Dust-Aid Sensor Cleaning Kits

Fajitas!

Hmmm, was defo an thread on the 5D too.


*worry sets in*

minikin

2nd cleaning did the business... a word of warning for people with older kits - the new kits I received come with a secondary pad especially for canon sensors.

from the dust aid site:

We have seen a grouping of affected Canon camera's and wanted to share our findings with you. A grouping of below standard filters that we have seen is between the serial numbers 0420100000 to 0430207000. If you have a Canon within this range of numbers please refrain from using Dust-Aid at this time. We are currently working on a solution for cleaning these affected camera's using Dust-Aid. Once it has been fully tested, we will announce the new product here.

liveforphotos

minikin wrote:

Just given the 20d a tentative scrubbing
As i said before... it was lousy (18 months worth of matter)
I've just taken a test shot, I have one small dust mark. Going to give it another go tonight... maybe not quite so timidly.

Have to say I'm impressed... only cost me €4 against €50 in conns.
No brainer!

Interested to read your experiences iveforphotos, what camera make/model did you use it on?

I used it on a Canon EOS 1DS2 which has a full frame sensor

I will give Dust Aid a go again, but probably only on fairly loose dust. I guess if the dust is really stuck on the sensor filter, there isn't really an alternative to fairly firm swabbing with a wet swab. I have gotten braver over time as I have cleaned my sensor more often and now I'm not afraid to use a little pressure when swabbing.

I hadn't heard about the problem with some 5Ds having the wrong coating on the sensor filter. Interesting..........

minikin

howya liveforphotos,

nice cambra you have there, I wouldn't rub too hard... here's someone that wrecked their 5D sensor coating with a copperhill kit

this compatibility page is extremely important for anyone that's interested.

liveforphotos

minikin wrote:

howya liveforphotos,

nice cambra you have there, I wouldn't rub too hard... here's someone that wrecked their 5D sensor coating with a copperhill kit

this compatibility page is extremely important for anyone that's interested.

Thanks very much for that information minikin. I have passed it on to my friend with the 5D. Scary stuff indeed. Fortunately the problem doesn't affect the 1Ds 2.

minikin

nuts, how do i do a poll?
was going to put one up,as i'm away to itlee tomorrow for a week.

Don't know how many people are still interested after the reports of damaged sensors...

Kilree

I'll take myself off the list following Dust-Aids own comments regarding the suitability of the product for the 400D.

Hugh_C

minikin wrote:

nuts, how do i do a poll?
was going to put one up,as i'm away to itlee tomorrow for a week.

Don't know how many people are still interested after the reports of damaged sensors...

My sensor looks like its got chickenpox at the mo. I'm keen to get my hands on one of these. Can you advise. when you're back from itlee?

cheers, hugh

minikin

Unfortunately, I don't think there's enough demand here to get bulk rates and justify shipping costs (would need a minimum order of 50 units) Final price for 50 was $1,247.50 + $100 shipping. This works out at €19.78 + vat/duty

I'm going to hand this over to anyone that's interested in facilitating a bulk purchase, pm me if you'd like and I'll send on the details.

bostonian

A tip from a camera repairman (me). It's not for people with shaky hands, but it will save you money on cleaning kits:

To clean a CCD, buy a bottle of high% rubbing alcohol (90% or better). Denatured alcohol works as well. Wrap a tissue around a pair of tweezers with a little slack hanging off of the tip. That little bit of slack (about 0.25 in) will be dipped in alcohol and used to clean the sensor, not the actual tweezer tips.

Work from side to side, slowly, blowing onto the sensor to evaporate the alcohol as you go. NO STREAKS!

If the sensor is really dirty, you can use windex, and use a feathering motion to push the dirt off of the CCD, then use the alcohol method described above.

If you scratch the CCD with tweezers, you'll have to buy a new one, which can range from $80 to $400 USD, plus labor charges to install. So unless you have good fine motor control, don't bother.

liveforphotos

The very LAST thing anybody should do is to attempt to clean a sensor using a tissue and tweezers! An ordinary tissue, soaked in alcohol or not, will leave hundreds more dust spots on your sensor than were there before, and if the tweezers scratch the anti-aliasing filter covering the sensor, it will be ruined.

