camera cleaning / maintenance?

MuGeN

MuGeN

MuGeN

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is the main blue high street place as good as any to get my camera serviced and cleaned?

there are some specs of something visible within the viewfinder so wouldn't mind getting it sorted unless its a lot of money... how much should i be looking at by the way?

cheers peeps :)
 
You'll be looking at around £20/25.
If there are just specs of dust on the viewfinder then why not do it yourself?

CHances are that your mirror or the prism is dirty and for that all you need is a Lenspen and brush and wipe of the dirt. They are only a few quid.
 
hmm ok, think i'll have a look for a tutorial on cleaning it all diy-style :) anyone got a link to a decent guide?
 
Bung it in the wash, works everytime for me.








































I am in a totally non serious mood tonight :p
 
MuGeN said:
hmm ok, think i'll have a look for a tutorial on cleaning it all diy-style :) anyone got a link to a decent guide?
Click to expand...

Its fairly easy. face the camera pointing down and then take the lens off. Take the brush side of a lenspen and sweep across the mirror and the bottom of the prism (which forms the viewfinder). This way any dirt you dislodge will come down and away from the sensor (mavity and all that).

Then replace the lens and check through the VF.

If its not clean then use a microfibre cloth to gently rub across the mirror (don't use too much pressure) and the bottom of the prism and reuse the brush (from the lenspen).

That should do it.

This is the technique i use and its worked fine for me.

Make sure you keep the camera pointed down through out otherwise the dirt will just land on the sensor and then things get a little messy!

EDIT: http://www.7dayshop.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=777_1&products_id=5997
Hama Lens Cleaning Pen
£5.99 delivered!
 
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i did try cleaning that mirror with a microfibre cloth to no avail so what if the specs of dust are on the other mirror? how do i get to that one?
 
MuGeN said:
i did try cleaning that mirror with a microfibre cloth to no avail so what if the specs of dust are on the other mirror? how do i get to that one?
Click to expand...

must be on the underside of the prism then. That sits above the mirror and is fairly easy to get to.

Typical DSLR detail
07645980310204.jpg


U need to clean the underside of the blue bit as shown in pic
 
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so is a rocket blower not a good idea? is it best to just use a cleaning pen and nothing else?
 
I'd be careful when attempting to clean up near the focussing screen (the are in front of the prism, then can be scratched very easily and may cost a lot to replace (if it's not a replaceable item). I badly scratched the focussing screen on a 300D with a blower brush when attempting to move a dust spec. Cost £150 to replace the screen!

I know it's annoying, but if you can see it and it's not on the lens, then it won't be there when you take the picture.
 
Use a microfibre cloth with minimal pressure or use the fine brush side from a lenspen to gently sweep across the area. As long as your gentle you'll be fine. Ive done it afew times on my Sony A700 with no problems.

The rocket blower might be able to remove the dirt but chances are that it will just send it somewhere else and might get it on the sensor and you dont want that!

The only time you wnat to be using a rocket blower is to actually clean the sensor (and its not the best of methods). You dont want to be blowing inside the camera for any other reason!
 
Paul11 said:
might, but it also might blow it off the sensor

if you hold the camera down and blow , mavity should let if fall out. no ?
Click to expand...

You would think that but in reality it doesnt always work!

Anyone who can cleaned their sensor with the rocket blower will know that sometimes it just moves the dust around and it doesnt just fall out. This is why i no longer use this method as its a waste of time 90% of the time. I use Swabs now.

Lets not forget you can also add more dirt into the camera when using a rocket blower.
 
I'm faced with the same dilemma but the dust is on the sensor itself on mine. Not sure whether to get a sensor cleaning kit and do it myself or just take it to a camera store.
 
Shops will charge you around £20.
Your better off buying a pack of Swabs and doing it yourself. Cheaper in the long run and its easy swabbing a sensor. Its what the manufacturers use when you send your camera to them to clean.

This is what method is used by the manufacturers to clean sensors:

* Canon - Blower and a Kimwipe, held by tweezers. They do not like to use fluid but when necessary they use either 90% isopropyl alcohol or a 50/50 mixture of isopropyl alcohol and Windex.
* Fuji - Photographic Solutions Sensor Swabs™ and Eclipse™
* Kodak - Photographic Solutions Sensor Swabs™ and Eclipse™
* Leica - Photographic Solutions Sensor Swabs™ and Eclipse™
* Nikon - A commercial grade lens tissue wrapped around a chopstick style piece of wood with medical grade methanol. Several forums have posts where readers have been to Nikon Service outside the USA and reported seeing the technicians using Sensors Swabs and Eclipse.
* Olympus - A Kimwipe held by tweezers and Olympus Proprietary Solution (dries quickly without streaks and is bio-degradable).
* Pentax - A special lint free cloth (provided from Japan) folded into a small square and held with a pair of tweezers as a swab moistened with a freon derivative.
* Sigma - Uses a special vacuum cleaner that was provided by Japan.
* Sony - Uses Sensor Swabs™ and Eclipse™ by Photographic Solutions.

Source: http://www.cleaningdigitalcameras.com/methods.html
 
Thanks photoshop, i think I'll invest in a rocket blower and a Digi Pads E2 Starter kit Type 1. The kit comes with 5 individually wrapped swabs and a bottle of eclipse fluid so should keep me going for a while.

Looks very easy to do from the youtube vids Ive seen. I'd rather pay £12 for 5 sensor cleans than £20 for one.

I'm surprised how much dust there is on my sensor but i think its mainly down to my dad taking my lens off and leaving the body face up on the couch for a few mins :mad:. I told him you should always change the lens as fast as you can and have the camera facing down to minimise the amount of dust entering the camera but he never listens. Needless to say he wont be playing with my camera again.
 
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