sensor cleaning

spudhead

spudhead

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ok I need to clean my sony a77 mk2 sensor as its showing spots as I am told they all do at some point, anyway just wondering who on here pays for cleaning and who cleans there own and what with. so please any help will be welcome
 
I use a lensmen SensorKlear on mine and am very pleased with it, very easy to use, not a wet clean - which I wasn't very keen on doing and inexpensive...
 
thanks I have seen the link, I tried the rocket blower and seems useless, so looking at other options, I thought about the arctic butterfly may buy one as there seems to be good feedback on them
 
The rocket blower gets rid of the loose dust in the mirror box before cleaning with the arctic butterfly, I also use a lenspen (brush end) to clean lens rear elements and the bits that go inside the camera before fitting the lens to the camera and lens caps, this can put dust on your sensor.

Pete
 
go for the wet swabs mate, once you used them once ,you wont worry about doing them again, give the sensor a good blow first ,in case there is any grit ,then i use the cameras inbuilt cleaner a few times, to make sure, then wet clean, working from one end, to next in one movement ,repeat if not clean, with wet swab..
(forgot to say), work in very good light, either in window or use desk lamp to see what you are doing.
 
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Just spit on it and use the corner of your shirt. Be fine for a Canon. :D




Arctic butterfly is good for removing dust. Oil spots need a wet swab. You can get optically clean ones in sealed silver foil packets - I keep a couple in my bag but can't remember what the trade name is.
 
I receny used a little sticky proddy stick, in a a foil wrapper I got off eBay.. It didn't do a great job. But it might have been my application rather than the tool itself. Jessops charge 30 quid for a sensor clean... As long it's not a regular thing then I'd say that pretty reasonable.
 
Wet clean for me.

I see someone mentioned using a sticky sensor pen. One of the best known are Eyelead. They make a specific one for Sony sensors. Why, I don't know, but they do.
 
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Look for amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00TF9AIF4
Its a great product and cheap.. I used recently in my D750
 
mjmountain said:
The margin they must make off these products trading off people's anxieties the wet solution should just be, methanol yet they charge a fortune. Bit of gel on a stick. £30 please....
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This is correct If you download the Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) for Eclipse cleaning system it says it is Methanol.
As I spend a fair amount of time in laboratories I have small bottle of high grade Methanol for cleaning sensors.
 
bzukau said:
Look for amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00TF9AIF4
Its a great product and cheap.. I used recently in my D750
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Yeah, I bought those as a "just in case"... got them as a backup now. Wonder if Ethanol will work as a cleaner, or does it have to be Methanol - I can get Ethanol waaaay cheaper.
 
I guess the On board cleaning options are a bit pointless? My d7000 is clean so its kinda hard to say if it makes a difference
 
There are indeed many vested interests in sensor cleaning. And smoke, mirrors, ventriloquism and terror.

Granted, you're not going to try washing-up liquid (it would leave streaks). But what about meths? Ah, it's pigmented, and might leave smears. But so what, you can do the job again with something purer. The essence is, it's all harmless unless you damage the sensor. So keep away from bleach, sulphuric acid ... and things that might scratch it. I don't even know how hard the surface that protects the sensor might be, but I'm convinced that a steel wool swab is out. So for a wet clean (the only sort I've done) it'd seem reasonable that a swab of reliable provenance (and thus hopefully a lack of any abrasive particles) is more important than the liquid used, as long as that liquid won't dissolve anything on or around the sensor.

Caution, common sense, and don't pay attention to marketing hype. I keep my sensors good, and I have nothing that cost more than £30 in total and should last for years - just swabs and liquid.

As for terror - some of us are wimps. No names - yet.
 
droj said:
There are indeed many vested interests in sensor cleaning. And smoke, mirrors, ventriloquism and terror.

Granted, you're not going to try washing-up liquid (it would leave streaks). But what about meths? Ah, it's pigmented, and might leave smears. But so what, you can do the job again with something purer. The essence is, it's all harmless unless you damage the sensor. So keep away from bleach, sulphuric acid ... and things that might scratch it. I don't even know how hard the surface that protects the sensor might be, but I'm convinced that a steel wool swab is out. So for a wet clean (the only sort I've done) it'd seem reasonable that a swab of reliable provenance (and thus hopefully a lack of any abrasive particles) is more important than the liquid used, as long as that liquid won't dissolve anything on or around the sensor.

Caution, common sense, and don't pay attention to marketing hype. I keep my sensors good, and I have nothing that cost more than £30 in total and should last for years - just swabs and liquid.

As for terror - some of us are wimps. No names - yet.
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Interesting! I have read many guides and feedback ratings in the past week and almost came away with the impression that cleaning a sensor is more difficult than brain surgery. The prices charged for most self clean products are unbelievable. Choosing a swab with a reliable provence is easier said than done if you read the feedback although I expect some of the negative feedback is due to operator error or is just false.

I have selected two mid range products and will give them a go this weekend.
 
It's an utterly simple practical task. Sometimes I've done a clean and there's been a blemish in the result, so I've repeated the process - with a fresh swab I ought to say - and things have been fine. Follow the instructions - maybe a pass in one direction with a swab the right width for the sensor - then a pass back, without turning the swab, thus flexing it the other way and presenting a fresh edge of it to the sensor? Tune your mental focus to the edges and corners of the sensor (so as to leave no stone unturned).

A fully-charged battery (or a mains adapter) is essential because you're going into shutter-open and mirror lock-up mode and you don't want those things to close down on you and wreck themselves mid-operation.
 
Do the blower things work a lot of the time? I've found a blob on my sensor already and the auto clean doesn't get rid of it. I've bought one of the blowers... should be with me this week.. but should I have went straight to a cleaning kit?
 
Lefrash said:
Do the blower things work a lot of the time? I've found a blob on my sensor already and the auto clean doesn't get rid of it. I've bought one of the blowers... should be with me this week.. but should I have went straight to a cleaning kit?
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Indeed they can, and do, but don't forget to lock the mirror up first though, or you are only blowing air onto that.
 
I've just done 3 this afternoon, first time I've done it. Bought some 16mm swabs and cleaner, in a kit from Amzon £23, was very easy to do (y)

Only one needed doing twice but it was bad, one body was perfect and the other two just had a couple of tiny dust bunnies visible at f22 after one clean so I didn't bother doing them again

Local shop want £25 for a sensor clean, not dear but I've just saved 50 quid :cool:
 
Archie747 said:
Interesting! I have read many guides and feedback ratings in the past week and almost came away with the impression that cleaning a sensor is more difficult than brain surgery. The prices charged for most self clean products are unbelievable. Choosing a swab with a reliable provence is easier said than done if you read the feedback although I expect some of the negative feedback is due to operator error or is just false.

I have selected two mid range products and will give them a go this weekend.
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Do you really think that if you bring your pride and joy into a camera shop and say clean the sensor that the person who does it is going to be trained by Canon or Nikon etc? They'll be no more qualified than you or I to do it and if you read some of the alleged results that people get back quite often even less so.
 
Gaz J said:
Do you really think that if you bring your pride and joy into a camera shop and say clean the sensor that the person who does it is going to be trained by Canon or Nikon etc? They'll be no more qualified than you or I to do it and if you read some of the alleged results that people get back quite often even less so.
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Don't think I mentioned shops but there are some shops I would trust as I know the individuals and believe they have more experience in sensor cleaning than me. I accept there are some shops where where inexperienced staff carry out the cleaning and the results are not good as shown by the feedback.

As long as the products I have bought are reliable and not those that create more problems than they solve, I am prepared to have a go on my old cameras.
 
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