Sensor cleaning

[chrisprendergast]

Hey guys just wondering if anyone on here knows a good place to get my 5dmk2 sensor cleaned ? I rang canon they want $92 and I'm with out it for 7-10days. Any help will be sweet thanks.

[chrisprendergast]

Oh I'm In Brisbane north side too cheers

[Kym]

Do it yourself... http://www.ausphotography.net.au/forum/showthread.php?t=24526

Why?

Its costs less
Your camera will be away by the time you order a cleaning kit, so no time loss
Some friendly AP member who's done it before may help you first time

[kiwi]

By the way, Canon not open here any longer apparently

Teds Camera's can do it, they have a subcontractor there doing cleans

Andersons in Capalaba, but it's more expensive

Or yeah, do it yourself

[The_Scroop]

I'd also recommend doing it yourself, with the right products its very easy to do and there are plenty of tutorials.

I would recommend 100% Copper Hill cleaning products, one of the site sponsors Quality Camera are an Aus distributor. Have a look on their site, if you buy from them click through from here http://www.ausphotography.net.au/forum/showthread.php?t=13499 as it will help AP out!

Heres a link to the copper hill tutorial too if you decide on it, http://www.copperhillimages.com/index.php?pr=tutorials

[arthurking83]

One thing I did only once was to use a bulb blower on my sensor as I was cleaning it. Never again. It sprayed a very fine layer of dust particles that took many attempts to clean off.
The fine layer of dust wasn't visible in the images at 'real world' images with real world aperture values, but the point was that I wanted the sensor clean :p
If you leave dust on the sensor for too long(many exposures) it 'bakes' on and makes it harder to remove at a later date, thus requiring more effort to remove, even with wet cleaning.

Contrary to some advice already given, I only ever use canned air for blowing dust off my cameras sensors. The propellant issue is real too tho, so you just have to be cautious, and never shake the can before use!
Been doing that for about 4 years now without issue, ever and the propellant residue does come off(my D70s) :p
I do use a bulb blower on my lenses though! I don't waste my canned air on them.

[mikew09]

Do a search on the forum. There is a post about a canon service agent in Brissy that if you pre-arrange they will do it while you wait. Just cannot remember where they were.

If you are confident on a self clean get the kit and go for it. I have done my 400D twice now - but it is a 400D :-). But if I had a 5Dmk2 - I would be seeing if I could have it done while I wait as first option.

[reaction]

I did it myself.
Using 'visibledust' (C) products.
It took me 3hrs, to get back to where I started. (it was dropping more dust than it was cleaning!)
And about $20 worth of swabs.

So next time, I'd say pay the $100 and let pros do it.

Maybe visibledust swabs are just crap. I mailed them, they haven't replied in a month, they don't care.

[forjahwarrior]

I'm interested in sensor cleaning places too, though I'm in Brisbane's SSW. Google searching brought up Andersons in Capalaba ($125-165) and Accurate Instrument Servicing in Petrie ($110), though both of these are a long way from me. Some other forum trawling brought up F16 at Margate, but they're even further away and I couldn't find a price! I won't pass any judgments on service quality as I sense there are some AP forum rules fine lines here, but they sound expensive to me.

With the above suggestion of doing it yourself and the provided link...I have had a crack at this in the recent past, but I'm pretty sure the spot on my sensor is something pretty sinister. I did 'improve' the blatant blemishes showing up in my photos, but the sensor is still marked and I'm pretty sure I just pushed stuff around and thinned out the mess *roll eyes.* My experience has now left me fairly apprehensive about doing this myself without damaging things.

I have seen mention of photography groups doing 'learn to clean your sensor properly' sessions down south. Does anyone in Brisbane get together to do this? Is there anyone who is confident enough in their non-destructive (significantly dirty) sensor cleaning skills who would be willing to put something together for those of us who'd like to learn?

[jasevk]

After an attempt to blow a stubborn spec off my sensor, I invested in an arctic butterfly.... can highly recommend.

[forjahwarrior]

Although I haven't tried an arctic butterfly, I'm pretty sure my sensor needs more than a brush!

(Thanks for the PM Ren - I can't reply yet as I've only made 3 posts; make that 4 :))

[arnica]

I'd also recommend doing it yourself, with the right products its very easy to do and there are plenty of tutorials.

I would recommend 100% Copper Hill cleaning products, one of the site sponsors Quality Camera are an Aus distributor. Have a look on their site, if you buy from them click through from here http://www.ausphotography.net.au/forum/showthread.php?t=13499 as it will help AP out!

Heres a link to the copper hill tutorial too if you decide on it, http://www.copperhillimages.com/index.php?pr=tutorials

I'm interested in getting one of these cleaning kits as well, just wondering which kit I ushould go for:

MEGA KIT - E2 w/18 mm. SensorSwipe for Nikon D3 : Canon 1Dmk3, 1DsMK3

or

MEGA KIT - 18 mm. SensorSwipe for: Canon 5D, 1D, 1Dmk2, 1Dmk2N, 1Ds, 1Dsmk2 :: Kodak DCS

I'm using a D700, and it's not listed on there.

[arnica]

On second thought do any of our sponsors sell sensor swabs?

[maccaroneski]

I just bought the Copperhill kit from Quality Camera.

[arnica]

I just bought the Copperhill kit from Quality Camera.

