Good sensor/mirror/focus screen cleaning kit?

[coolhand78]

looking for a good kit for cleaning the mirror and focusing screen in my canon 5DmkII...

anyone got some good suggestions?

[Plays With Light]

looking for a good kit for cleaning the mirror and focusing screen in my canon 5DmkII...

anyone got some good suggestions?
I got put onto this mob, Camera Check Point (https://www.cameracheckpoint.com.au/shop), I actually think from an earlier thread on this very forum. Works a treat for me on my sensor, mirror and focusing screen.

[arthurking83]

Try hard to be tempted to clean the mirror too often.
Canned air is your friend here. Just be sure not to shake well before use tho! :p(ie. never shake a can of canned air .. the propellant will be expelled onto the surface you're trying to clean, and it makes it harder o clean that propellant off.

Copperhill kit is regarded as about as good as it gets for sensor cleaning. Canned air helps to move unbaked dust spots too tho.

Canned air is good for removing dust off the vf matte screen too.

You can get some very good quality sensor brushes, good for matte screen, and mirror.
The one I have comes in a kit with some paper that you stroke the brush with and it statically charges the bristles. This then helps to 'grab' dust particles, so a very light brush action is needed on the mirror and matte screen.
I've never used it on the sensor as it basically does nothing in the way of assistance.
(note my use of the term never is simply .. tried once as a test, did nothing never done it again to any of my other cameras).

My preferred method for cleaning dust off sensor is the gel stick. Much faster and easier .. but not as 100% effective as the copperhill type wet clean method.
I'd say close to 99% effective.
Sometimes there's that one baked on dust spot that just doesn't want to come off, and only the way to remove it is with the wet clean method.

But! Because the gel stick is so much easier/quicker/simpler and mostly effective, I do it much more regularly than I used to do the wet clean process.

I used to do the wet clean every month or two(maybe a bit longer) and it'd require multiple applications to remove f/16 dust.
Now with the gel stick tho, (only because of it's ease) I do it more regularly. This helps to minimise the baked in spot issue that requires the wet clean method.

I've had my gel stick now for a bit over 3 years I think .. and I've used the wet clean method only once since then.

My recomendation would be
canned air. because you don't use much, just get a high quallity name brand, and use the straw.
a sensor brush
some pre-packaged wet clean swabs
a gel stick.

Once I've depleted my wet clean supplies, I'll just get some prepacked swabs instead of the entire routine of pecpad, applicator and Eclipse fuild .. too tedious now.

Note with gel stick is that it requires no pressure. it just sticks itself to the surface of the sensor and sticks the dust to that sticky surface on the gel. ie. if you try this method .. don't push down on the gel stick!

I have a couple of tutes up from many years ago on the processes.

[Tannin]

On a 5D II (or any decent modern SLR) you shouldn't need to clean those parts more than (at most) a few times in the lifetime of the camera. The bad old days of the non-self-cleaning sensor are a long, long time ago. A puffer to blow out dust once in a blue moon should be plenty.

I used to use wet wipes (I was going to say "Copperhill" but I've got a feeling it was another brand from before Copperhill was around) but I haven't needed them (not even once) since I retired the ancient old 20D. They worked fine, but you have to be super careful.

But if you are having a problem with dirt/dust/oil on a modern camera, something is wrong. I'd be taking it to a professional for a clean, and an expert opinion as to the cause of the problem.

[Hawthy]

This thread is a bit old, but just for the record..

If you take up Arthur's suggestion to use canned air, my advice is to make sure that the base of the can is planted firmly on your desk. When you spray, move your camera around rather than moving the can. Even if you get just a little excited moving the spray-can it shoots out the propellant to your sensor, which is a mongrel to clean up. I cleaned it up with just a microfibre cloth and a golf tee (not best practice). The canned air has been good but i have ended up touching my sensor in ways that it never expected to be touched. :o

[arthurking83]

... When you spray, move your camera around rather than moving the can. Even if you get just a little excited moving the spray-can it shoots out the propellant to your sensor, which is a mongrel to clean up. I cleaned it up with just a microfibre cloth and a golf tee (not best practice). ....

Apart from only the one time on my D70s I've never had propellant expelled from the can accidentally.
The one time with the D70s I shook the can(not knowing) and then used it.
Lesson learned.
But as for having propellant expelled during air spraying .. never.
When I do it, I am very careful not to tilt the can too much, never more than about 45° or so anyhow, and smooth movements.
And also never use the can to the end of it's capacity inside the camera.
You can get propellant expelled as the contents near their end, and I use that part of the 'rest of the can' to do other stuff, or the outside areas of the camera.

Things I use 'rest of the can' canned air on: 99.9% my keyboard. 0.01%(screen, camera body, actual physical desktop(ie. not PC)) ... etc.

I couldn't estimate at what percentage remaining I stop using it in camera, but you can kind'a feel that the air is less pressurised.