M9 Ultimate Sensor Cleaning Device

[jaapv]

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I can confirm that, E2 works fine, Wilson. For travel, I just put it in the checked luggage in my toiletries bag.

It is impossible to pick it up on X-ray and differentiate it from aftershave or eyedrops.

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[Baptiste]

But dudes, didn't you have remaining dust on your sensor? I did, that's why I ask

[RoRoRoPa]

Has anyone tried one of the new Visible Dust Zeeion ionizing blowers? Effective tool or silly over-priced gimmick?

 

Wilson

 

Check out the blower challenge:

[wlaidlaw]

Check out the blower challenge:

 

Thanks I found that too. Zeeion looks like a bust and may be risky for the electronics as well. If I still am occasionally not having good enough results from the Arctic Butterfly (used after wet clean as well as before - Baptiste please note), I will get my daughter to bring me across a Firefly when she comes over from the USA in August.

 

Wilson

[k-hawinkler]

Wilson,

 

Would you consider SensorVu?

That seems to help me most - in addition to a wet cleaning with E2.

 

K-H.

[MaxFoto]

Hi folks,

 

spent most of last Sunday with the M9 sensor cleaning stuff. There was 1 significant spot at f/16 and some small ones around. Thinking this must be more perfect I started equipped with Eclipse, Swabs and an orange sticky device.

I got less and less nervous the more I had to repeat the procedures. No fear the sensor is robust. This is the good news the M9 sensor is good accessible. The bad news is to get that f... thing clean. At the beginning it got much more worse than from what I started. Stopping, shipping to anywhere,... no way I have to do it! So one more time wet cleaning followed by picking around with the sticky thing. No problems with the swabs, they remove the dots but leave other dust or whatever. Finally I ended up with a semiclean sensor there is again one spot left. Swabs alone you can forget it. Best turned out the combination of swabs and Pentax Sensor Cleaning kit.

So what is best sensor cleaning method?

 

KR, Wolfgang

[k-hawinkler]

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Hi folks,

 

spent most of last Sunday with the M9 sensor cleaning stuff. There was 1 significant spot at f/16 and some small ones around. Thinking this must be more perfect I started equipped with Eclipse, Swabs and an orange sticky device.

I got less and less nervous the more I had to repeat the procedures. No fear the sensor is robust. This is the good news the M9 sensor is good accessible. The bad news is to get that f... thing clean. At the beginning it got much more worse than from what I started. Stopping, shipping to anywhere,... no way I have to do it! So one more time wet cleaning followed by picking around with the sticky thing. No problems with the swabs, they remove the dots but leave other dust or whatever. Finally I ended up with a semiclean sensor there is again one spot left. Swabs alone you can forget it. Best turned out the combination of swabs and Pentax Sensor Cleaning kit.

So what is best sensor cleaning method?

 

KR, Wolfgang

 

Wolfgang,

 

That's my experience as well.

 

The SensorVu sticky seems to be the same as the Pentax Sensor Cleaning orange sticky device.

 

I started out with wet cleaning, pushed pretty hard and got a lot of additional stuff on the sensor in the area where I lifted off the swab. I am not sure, but I have the feeling that may be fibers from the swab are being left behind as this stuff looks really different from the dust on the sensor. Luckily, I could get the stuff I had deposited on the sensor with the wet cleaning off with the orange sticky.

 

Cheers, K-H.

[jaapv]

But dudes, didn't you have remaining dust on your sensor? I did, that's why I ask

Well, I had to use this surgical microscope to get everything off....

[Guest Chris M]

Well, I had to use this surgical microscope to get everything off....

 

Hi jaapv, yes just curious though? did you notice a difference in final output or on your monitor before and after a microscopic cleaning. I'm just wondering because I don't have a microscope to clean with and really can't tell before or after a cleaning on my M8"s files viewed from a new 24' apple monitor or my final 16x20 prints.

 

chris m

[ryanpeck]

Really interesting post all around. Thanks.

 

I was cleaning a couple of LPs today and it occurred to me that the bits of lint and fluff that stick to them is

very similar to the problem we all face with our sensors. On my records, I use a fantastic tool called a ZeroStat Gun. It removes the static electricity from the surface of the record and, voila, i can usually just blow away the particles that wouldn't budge before hand. Might be an interesting device to incorporate into the microscope test...

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[wlaidlaw]

Wilson,

 

Would you consider SensorVu?

That seems to help me most - in addition to a wet cleaning with E2.

 

K-H.