I just called up Quality camera and asked about the sensor swabs .. just wanting to know what size I need to get for my camera.

[ving]

DIY its easy!
:)

i use dust aid!

[Cliff]

I just called up Quality camera and asked about the sensor swabs .. just wanting to know what size I need to get for my camera.

I think that the D700 has the same size sensor as the D3 but you could look up the specs for both cameras and work it out for yourself.

[arnica]

I put an order through. Unfortunately it wont arrive before the weekend because it needs to travel by land mail instead of air express, due to the fluid being highly flammable

[arthurking83]

I've various methods, but the only sure-fire guaranteed way to CLEAN your sensor is with the use of a wet cleaning solution.

you can remove some dust particles using non wet type cleaning methods and the remaining dust particles may not affect your images... but they're still there
(actually that's just a guess on my part, but generally that's what I've seen, and there's no reason to think your camera is going to be different! :D)

First there's dust that you can see, and dust that you can't see:
55431

here is a dust ref image. Note I circle all the dust spots because most are not visible at less than 50% pixel view.
And to add further to the confusion, 90% of those that you can see won;t be visible in 99.99% of your images either, because this image is taken at f/32.
take dust ref shots at f/min(size) to get a better understanding of how much dust your camera is affected with.
It's important to note that most dust spots won't be visible till approximately f/11 or so and unless you shoot at approximately that aperture range f/8-f/16 dust may not be a problem for your images(but that doesn't mean you don't have it on your cameras sensor.
So why worry about it, if it's not going to affect your images?
Because it bakes itself on and gets harder to clean off.
Brushes and air burst can only get 'a lot' of dust off. ie. not all!!

I use:
55433
canned air as my first resort. Best stuff as it's totally non damaging to yoru sensor, despite what people(that don't know how to use it properly) may say.
I remember reading a Thom Hogan article where he recommended using it.
I had to find out the hard way, that you never ever shake the can before or during use. Propellant sprays out. Cleans off easily tho, and you can actually shake the can before use(but definitely not during use) as long as you give the can a burst of air in mid air to clear it's throat(of residual propellant). If you don't mind wasting the stuff, that's your choice. my recommendation is not to shake the can, as there's nothing to be gained.

So with the use of only the canned air the resultant dust ref image looked like this:
55432
of course the weather was variable and the blue sky appeared mid way through the test images being shot.. hence no plain jane flat mono coloured background to shoot. But the dust particles are obviously 99.9% gone.
I was even fussier as to which dust particles to circle in the clean image,and checked them at 1005 view. the circles you see should theoretically be even less.

but then I did check to see if a statically charged brush can still help a little, and as I've found out before, it usually hurts.

brushes can be great for removing those large curly hairs, but for getting baked on spots, they usually smear them across your sensor(what I've seen)

I used to use my Copperhill Sensor Brush, for my sensor, but found that it generally does more harm than good. I clean out the mirror/vf matte screen and other stuff with it, and it's ok for air travel use, something that other devices such as Arctic Butterflies may also be good for.

if you don't air travel(like me) then compressed air and wet cleaning on a regular basis is the only way to keep your sensor from attracting more dust, baking it on, and making it harder to clean .... eventually.

best canned air that I've used is CRC's stuff. higher volume of air in can, and slightly better pressure through the nozzle as the can empties out, but generally twice the price(or more) but worth it.
This Dust Away isn't bad, and I only get it if there's nothing else.
DickSmiths and similar stores sell it/them.

Place the straw approximately 5-10mm from the sensor, be careful not to touch the sensor, but it does no harm(I've tried that... ooops! :o) unless you use the straw as a hammer in a repeated banging manner(although I've never tried that!).

I spray out the mirror box first to blow out as much dust as possible from within there, and then set the camera up for cleaning the sensor.
I generally spray for about 15sec min, 30sec max.

[kiwi]

Thsi is exactly what products and what i have found is easy and works

MFAGwI_afY0

[arthurking83]

Yeah that stuff looks good, but more expensive on a per clean basis!

if I were to do that on a regular basis the cost of cleaning the sensor would be close to my mortgage! :p

good for travelling again, and use on the road if the need were to arise.
Cleaning the sensor at home before an air travel trip would be best advised.

I may get a kit one day if it's as effective(at 100% removal) as wet cleaning is.

[kiwi]

Yes, the kit comes with the dry clean (stamp thing) and wet clean. I prefer just to do a wet clean and get it all every so often. I dont see me using the dry clean all that often, but, its handy if there is a bad lump of something just arrived

[joele]

I also use the Copperhill swipe method and have done for a good number of years for my cameras, my fiancée's and a number of my friends.. I find it works extremely well and has never caused me problems, but obviously you have to be careful and do it at your own risk..

http://www.copperhillimages.com/shopping/pgm-more_information.php?id=3

[Kym]

qi6S3jHA21w

[draco]

although I only have a 40D, i would not try cleaning the sensor again and let the pros do it (or at least until my extended warranty expires)..

the first time I tried using the giotto blower on the sensor, it just moved the dust and didn't blew it off the sensor..

[bconolly]

Just for the archives (I used this thread as I needed my sensor cleaned this week), Kayell in Brisbane over in Yeerongpilly also do dry or wet sensor cleans. 24 hour turn around and in my case a brilliant job done.

BC