How to approach my cleaning task!

440Hz

I know there are loads of threads on this already about how Copperhill is the best and all that... but what I need here is advice and tips. My kit arrived in the post on Friday and I really need to get going on it as my shots like horrific at the moment, Im healing out dust spots by the new time and its driving me mad!!

I have read and reread the instructions but I am still too terrified to start the cleaning process... this fear sound familiar to anyone? Any advice/tips on how best to approach this task?

Thanks

Dundhoone

I cant help im afraid, i've just ordered my own cleaning kit from that swiss crowd reccommended here. Dirty big smeary blob on my 18-70mm which i made bigger by wiping it with a tissue........silly me

Heres hoping it gets here soon!

440Hz

Currently reading this... http://www.cleaningdigitalcameras.com/index.html getting increasingly more terrified....

Valentia

I'm afraid there is no other option....just do it! It is nowhere near as difficult or as dangerous as it sounds. Quite easy really and very effective. Make sure you take before & after shots. Set camera at f22 and take a blank wall or sky out of focus.

Good luck and make sure you come back alive!

P.S Don't be working up a sweat reading other stuff. Follow the instructions in the copperhill site (print them), experiment putting on the swab and give it a lash.

Oriel

How do people get smudges on the lens? I've hand my Nikon about 6/7 months now, and the bother I've had has been a few specks of dust, which blowing on them got rid of. But smudges?

440Hz

sinecurea wrote:

How do people get smudges on the lens? I've hand my Nikon about 6/7 months now, and the bother I've had has been a few specks of dust, which blowing on them got rid of. But smudges?

The honest answer is I dont know. This is an ongoing problem with the camera from day one, there were a few threads about it here. I sent it (350D) back to Canon, and it came back dirtier and then to ISS in Dublin for a pro cleaning. The sensor came back clean but there was still dirt/dust in the camera body (AF-screen). Anyway since it came back from ISS I have (carefully( change my lens once as I pretty much use the same lens all the time). Despite that cleaning 6 weeks ago or so, and one lens change, these smudges or blobs or dust have appeared in the exact same spots as before.

I am really concerned about it, but reckon all I can do is clean it and hope for the best as I get NO JOY whatsoever out of Canon.

Oriel

Ah yeah, I remember the threads. For a start - find out what's causing the marks. Given the fact that the marks are reappearing in exactly the sa,e place, there's obvisouly a fault with the camera causing the marks to be made again. I'd try again to bring the camera back to Canon and or the shop and make somebody accountable. Since you bought it from the shop, go in there and make them phone Canon until they come to an arrangement.

By the sounds of it - just clean the blooming sensor - if it breaks, it breaks. The perfect time to get a nice new reliable Nikon

Oriel

Oops, yeah in my original post, I meant to say sensors, not lenses...

rymus

Practice on a cd case first... I did that despite feeling a bit stupid doing it. It takes alot of pressure to damage the filter in front of the sensor, you won't damage it. You'll get nowhere near the breaking pressure on the filter quite simply because you'll be treating it like a newborn baby. Through repeated cleanings, I've become confident enough to put a small bit more pressure on the swab to get the tough spots of dirt off.

As for dust appearing on the same spot, It's happening to me too, I can only assume that some areas are more prone to picking up dust and / or it's some kind of freaky coincidence. It cleans right off every time.

Right now all that's bothering me is a filthy focusing screen. I'm pretty sure I could take the copper hill swab to it but I think I'll be reading a bit more on that one first.

Actually, if you still haven't cleaned the sensor by the time the Munster meetup comes around, bring along your kit and I'll clean it for ya.

Dundhoone

sinecurea wrote:

How do people get smudges on the lens? I've hand my Nikon about 6/7 months now, and the bother I've had has been a few specks of dust, which blowing on them got rid of. But smudges?

I've had my camera 3 months and i've been really careful, i've no idea how goo got on the camera side of the lens. I change lenses fairly often though so it was bound to happen to me sometime. If i remember right 440hz had dirt on the inside of a lens??? or was it just getting dirty each time in the same area??

