Dust data, cleaning sensor, etc.

[ravnostic]

For about a year, there’s been an annoying piece of fluff that showed up in my pictures, and today I decided to use the little blower bulb to get rid of it (used the bulb cable to keep the shutter open sans lens, horse hair brush style thingy.)

Holy fark. Went to take pics for All Night Long, more dust than evar.

Tried again, using manila card to see if I see any, and now I don’t.

Which leaves me to wonder; how the hell do you take a picture to show you all the dust crap you’ve got, rather than being surprised when you take 50 pictures and find it in every one? And how you you guys clean the sensor on an DSLR? I’m afraid to use anything other than air at the moment; not like lenses, where I use isoprop + deionized water (which I learned about in the cleanroom environment at the lab I work at.)

[staplermofo]

http://www.adorama.com/alc/article/8067

It’s an old article, so ignore the part about removing the onion from your camera strap.

[ravnostic]

Good help, SM. Ironically, under those conditions, I still have 1 ‘thread’ of contamination (and some itty bitty spots but those I can live with); it was a single ‘thread’ I was trying to get rid of in the first place. Now, it’s just another one in a different spot. I’ll try again, keeping in mind the caveats and such.

(finished) Cleaned and SUPER spiffy!! Vs when I started, I can only see one little smudge (hardly noticable!) I owe you a new Swingline!

[soosh]

I’ve found the best results with Eclipse brand cleaner and one-use wipes on what looks all the world like a tiny silicone spatula. I have a box of the pads at home, but my camera guy sells them pre-cut to sensor size on a disposable paddle, and I just run down there and buy one for a couple of dollars when I need one.

Mostly, I shoot wide apertures and clone the crap out. I don’t take any particular care with swapping lenses, and I don’t usually have anything that shows up unless I go f/8 or tighter.

[ravnostic]

Using the blower brush, and a high-quality q-tip with isoprop (care taken to rotate with the qtip grain), I got down to 1 smaller-than-the-original speck of dust. I then took a f/40 infinity focused image of the sky, set it as the ‘dust-delete’ image, and things seem to be fine. I do have a good camera shop nearby; next time I’m in I plan on asking them about cleaning tools. (I also want to see if the boss will let me pilfer some of the clean-cloths we use at work; designed to not shed fibers as microchip contamination is frowned upon, of course.)

[soosh]

I wouldn’t personally use isoprop on your sensor. there’s quite a lot of other stuff in with it that will leave a residue/film if not outright streaks. You can get Eclipse from B&H or Adorama, or any good camera store, and it’s the cleanest thing I’ve come across.

There are plenty of other things that will do the job, but there is a whole market of products that have been tested safe for use on sensors, which are a whole lot more delicate than lens surfaces.

[ravnostic]

My isoprop is 91% with deionized water; didn’t seem to leave steaks (not OTC drugstore stuff), but I’ll keep your advise in mind, as well. And I don’t plan on cleaning the sensor (or really, the coating over the sensor) with any frequency anyway. But if you recommend Eclipse as a safer product, I’ll pick some up next time.

[soosh]

if what you have is just isoprop with deionized water, that should be plenty fine. I just haven’t been able to source that easily where I live.

[caradoc]

Um, dude.

I’ve got a SensorScope, swabs, Eclipse, the works. I’m out in dust storms on a regular basis, and it just made sense to get the right cleaning gear.

And I’m local, remember? Let’s get that cleaned…

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