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- 8,346
- Edit My Images
- Yes
I've been aware for some time that the sensor on my 20D was full of crud. Not just slightly, I could see some of the fibres/hairs lying there on the sensor grinning at me. No end of blowing would shift them for long. I've had it for a year and used it everywhere (bar the bathtub). I tried to be careful, but I suppose that I'm as error prone as the next "perfect" being to the encroachment of sensor c**p.
So what to do...?
The options seemed to be:
A) Ignore it. urrmm NO. Like I'm getting very bored of cloning spots out.
B) Send it to canon. As if I was going to do that every 6mths to a year. NOT!
C) Buy some "non-smear" solvents, swabs and wot not. Anyone who knows me is aware that I use a spade like a shovel. So count that out.
Then I read about the Arctic Butterfly from visibledust. After reading the literature, watching the streamed vids and then uhhming/ahhing for an age I decide to take the plunge.
£60 the lighter of pocket what do I get.
First impressions are...
- A white cardboard box that holds an orange container.
- The orange container does not want to stay shut by itself so perhaps thats why they supply the box? It is padded and holds the brush itself.
- Inside the box is the Arctic Butterfly itself (this one is again orange - probably colour coded with the box).
- No batteries ... How TIGHT IS THAT! (that p***ed me off a little).
- Instructions are contained on a bit of tatty paper printed using a printer worse than my Mum has. They look like they have been typed in using WordPad and then printed.
Still at least they are clear unambiguous and concise.
The brush itself comprises 3 bits.
1) The cover - a nice thick bit of seethru plastic that twists onto the body.
2) The body - made from some tactile plastic (feels a bit like moleskin). It has a battery hatch (takes 2xAAA batteries that I had to supply). They fit very snugly so no complaints there. Also down the one side is a recessed switch. I'd had concerns that this would protrude and be easy to activate whilst cleaning the sensor, but no worries on that score.
3) The brush. The business end. Bristles at the top crimped into a (what I presume is) a chrome plated copper/tin tube. It "plops" (for want of a better word) onto a spigot that protrudes from the body.
Flicking the switch spins the brush. The bristles whirl around and aledgedly collect a charge which will attact dust particles. So goes the theory.
Here is what you get for your £60 (£1 coin for reference)
Down to the nitty gritty. Does it work....
Operation is simple enough.
- Spin the brush for 5 seconds. Then turn it off.
- Set the camera for sensor cleaning (shutters stay open until you turn the body off) [adviseable to do this with a FULLY charged battery]
- Wipe the brush over the sensor one way (left to right)
- Spin the brush again (5 secs)
- Wipe the brush back the other way (right to left)
- Spin the brush again (another 5 secs) and put the cap back on.
So did it do anything?
Here is an image from the sensor (f22) before applying the brush.
And the same again after (f22)... (with some effort spent highlighting the remaining dust.. )
Can you "spot" (ha ha) the difference. I think the results speak for themselves.
I have to say that I'm more than a little bit pleased with the result.
Am I happy with it?
Will I continue to use it?
Would I recomend it to others. The answer has to be yes (but dont blame me if it kills your camera).
Hope this helps
So what to do...?
The options seemed to be:
A) Ignore it. urrmm NO. Like I'm getting very bored of cloning spots out.
B) Send it to canon. As if I was going to do that every 6mths to a year. NOT!
C) Buy some "non-smear" solvents, swabs and wot not. Anyone who knows me is aware that I use a spade like a shovel. So count that out.
Then I read about the Arctic Butterfly from visibledust. After reading the literature, watching the streamed vids and then uhhming/ahhing for an age I decide to take the plunge.
£60 the lighter of pocket what do I get.
First impressions are...
- A white cardboard box that holds an orange container.
- The orange container does not want to stay shut by itself so perhaps thats why they supply the box? It is padded and holds the brush itself.
- Inside the box is the Arctic Butterfly itself (this one is again orange - probably colour coded with the box).
- No batteries ... How TIGHT IS THAT! (that p***ed me off a little).
- Instructions are contained on a bit of tatty paper printed using a printer worse than my Mum has. They look like they have been typed in using WordPad and then printed.
Still at least they are clear unambiguous and concise.
The brush itself comprises 3 bits.
1) The cover - a nice thick bit of seethru plastic that twists onto the body.
2) The body - made from some tactile plastic (feels a bit like moleskin). It has a battery hatch (takes 2xAAA batteries that I had to supply). They fit very snugly so no complaints there. Also down the one side is a recessed switch. I'd had concerns that this would protrude and be easy to activate whilst cleaning the sensor, but no worries on that score.
3) The brush. The business end. Bristles at the top crimped into a (what I presume is) a chrome plated copper/tin tube. It "plops" (for want of a better word) onto a spigot that protrudes from the body.
Flicking the switch spins the brush. The bristles whirl around and aledgedly collect a charge which will attact dust particles. So goes the theory.
Here is what you get for your £60 (£1 coin for reference)
Down to the nitty gritty. Does it work....
Operation is simple enough.
- Spin the brush for 5 seconds. Then turn it off.
- Set the camera for sensor cleaning (shutters stay open until you turn the body off) [adviseable to do this with a FULLY charged battery]
- Wipe the brush over the sensor one way (left to right)
- Spin the brush again (5 secs)
- Wipe the brush back the other way (right to left)
- Spin the brush again (another 5 secs) and put the cap back on.
So did it do anything?
Here is an image from the sensor (f22) before applying the brush.
And the same again after (f22)... (with some effort spent highlighting the remaining dust.. )
Can you "spot" (ha ha) the difference. I think the results speak for themselves.
I have to say that I'm more than a little bit pleased with the result.
Am I happy with it?
- Well the build quality is not great. Infact I might go so far as to say pretty unimpressive.
- The instructions are "scant", but acceptable (watch the video on the visibledust web site for MUCH more info)
- It is easy to use and it does do the intended job exceedingly well (on a sample of 1 cleaning).
Will I continue to use it?
- YES - It's dead easy and "safe" (as anything is the wrong side of the shutter curtains).
Would I recomend it to others. The answer has to be yes (but dont blame me if it kills your camera).
Hope this helps