Pentax O-ICK1 sensor cleaning kit Review

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Some of us have learned the hard way how not to clean our sensors.

 

Behind each of the stories at the minimum is the cold sweaty palms and fear that we truly damaged our sensors by something inane and stupid that we knew better than to do.

 

I have my own scary sensor story of after a poor/ill advised attempt to clean my M9 sensor that prompted me to email my dealer at 3am to ask how much a new sensor was..to which he replied, "I'm not going to tell you. Just end me the camera and let's have a look at it"

 

That story had a happy ending with no charge and no damage.

 

But since then I have never attempted to clean my sensor again. I primarily use over 90% of the time and always keep on, my trusty 28mm Summicron and the sensor has remained clean for about a year.

 

Since getting my new T about a week ago and the inane T snap case, I have taken the lens off the camera many times. Images showed a lot of dust spots. The most I have ever seen. Oddly I was careful to avoid dust, never changed outside but regardless there's the most dust I have seen on a sensor.

 

The Monochrom has it's share of spots too, so I read and searched till I came upon the "Sensor Gel Stick" and watched fantastic youtube videos and read glowing reviews but no one locally has any in stock thus far and I have to clean these sensors!

 

So I headed down to Adorama and bought the Pentax version of what I expected is the same product.

 

As I walked home I unpacked it, threw away the box and was excited to finally safely and throughly clean my sensors.

 

I started with the T. I carefully followed the directions and with no exaggeration the Pentax stick removed what looked like, not one spot of dust. Zero.

 

There's really no way you can use the stick very wrong but I decided to give it a go on the Monochrom, which had far less dust but clearly visible to the naked eye.

 

I cleaned the stick carefully and again, it did not pick up one spec of dust.

 

I found this hard to believe as it can't be possible a product is this useless and gets any sort of good reviews. I can only think it is old stock and maybe lost it's stickiness?

 

But even the sticky paper didn't seem that sticky.

 

I guess the only 'good' thing from all of this is that there is one spot that scares me on the T..almost looks like a scratch but there is no way I scratched it and Sean and I from Camera West opened the just received T together. So seeing how the Pentax stick did absolutely nothing on any of the dust on either sensor, I am sure the large chunk is just another piece of dust.

 

I just missed BH at closing hour but I will order the product in the youtube videos and still go to BH as I can't wait days for it to come in. I'll search their site after this review.

As ridiculous as this has to sound (and is) maybe this product only works on Pentax?

 

$50 down the drain. I guess I have to look at the 'bright side' of this story and at least this time I didn't do anything insane or stupid like my friend urged me last night.."I dont understand why you can't just get a Q Tip and a dab of alcohol" To which I replied, the sensor can not be touched by anything unless it's made for it, trust me on this.

 

He wouldn't stop (and this is a photographer to make it even more annoying), "Well blow it out with some Dust Off"

 

Oh yeah, might as well say these Rocket Blowers we all have and use are almost as effective as the Pentax Cleaning Kit.

[mjh]

I have achieved excellent results with the Pentax kit and the M Monochrom, as well with various other cameras, so I have no idea what went wrong with your sensor cleaning attempts. The Pentax fruit gum is one of the tools we use at LFI to clean the sensors of the cameras in our pool; it is a tried and proven solution.

[jaapv]

Some of us have learned the hard way how not to clean our sensors.

 

Behind each of the stories at the minimum is the cold sweaty palms and fear that we truly damaged our sensors by something inane and stupid that we knew better than to do.

 

I have my own scary sensor story of after a poor/ill advised attempt to clean my M9 sensor that prompted me to email my dealer at 3am to ask how much a new sensor was..to which he replied, "I'm not going to tell you. Just end me the camera and let's have a look at it"

 

That story had a happy ending with no charge and no damage.

 

But since then I have never attempted to clean my sensor again. I primarily use over 90% of the time and always keep on, my trusty 28mm Summicron and the sensor has remained clean for about a year.

