Sensor Cleaning Fail - Recommended professional service near Chester?

Matt-P

Matt-P

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Just tried my hand at sensor cleaning and failed. :gag:

Had a couple spots so I tried to blow them off, only to find they were oil and spattered across my sensor. :thumbsdown:Then tried some visible dust swabs with smearaway only to find it did anything but. I now have a dust free, but smeared to hell sensor.

Now Visible Dust do say that smearaway may leave streaks and recommend another of their fluids, but I fear this could be throwing good money after bad.

So, admitting failure, anyone near Chester recomended for a professional service?
 
Matt, the very same thing happened to me, but i then bought the eclipse sensor clean fluid and swabs, i did it a couple of times and its now ok, just keep the swabs away from the very edge of the sensor, where the oil is. Is there a Calumet near you, if so you could ask their advice.
 
Ring around your local high street camera shops. Quite a few of them offer a cleaning service at around £30-£40 depending on sensor. Some will do it on the premises.
 
Thanks a lot for the suggestions, will try the eclipse first as I really would rather be able to do it myself, but failing that LCE it is. Had some bits off them in the past and they've always seemed pretty clued up.

Thanks!
 
Matt-P said:
Thanks a lot for the suggestions, will try the eclipse first as I really would rather be able to do it myself, but failing that LCE it is. Had some bits off them in the past and they've always seemed pretty clued up.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Eclipse is very good, ad a major problem with leica M8 and one swab clean it all :)
Bit expensive but they have some you only use once and trow them away, they come on pack of 4 and are great when you travel.
 
Matt-P said:
Now Visible Dust do say that smearaway may leave streaks
Click to expand...

SmearAway seems designed to be really bad at cleaning sensors. It's water-based so it won't handle oils very well and it won't evaporate very quickly. Use Eclipse for a wet clean - pure methanol.
 
Thanks for the links and tips - Visible Dust recommend SmearAway for oil contamination which I had, but they've had their chance. Got the Eclipse on order and will see if that works before admitting defeat and heading off to LCE. It's funny how you only find the bad reviews when googling after you've made a mistake....

Just out of interest I tried Smearaway on a filter using the least fluid I could get onto the paddle whilst keeping it wet, results speak for themselves.


DSC_3206.jpg by Matt Perrins Photography, on Flickr
 
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