 

K-H,

 

I am very reluctant to use any sticky device after a Dust Aid came in half as I was peeling it off its backing paper. I can just see the sticky bit sticking on to the sensor and coming off the wand = goodbye shutter.

 

Wilson

[scc]

I don't have a microscope to clean with and really can't tell before or after a cleaning on my M8"s files viewed from a new 24' apple monitor or my final 16x20 prints.

 

chris m

 

Perhaps your sensor wasn't that dirty before you cleaned it?

I hear what you're saying though.

 

I have access to a microscope, but haven't yet needed to use it for a clean. Using a sensor loupe for guidance, and following a clean with VD swabs and fluid, I cannot notice any artifacts in my pictures. Anything that doesn't show up in pictures isn't worth chasing, ultimately.

 

However, I definitely do notice a difference before and after cleaning - the spots in my pictures disappear!

S

[wlaidlaw]

Really interesting post all around. Thanks.

 

I was cleaning a couple of LPs today and it occurred to me that the bits of lint and fluff that stick to them is

very similar to the problem we all face with our sensors. On my records, I use a fantastic tool called a ZeroStat Gun. It removes the static electricity from the surface of the record and, voila, i can usually just blow away the particles that wouldn't budge before hand. Might be an interesting device to incorporate into the microscope test...

 

I remember using those on LP's about 30 years ago. However, do you really want to go firing electrostatic charges into a device full of sensitive chips? I assume you were not being serious.

 

Wilson

[swamiji]

I remember using those on LP's about 30 years ago. However, do you really want to go firing electrostatic charges into a device full of sensitive chips? I assume you were not being serious.

 

Wilson

 

I have one of those... unregulated, extreme voltage... Not near my M9.... The thought is too scary to entertain.... I second Wilson's view.

[k-hawinkler]

K-H,

 

I am very reluctant to use any sticky device after a Dust Aid came in half as I was peeling it off its backing paper. I can just see the sticky bit sticking on to the sensor and coming off the wand = goodbye shutter.

 

Wilson

 

Wilson,

 

I hear you. Well, I have both the Dust Aid and the orange sticky. They are of a completely different design. The orange sticky is just a blob on a stick. Unless the blob itself disintegrates it's hard to see how a bit can be sticking to the sensor. I certainly don't plan on using the Dust Aid again as it didn't seem to work very well for me in comparison.

 

K-H.

[jaapv]

Hi jaapv, yes just curious though? did you notice a difference in final output or on your monitor before and after a microscopic cleaning. I'm just wondering because I don't have a microscope to clean with and really can't tell before or after a cleaning on my M8"s files viewed from a new 24' apple monitor or my final 16x20 prints.

 

chris m

I did see some remaining dust with f16. As I usually don't close down beyond 5.6 it was of no practical relevance. It was more of an perfectionist excercise. But it turned out to be so easy and practical that it will be routine in the future.

[Baptiste]

Wilson,

 

I hear you. Well, I have both the Dust Aid and the orange sticky. They are of a completely different design. The orange sticky is just a blob on a stick. Unless the blob itself disintegrates it's hard to see how a bit can be sticking to the sensor. I certainly don't plan on using the Dust Aid again as it didn't seem to work very well for me in comparison.

 

K-H.

 

I viewed a youTube video of that orange stick use. It frightened me to see someone pushing obviously so hard on the sensor. Someone reported that the M9 sensor is tough enough. But with these broken glass issues reported on the forum, I doubt it (even if the 2 things could be not correlated)

[MikeMyers]

I've been helping some friends of mine in India, who want to record eye operations using a camera on the microscope. Most of these cameras have a "video out" connector. I got a device from Pinnacle, which converts the analog video signal to digital, and by means of a USB connection allows a person to record the video on a computer in any format they want, up to high-res AVI.

 

I think it would be fascinating to try to create a video of what's going on during the cleaning operation, using the microscope both for the person to see what he's doing, and to record the person sees, so we can all see it on a website.

 

If anyone wants, look up "Pinnacle Studio 12 with hardware" in google, and you'll see the device and the software they provide. It's extremely easy to use. It will only work though on a microscope with a camera attached.

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[Guido]

I've succeeded today in removing half a dozen particles from my sensor with the help of a SpeckGrabber, a pad soaked with Isopropyl alcohol to clean the SpeckGrabber between passes, and an illuminated Visible Dust 7x loupe.

 

I forced myself to only care about the larger artifacts which were readily visible in the f22 test, but from what I've seen with the VD loupe, I can well imagine that finding every subatomic dust bunny on the sensor with a real operating microscope would drive me nuts!