 

Since getting my new T about a week ago and the inane T snap case, I have taken the lens off the camera many times. Images showed a lot of dust spots. The most I have ever seen. Oddly I was careful to avoid dust, never changed outside but regardless there's the most dust I have seen on a sensor.

 

The Monochrom has it's share of spots too, so I read and searched till I came upon the "Sensor Gel Stick" and watched fantastic youtube videos and read glowing reviews but no one locally has any in stock thus far and I have to clean these sensors!

 

So I headed down to Adorama and bought the Pentax version of what I expected is the same product.

 

As I walked home I unpacked it, threw away the box and was excited to finally safely and throughly clean my sensors.

 

I started with the T. I carefully followed the directions and with no exaggeration the Pentax stick removed what looked like, not one spot of dust. Zero.

 

There's really no way you can use the stick very wrong but I decided to give it a go on the Monochrom, which had far less dust but clearly visible to the naked eye.

 

I cleaned the stick carefully and again, it did not pick up one spec of dust.

 

I found this hard to believe as it can't be possible a product is this useless and gets any sort of good reviews. I can only think it is old stock and maybe lost it's stickiness?

 

But even the sticky paper didn't seem that sticky.

 

I guess the only 'good' thing from all of this is that there is one spot that scares me on the T..almost looks like a scratch but there is no way I scratched it and Sean and I from Camera West opened the just received T together. So seeing how the Pentax stick did absolutely nothing on any of the dust on either sensor, I am sure the large chunk is just another piece of dust.

 

I just missed BH at closing hour but I will order the product in the youtube videos and still go to BH as I can't wait days for it to come in. I'll search their site after this review.

As ridiculous as this has to sound (and is) maybe this product only works on Pentax?

 

$50 down the drain. I guess I have to look at the 'bright side' of this story and at least this time I didn't do anything insane or stupid like my friend urged me last night.."I dont understand why you can't just get a Q Tip and a dab of alcohol" To which I replied, the sensor can not be touched by anything unless it's made for it, trust me on this.

 

He wouldn't stop (and this is a photographer to make it even more annoying), "Well blow it out with some Dust Off"

 

Oh yeah, might as well say these Rocket Blowers we all have and use are almost as effective as the Pentax Cleaning Kit.

Let's just conclude some of us are not destined to clean sensors...

[tobey bilek]

Let's just conclude some of us are not destined to clean sensors...

 

yes, some are handy, some not. younger tend to be not as manual arts is dropped from school curriculum.

 

I can not sing, dance, or play music. I am a decent photog, carpenter, mechanic, and painter. Nobody is good at everything.

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Let's just conclude some of us are not destined to clean sensors...

 

Now that's funny and apparently true.

 

There's no way (well almost no way) for this stick not to work if used as directed.

 

I tried varying pressure and it's comforting that it didn't clean the Monochrom and not the T. So it's definitely not the dust's 'fault'.

 

One would think a store like Adorama moves through their inventory efficiently.

 

My best guess was that it was old stock but the box looked pretty new.

 

Bad batch?

 

Or just accept the obvious simple truth.

 

Some of us are destined not to clean sensors.

 

I'm ok with that really as opposed to that special feeling that you just basically destroyed your sensor..

 

Maybe I can just use a QTip and some windex if I'm careful.

[Avatar]

OK, I had to try it again.

 

fresh sticky paper, made sure the pad was clean and no magnification necessary to see the dust spots.

 

Tried again varying amounts of pressure, even leaving it in place for a few seconds and again, zero result. Nothing.

 

I've never used my 5D2 for video but I am tempted to see if it's possible to use a macro lense and get a video of this as it's truly bizarre..

 

I hate wondering if what is on the sensor is either not dust or some sort of alien glue dust that's infiltrated my camera and spread like a virus to my other cameras.. The M240 seems ok for now but I have the T and MM in quarantine.

[mmradman]

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OK, I had to try it again.