ChityWest

I have had smudges appear on the sensor of mine - they are actually specks of dust which show up as smudges in the image.

I read somewhere that you can cut down on the likelihood of getting them if you make sure you turn the camera power off before changing lens's - not sure how true that is but it sounds right to me.

After the last time I got into the habit of always getting the replacement lens rear cap removed before un-screwing the current one - anything that lessens the time your camera is 'un-lensed' obviously cuts down on the dust.

Fionn

yeah, I've a new camera 6 weeks or something! and i've two blobs, haven't tried anything yet
Healing brush gets it, but it's annoying tho!!

wonder what the pros do? have different cameras for different lenses?

Valentia

I had my 10D for two years before cleaning it. I can't say that the sensor was destroyed with dirt but there was one "smudge" that was driving me mad.

I have changed lenses on boats on the Atlantic and in lots of places without being overly protective, sometimes leaving the camera lensless for ages before putting on the new lens. Maybe some cameras are more prone to static and attract dust more than others. Overall it has not been a big problem for me.

440Hz

sinecurea wrote:

Ah yeah, I remember the threads. For a start - find out what's causing the marks. Given the fact that the marks are reappearing in exactly the sa,e place, there's obvisouly a fault with the camera causing the marks to be made again. I'd try again to bring the camera back to Canon and or the shop and make somebody accountable. Since you bought it from the shop, go in there and make them phone Canon until they come to an arrangement.

Unfortunately I bought it online from Germany AC-Foto who accept no responsiblity for any of this. All they tell me is to send it back to them for a pro clean (ie be without my camera for 2-3 weeks). I dont want to do this as ISS carried out a pro clean which did no good at all. Canon also dismiss me, saying it is not their problem and to deal with thre retailer. At this stage I have just given up and decided to just start cleaning it myself.

'

rymus wrote:

As for dust appearing on the same spot, It's happening to me too, I can only assume that some areas are more prone to picking up dust and / or it's some kind of freaky coincidence. It cleans right off every time.

Right now all that's bothering me is a filthy focusing screen. I'm pretty sure I could take the copper hill swab to it but I think I'll be reading a bit more on that one first.

Actually, if you still haven't cleaned the sensor by the time the Munster meetup comes around, bring along your kit and I'll clean it for ya.

I'm glad someone else is having these problems, I dont feel so bad now
As for the AF screen, that is a nightmare, was the cause of my initial round of dirt, but the was on the INSIDE of the screen and it had to be replaced. Total crap for a camera that came straight out of the box but... Actually, if you dont mind I might hold off on the cleaning for the moment... Even if I was to clean it myself with someone there who knew what they were at it would be lots better, cheers rymus!!

Here are two shots, one of my sensor which doesnt look TOO bad (f22) and the other is just a random recent shot where all this dirt shows up. I layered them in PS just to check that the smudges in the shot are in fact the blobs that appear on the sensor, they are. Like I said thing that worries me is that if I was to post a shot from week 1 of my 350D the same sumdges are there... in the same places, despite the fact that the camera has since been 'professionally' cleaned.

rymus

couple of dodgy ones.. nothing that can't be cleaned up fairly easily though. Mine was far worse before I cleaned it the first time.

440Hz

rymus wrote:

couple of dodgy ones.. nothing that can't be cleaned up fairly easily though. Mine was far worse before I cleaned it the first time.

Phew! Stress--, cheers rymus

CrowdedHouse

I was lucky I was able to cean the spots off mine with a blast of compressed air.

NOTE:Anyone trying this only use VERY SHORT blasts of air-because the aerosol stuff is not actually air at all but some sort of gas and it seems to turn back to liquid after about half a second of spray.

I think from experimenting with a film camera that zoom lenses are the culprit here,the zooming action sucks in and blows out dust,older push - pull types especially but two ring types are not immune either