practice. But thats a good way to minimize the entry of dust into the internals.

thank you very much good info.

I would always use the blower a few times before pointing it at a mirror or sensor, just in case there are a few bits of cr*p in it - best to blow them on the carpet first

There was a thread recently about a different make of blower, and it blew out all sorts of crud inside onto someone's sensor, although I believe the rocket blower has a non-return valve in it to hopefully stop this happening.

Make sure the blower is made of a good rubber. One of member here ruined his sensor because the blower thrown rubber specks onto sensor with the air.