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Sensor Cleaning Assistance - What to do?


mkendzierski

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I'm really embarrassed by this as it seems that my sensor is full of dust particles & they're screwing up my shots.

 

I don't know how it got so messy as I only have one lens and I originally thought it was my U/V filter or the actual lens that needed cleaning.

 

I know think it's my sensor & I was wondering what to do. I'm going to Vancouver on Thursday & am going to bring along my M8 & was just about to purchase a Voit. 21mm lens to take along but this sensor would ruin my pictures.

 

Anyone have any suggestions....I saw Guy's post on the other tools available & was wondering what people do...how I can keep my sensor clean in the future and any other great advice.

 

Here is a picture that I shot yesterday from the Red Hook Marine terminal in Brooklyn, NY

 

 

http://www.theminorlift.com/clean/L1001768.jpg

 

You can see the dust....it's awful.

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Guest guy_mancuso

Geez Mike your a dirty mess here.LOL

 

You have it all going on dust and grease and honestly i like to call this the big hole theory . Big hole anything can go in. really not a ton you can do besides the obvious stuff like changing lenses in sand storm or windy conditions. Keeping the lens on all the time would help without changing but not really that practical when you have more than one lens.

 

I would go back to my thread and get a plan of attack and get the swaps and fluid. Honestly this is just normal maintenance stuff with digital and you need to be a janitor also. It really is not hard and we can walk you through it. But right now you have grease and that fluid will be the only choice here . BTW the grease is more in the circles and the irregular is the dust. You have both. The grease will eventually subside in time too, new camera will tend to do this for a period than that excess will go away.

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1. Try one of the Visible Dust brushes, like the Arctic Butterfly.

 

2. If there is still dust, use a wet agent like Eclipse 2 along with one of the proper sizes of wand/pad combinations.

 

3. If you don't have these things and can't get them in time, go to a camera store and try to find a SensorKlear tool made by LensPen. They are easy to use, can be taken on a plane and work extremely well.

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I'm pretty much a mess.

 

I'm going to B&H & get everything on the list....and the 21mm Voigtlander for my trip to Vancouver.

 

Thanks for the great advice....I really don't know how this happened though. I keep the lens on all of the time & I think I've only removed it a couple of times.

 

Hopefully I can post another photo w/ the results of a clean camera. It's somewhat of a brand new M8 but maybe something got inside.

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Before you spend a lot of money buy a bulb blower - the type you hold in your hand and squeeze to expel the air out of it.

 

Then use this to clean the sensor. Although I have an Arctic Butterfly I've found that a simple blower has been all that's needed so far.

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Guest guy_mancuso

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Yes it does have a price tag but i wonder if we looked around at places like Edmund Scientific or something like that we maybe able to find something maybe with less of a price tag on it. Head gear maybe kind of a good device too. You know the watch repair guys wear head gear

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Before you spend a lot of money buy a bulb blower - the type you hold in your hand and squeeze to expel the air out of it.

 

Then use this to clean the sensor. Although I have an Arctic Butterfly I've found that a simple blower has been all that's needed so far.

 

I think he has some grease problems which a blower won't address. Also, I've always felt blowers don't necessarily remove the dust--rather just move it around in the sensor chamber. Eventually, it's going to find its way back onto the sensor.

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I bought the SensorKlear Pro kit for $64. It comes with the Enspen, a blower, and cleaning cloth for the body and a case to keep it all in with 3 refill tips for the pen. Have not used it yet as my M8 sensor has only some very small dust specs that you have to magnify the disply to see. But other users have used the Lenspen with excellent results.

 

Gene

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I agree a bulb blower is what you should try first. I disagree that they just blow dust around, instead they create a current of air to first mobilise the dust and then replace the air carrying it with clean air and I expect the worst of your dust will come off this way.

 

You may have grease or sticky dust (for example, pollen) on the sensor as well which requires wet cleaning with sensor swabs and a solvent or equivalent.

 

There's a ton of cleaning solutions out there, I've never needed to go beyond pac-pads, sensor-swabs and Eclipse.

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Guest guy_mancuso

Mike blow the dust first or else your just going to move it somewhere else, than do as Mark said run the wet swabs after. let us know how you did and if you need help . Scream

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Whatever you do, try not to contaminate your brush by having it contact any grease on your sensor. You definitely want to remove the grease before using it or it will be useless in the future.

 

A swab pass in each direction with Eclipse 2 (couple of drops) would not be a bad first step and may be all you need to do.

 

By now, you have probably noticed that when you ask any question on a web forum, you will get a variety of opinions. Just sort it all out and do what makes the most logical sense to you.

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I purchased a medium sized "rocket" blower for dry sensor cleaning but have yet to tackle cleaning the sensor yet. I've heard someone mention before that they put a pec pad on the blower end to prevent dust from being deposited by the blower. Good idea or overkill? Thanks!

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I just recently bought a 500 ml bottle of laboratory grade (better than 99%) isopropanol at my friendly local pharmacist for the equivalnt of US$3.50. That and the appropriate swabs should do nicely.

 

I'm sure Eclipse is good, but there's only one importer here in Japan who never seems to have any, and when he does it'll set you back the equivalent of US$15.00 for a truly teeny bottle.

 

Of course the blower gets used first.

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I've heard someone mention before that they put a pec pad on the blower end to prevent dust from being deposited by the blower. Good idea or overkill? Thanks!

 

Not a helpful suggestion, it blocks 90%+ of the air.

 

I've mentioned before a few times that if you are worried about wet cleaning, try practicing by sprinkling paprika on a blank CD and "cleaning" it; you can check for residues left from your solvent.

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I just went through the same thing. My spots were of course all over the blue sky. I did not notice these until later when the problem kept recurring and I went back to look at my images. I bought the M8 and the 50mm Sum f/2 new at the same time. I just downloaded some images from a street fair and they looked good and moved on. A few weeks later I went out and shot the Golden Gate Bridge and their the spots were, quite obvious. I cleaned the lens, etc. Went out and shot some skateboarder and they were still there. So, I went back to the very first pictures I took with the out of box M8 and out of box 50mm and looked at them at 1:1 in lightroom and there the spots were. The only conclusion is it came with a dirty sensor from the factor.

 

I first tried air blowing with hand blower and took test shots. Spots were still there. I took an old Schneider-Kreuznach Componar 1:4:5/75 slide projector lens that I used for a loupe back when I was poor. I held the camera up to the sunlight at angle with the loop and saw what looked like tiny specs of glitter shining in the sunlight.

 

Bought some Eclipse and swabs. I had to do two treatments as after the first pass with the Eclipse I took test pictures and there were still some spots, but not as many. The second treatment did the trick 100%.

 

What is the latest you guys on Eclipse or Eclipse 2? Am I supposed to be using Eclipse 2.

 

Leonardo

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