 

fresh sticky paper, made sure the pad was clean and no magnification necessary to see the dust spots.

 

Tried again varying amounts of pressure, even leaving it in place for a few seconds and again, zero result. Nothing.

 

I've never used my 5D2 for video but I am tempted to see if it's possible to use a macro lense and get a video of this as it's truly bizarre..

 

I hate wondering if what is on the sensor is either not dust or some sort of alien glue dust that's infiltrated my camera and spread like a virus to my other cameras.. The M240 seems ok for now but I have the T and MM in quarantine.

 

Try practicing on a filter or lens, maybe you are just missing dust spots.

[jaapv]

Take it in to your dealer - it is very unlikely but the coating on the IR filter of the sensor has been known to develop blemishes.

"Normal" dust on the sensor is usually not that easy to see with the naked eye.

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Well first thing today I went to the Leica Store in Soho. I had an appointment nearby and I haven't been there yet, so it was a good place to start.

 

They don't clean sensors there but the three of them each looked and agreed that there was no damage to the sensor and I took a deep breath.

 

I spoke then mostly to Renee who told me he cleans his sensor before each job. I asked him a few questions and learned what to expect when I used wet cleaners and how it might take a few wands to get the sensor clean. He also said it might take a couple of different things to get it all off.

 

I walked back to Adorama and waited to get someone I know and I went over all of this carefully. He said pretty much the exact thing as Renee and what I got from both of them was that a lot of fear of cleaning your sensor if you follow some simple rules is really almost superstition and the sensors were far stronger than some of us may believe. Not to say we can't damage them, of course we can. But generally it's not all that hard.

 

With those pep talks I bought two sets of wands, one for the MM and M240 and the other for the T. The one for the T was slightly too big but it wasn't an issue.

 

I set up my area with good light and a cool (and cheap) desk light I have with a built in magnifying glass. It actually was perfect.

 

I read all the instructions and did the first pass with the wand and as expected it smeared them and I suppose removed some of the material. If I hadn't expected it, I would have had that sick feeling that I just ruined the sensor but I was prepared.

 

Next, I took out the brush, blew it clean before each use even though it's new and gently brushed over the area after wetting it with the solution. Seemed to help a bit but not that much.

 

I then did it again with two more swabs using it once in one direction and then back and even did one more return as it got cleaner.

 

It was still all smeared but easily 80% of the material was gone.

 

I thought it would be a good idea to try the Pentax gel stick and cleaned it and carefully used it and it did take up a bit of material..Not much but at least something.

 

I then used the swab, then the brush, then the Pentax until after about 5 wands it was 95% clean with one stubborn but light smear. The stick wasn't picking anything up, nor the brush (cleaning the brush by blowing it out with Dust Off.

 

Finally one more swab cleaned the last of the smear.

 

I again used the brush and finished it all off with the Pentax Gel Stick.

 

Voila! An absolutely clean, spotless under 10x magnification and I took deep breath and it felt great to be able to do this as it was I think pretty unusual to have so much gunk on a brand new barely used camera. the guys at Leica suspected it was pollen and I do remember one time I did change the lense in San Francisco and it was very windy..I'll never know but it felt great and important to me to now be able to inspect and pretty easily clean my sensors.

 

As Renee had said, "Don't be surprised if you need to use 3 or 4 things to get it perfect".

 

I think back to my first attempt on my M9 three years ago and realize that the smearing then was perfectly normal and all it would have taken was a few more wands and passes.

 

Sorry Pentax, I guess your Sticky Wand is handy to have in the tool bag for light or different dust than was on my MM or T!

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OK, now the MM. It had about two medium to large spots, one black the other white.

 

This time, since I am an expert now (lolol), I decided to do the sequence a bit differently.

 

I again Dust Offed the brush and soaked it with a bit more of the liquid (not sure what it is).

I then slightly more aggressively worked on the spots and a very good amount came off.

