Sensor Cleaning products...
 

Hey guys,

I was looking at buying that Arctic Butterfly sensor cleaning kit but the dood at Kerrisdale Cam quoted me $190...ouch!

I know the sensor is expensive to replace if i was to FUBAR it but is the AB kit worth the money?

I'm a bit scared to try wet swabs (never done it before)...

Or i could just send it in to Canon once or twice a year...any recommendations for products that work? :)

you can buy the wet swabs at Beau's. I went there last year and bought the wet swabs and the liquid (forgot what it's called), and the guy i bought it from was very helpful and showed me how to clean the sensor by doing it himself first! (jason was on vacation when i went there so it was another guy).

also, this is listed at beau's website and i read it twice before thinking of wet swabbing the sensor. http://www.beauphoto.com/cleaning/index.html

First try using a blower, like the Giottos Rocket Blower. If that doesn't work after a few tries, use a wet swab. It's not as daunting as it sounds - it's really quite easy. Come to my work sometime, and I'll show you. Swabs = $3.95 ea. 60ml bottle of cleaning fluid that'll last years = $10. I clean sensors all day, and I haven't fucked up....yet...

It's a long, detailed read:
http://www.beauphoto.com/cleaning/index.html

^^^ LOL, I was on the phone and didn't hit 'submit' for 10 minutes....moky beat me to it. Haha...

^ that article helped me out a great deal! i still read (or skim) thru it right before i need to wet swab the cameras (which isn't very often)

Hey Jason,

Do you guys carry the blower? I wanna pick one up :D

Yup, the small one is $10, the large is $15.

So the wet system is fairly simple? thanks for the link guys, good to read over and over again just incase!

yeah it really is quite simple. just ask Jason to demonstrate it for you the first time around :)

After researching and reading articles online. I went with Rocket Blower, Arctic Butterfly, and Copperhill Cleaning Method (Pec Pads, Eclipse, Sensor Swipe).

First thing that I would do is blow any loose dust off with the rocket blower. Then I would use the brush to clean off any harder items that are stuck on the sensor's AA filter. I am worried that if there was a harder stuck item, a wet clean would drag it across the AA filter, and cause scratches. I then would use the wet clean system. After my first cleaning session, my sensor came out spotless

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4122/...096f7c49_z.jpg

The reason I went with the copperhill method, is that it uses pec pads, instead of swabs. You basically make a swab with a pec-pad. A pack of pec-pads contains 100 sheets. So I can make 100 swabs, which I find to be a better value. The only reason I bought the kit from Copperhill was for their sensor swipe. It's a piece of plastic that has been designed for cleaning sensors. With all the positive reviews I found online, I decided to try it out. Now if I run out of pec-pads or eclipse fluid, I can just buy the stuff locally.

I know Jason does not like to use the Arctic Butterfly (from previous threads), and I do take his suggestions quite seriously. But after reading and reading the internet, there has been little or no complaints about the Arctic Butterfly causing damage. In fact, I even PM'ed Niforpix (from this thread http://www.revscene.net/forums/clean...r-t560612.html) seeing how he liked it so far. Everything that I have found was positive regarding it. The trick is to keep it clean. There are instructions for cleaning and maintaing the bristles.

Good luck with the cleaning!

Pec Pads aren't guaranteed to be safe with sensors, so be careful!