Well, my camera is dirty on the _inside_. The internal sensor is dirty. “Bob”:http://bobsplanet.com says that you need some special tools from
I’d recommend getting the wipes, the fluid, and the wand for serious cleaning from “Micro-Tools.com”:http://micro-tools.com that will cost you about $25 overall:
* “SensorWand 14mm for Cleaning 1.5x & 1.6x Sensors”://https://www.micro-tools.com/store/item_detail.aspx?ItemCode=SW1. This is a magic thingy that you wrap pad around and then soak with Eclipse to clean the sensor
* “Eclipse Cleaning System”:https://www.micro-tools.com/store/item_detail.aspx?ItemCode=PSI-3-F. This is the actual cleaning fluid
* “Pec-Pad Lint Free Wipes”:https://www.micro-tools.com/store/item_detail.aspx?ItemCode=PSI-1. This is the wipe that you put around the SensorWand stick
And for light cleaning:
“D-SLR Brush – Sensor Cleaning Brush for 1.5x & 1.6x Sensors”:https://www.micro-tools.com/store/item_detail.aspx?ItemCode=D-SLR-16. This is a fine sensor cleaning brush. You blow air through the brush and it becomes statically charged. You lightly whisk across the sensor and the charge on the brush attracts dust. $25
* “Blowers”:https://www.micro-tools.com/store/SearchByCategory.aspx?CategoryCode=BLO. They have a set of air blowers. The cheapest is the Envi-Ro-Tech at $9 for compressed air. If you are going to do more, the CO2 Power Clean I is $20 with a 38 gram CO2 cartridge.
(Make sure you have a clean air supply… some canned air has residue in it).
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2 responses to “Camera Cleaning”
Rich – I recently returned from a safari where my 20D sensor was filthy from all the lens changes in the field.
After doing a lot of reading on http://www.dpreview.com forums, I settled on the dry cleaning method from http://www.visibledust.com.
Check out their equipment, it’s regarded as one of the best. You spin the special brush around in a motor to statically charge it and then use one simple swipe to clean the sensor without damaging it. They also have a chamber cleaning kit. It’s a lot more $$$ than the solution you mention, but worth the investment.
[I’m sure you already know this, but your readers might be interested] To detect dust on your sensor do the following:
– Use a zoom lens
– focus the lens manually at infinity
– put it in AV mode and stop it down to its smallest aperture
– set the exposure compensation to +1 stop
– photograph a solid white surface like a wall
When you look at the shot on your PC, you’ll see all the speckles you never really wanted to see 🙂
Check with Kurt Kolb before you do this yourself. He walked me through the risks of self-cleaning your camera’s interior and it strikes me this is a job best left to the professionals.