 

Then came out the wand and a couple of passes and it was probably 95% there.

 

Lastly the trusty Pentax Gel Stick and under 10x magnification, the sensor was spotless.

 

So not only a valuable lesson in cleaning but now a mandatory part of my travel kit. I will also check the sensor much more often as it's almost a non issue if it's not something that could ruin or sensor, such as a grain of sand that you can accidently scratch the sensor.

 

(PS: the liquid, brush and wands were all from Visible Dust)

[Avatar]

I have achieved excellent results with the Pentax kit and the M Monochrom, as well with various other cameras, so I have no idea what went wrong with your sensor cleaning attempts. The Pentax fruit gum is one of the tools we use at LFI to clean the sensors of the cameras in our pool; it is a tried and proven solution.

 

Actually nothing went wrong and as you said, "The Pentax fruit gum is one of the tools we use". On both sensors there was no real dust visible when I tested and it picked up absolutely nothing of the stuff that was on them. But as it turns out, it's a good tool to have but certainly not even close to the only one.

[jaapv]

:) All is well that ends well... Pollen can indeed be the devil to get off a sensor and is often mistaken for oil spots.

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thanks Jaap, it was a blessing in disguise to get over the irrational fear of cleaning or the PTSD that you probably had after your experience!

 

I'll post a picture taken before cleaning the T...it's pretty unbelievable.

 

The idea that if traveling, I would have to be scrambling around and unable to take pictures is sickening. Luckily it didn't matter on this trip as I had the M and only took a few snaps with the T.

[sblutter]

For me the gel stick works great, tho a bit too sticky for my comfort. Prefer the Dust Off version, Dust-Aid

 

No they don't get everything that the new LR can pick up. However, what LR picks up I can't even find when restored to normal view - and certainly not on prints - which I diligently spot beforehand, rarely sensor dirt.

 

Every pic needs a little care before I'm satisfied. A little training in Photoshop will have you an expert spotter very quickly. Work at 100% - its super fast. I use cloning and spot healing tools.

 

There are weekend workshops... a good excuse to be among other photo geeks

[Avatar]

For me the gel stick works great, tho a bit too sticky for my comfort. Prefer the Dust Off version, Dust-Aid

 

No they don't get everything that the new LR can pick up. However, what LR picks up I can't even find when restored to normal view - and certainly not on prints - which I diligently spot beforehand, rarely sensor dirt.

 

Every pic needs a little care before I'm satisfied. A little training in Photoshop will have you an expert spotter very quickly. Work at 100% - its super fast. I use cloning and spot healing tools.

 

There are weekend workshops... a good excuse to be among other photo geeks

 

Good post..I got a different brand that does the same thing as the Pentax but stickier..

 

I've quickly learned that it can take a few tools to clean the sensor. There's more to learn but so far, I've cleaned 4 cameras..The spots on the sensor that caused me to write this review were impervious to the Pentax..I can't know if the other brand would have done a better job but the sensor really needed a wet clean which got most of it off.

 

Might be good to find an informative youtube video to fine tune technique and to brush up a bit more (pardon the pun)

[michael.mu]

I had a bad experience using the Pentax gel stick on my M240. It left a sticky orange residue on the sensor in an attempt to remove a dust spot. I took the camera to a local camera store for a wet clean the next day. They couldn't clean it off so I sent the camera to Leica New Jersey. I just got a repair estimate to replace the sensor. This will be an expensive lesson learned not to clean the sensor myself with this tool.

[jaapv]

Exactly the same happened to me using the Dust-Aid stick. The adhesive on the “Sellotape” stuff that gets the dust off the blob carried over onto the sensor, destroying it.

 

Nowadays I use the EyeLead one which has much safer sticky paper.

[dante]

Can you use plain alcohol to clean a gel stick? I use alcohol lab wipes with my Kinetronics speck grabber, which seems to be the same thing but much smaller. Never thought that the sticky paper could itself become a problem.

 

Dante