Oh dear.....

EspressoJunkie

EspressoJunkie

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I've just had a colleague come in and ask me if he can bring his camera for me to look at later because he was attempting to clean the sensor with compressed air, but must have sprayed too long because it spat a little liquid out.
In his wisdom he then grabbed a lens cloth and proceeded to use it, directly on the sensor :o :o :o


This does not bode well.......
 
Oh dear indeed......:banghead:

I hope it wasn't lubricated compressed air either
 
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I'll get some popcorn

But seriously........how familiar is he with a dSLR? Two thoughts occur to me ~ other than looking and advising him to get it looked by Canon or Nikon possibly a reliable retailer who does sensor cleaning, did he actually dirty the sensor was it the shutter itself?

In the past I have read a good few forum posts where said novice was actually intending to try to clean the shutter with the potential disastrous consequences that implies.

If he did manage to dirty the sensor just how did he get the cleaning cloth close enough........your description conjured a picture in my head of him sticking his finger into the mirror box. If that was the case the dirty sensor potentially is the least of his worries with risk of shutter damage, mirror damage, mechanism damage.

I hope you can guide him
 
Box Brownie said:
I'll get some popcorn

But seriously........how familiar is he with a dSLR? Two thoughts occur to me ~ other than looking and advising him to get it looked by Canon or Nikon possibly a reliable retailer who does sensor cleaning, did he actually dirty the sensor was it the shutter itself?

In the past I have read a good few forum posts where said novice was actually intending to try to clean the shutter with the potential disastrous consequences that implies.

If he did manage to dirty the sensor just how did he get the cleaning cloth close enough........your description conjured a picture in my head of him sticking his finger into the mirror box. If that was the case the dirty sensor potentially is the least of his worries with risk of shutter damage, mirror damage, mechanism damage.

I hope you can guide him
Click to expand...


He's not overly familiar with DSLRs but he's been shooting for a couple of years. This was a new D610 which had a little dust in the top corner ( I think he's read the whole D600 saga and got paranoid ). And yeah,apparently he did use his finger!
 
The Lithium Niobate filter over the Nikon sensors is somewhat difficult to scratch if you use the right tools and technique (on the MHOS Scale of Hardness table that ranges from talc at 0 to diamond at 10, Lithium Niobate is a 5, the same as Apatite, and a bit lower than Orthoclase and Quartz; Fujifilm and Kodak don't identify the material they use [nor does Nikon on the latest cameras], but it seems just as durable). Again, while it's possible to scratch the filter surface, it's also not at all easy to do if you're using the right tools and technique.

Nikon currently uses filters that have a special additional coating on them (Indium Tin Oxide, or ITO for short). This coating is there to help the filter "shed" dust more easily (it essentially blocks some of the static charge that can build up and attract the dust). As with any coating, it is possible to damage, and when you do so, the filter essentially needs to be replaced. When ITO first became known, it was perceived that an ITO-coated sensor was easier to damage with alcohol-based products than a non-ITO one. In theory, that's probably true, but in practice it doesn't appear to make any difference.
Click to expand...

Courtesy Thom Hogan :)
 
A colleague of mine once did exactly the same thing in the mid 2000's. He had his brand new DSLR (it was a Canon but I wasn't familiar with DSLR's then so don't remember the model) and a couple of lenses delivered to the office. For some reason one of the first things he decided to do was aim a can of compressed air inside the camera! It didn't go too well though and it spat some liquid out which stained the sensor/AA filter (he must have put the camera in sensor clean mode).

I remember he went very pale, very quickly!
 
EspressoJunkie said:
I've just had a colleague come in and ask me if he can bring his camera for me to look at later because he was attempting to clean the sensor with compressed air, but must have sprayed too long because it spat a little liquid out.
In his wisdom he then grabbed a lens cloth and proceeded to use it, directly on the sensor :eek: :eek: :eek:


This does not bode well.......
Click to expand...


It will be perfectly fine. The sensor is protected behind plastic, and you shouldn't believe the internet myths about how difficult or dangerous it is to clean sensors. I was once forced to clean mine with the end of my t-shirt... it was perfectly fine.

Box Brownie said:
If he did manage to dirty the sensor just how did he get the cleaning cloth close enough........your description conjured a picture in my head of him sticking his finger into the mirror box.
Click to expand...

Yep.. like that. It was fine.
 
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ZoneV said:
A colleague of mine once did exactly the same thing in the mid 2000's. He had his brand new DSLR (it was a Canon but I wasn't familiar with DSLR's then so don't remember the model) and a couple of lenses delivered to the office. For some reason one of the first things he decided to do was aim a can of compressed air inside the camera! It didn't go too well though and it spat some liquid out which stained the sensor/AA filter (he must have put the camera in sensor clean mode).

I remember he went very pale, very quickly!
Click to expand...
Why would you even contemplate that with a brand new body?!
 
canned compressed air nearly always sprays propelant out , tell your colleague to get it cleaned professionally , and in future to use a bulb blower
 
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