I'd say Bostonian may be trying to drum up some repair business

bostonian wrote:

A tip from a camera repairman (me). It's not for people with shaky hands, but it will save you money on cleaning kits:

To clean a CCD, buy a bottle of high% rubbing alcohol (90% or better). Denatured alcohol works as well. Wrap a tissue around a pair of tweezers with a little slack hanging off of the tip. That little bit of slack (about 0.25 in) will be dipped in alcohol and used to clean the sensor, not the actual tweezer tips.

Work from side to side, slowly, blowing onto the sensor to evaporate the alcohol as you go. NO STREAKS!

If the sensor is really dirty, you can use windex, and use a feathering motion to push the dirt off of the CCD, then use the alcohol method described above.



If you scratch the CCD with tweezers, you'll have to buy a new one, which can range from $80 to $400 USD, plus labor charges to install. So unless you have good fine motor control, don't bother.

Hugh_C

liveforphotos wrote:

I'd say Bostonian may be trying to drum up some repair business

I'd say you didn't read Bostonian's message

If s/he was pimping for business, you'd imagine s/he'd leave some contact details, which, judging by the spelling, would be in Boston somewhere....

Anyway, I used Dust-Aid for the first time last week and it seems to work well. Recommended.

liveforphotos

hughchal wrote:

I'd say you didn't read Bostonian's message

If s/he was pimping for business, you'd imagine s/he'd leave some contact details, which, judging by the spelling, would be in Boston somewhere....

Anyway, I used Dust-Aid for the first time last week and it seems to work well. Recommended.

Oh, I can read well enough. I got Bostonian's message. Do you really think someone living in Boston would be frequenting Boards .ie?

Glad that the Dust Aid worked for you. I guess the dust on your sensor must not have been stuck on.

WaltHam

Hello

Just got my first DSLR - Pentax K10d - in the post from Spain (rebelio.ie). Wonderful camera at a great price. I was aw3ay and my son open it to check contents, body cap came loose, he stashed it in spare room, I come home and aaargh! dust on the sensor before I even fit the lesn.

Now thw K10d has "shake" technology to dislodge dust, but it doesn't work for some reason (can't have everything). I can hear the vibes but dust, looks like 2 hairs and a blob especially at F16+ .

So my question is the best way (may not be cheapest) to clean this beauty.

Should I buy kit - is it idiot-proof? Or leave it in somewhere, if so where and how much?

I forgot to say I'm living near Dublin

Roen

Hi WaltHam, welcome along.
What a way to get introduced to your new camera!

The shake feature will dislodge loose dry dust, but it won't shift everything. Sooner or later you'll have to bite the bullet and clean it yourself.
First things first, try a Rocket Blower of some sort or description and then test again. If that hasn't shifted the offending particles then move on to a wet method.

There's a wealth of info out there, read up the entire contents of this site before you do anything!
http://www.cleaningdigitalcameras.com/
Best of luck!

WaltHam

Thanks Roen

Plenty of stuff in there, looks like I'll be using some wet method.

There are 2 kind of people in this world my friend...the good, the bad and the ones who can't count.

Advice to photographers - if you're gonna shoot, shoot.

Ninja_scrotum

I bought this cleaning kit on ebay. Cheaper than that dust-aid stuff, and you'd be surprised how easy it is to clean the sensor after all the fear mongering about how delicate and sensitive it is.

Nisio

Why don't nikon etc allow you to mount some sort of screw in filter in the body of the camera (say between the lens and the mirror) Most people use a uv filter on the lens anyway with no (?) ill effects on quality?

Roen

Whereabouts are you talking nisio? Would the mirror not clatter into the filter?

Nisio

say a screw in filter that sit's just inside the body of the camera in front of the mirror
Like filter - mirror - sensor "|> |"

ThOnda

Will thre be another order of cleaning kits?