camera sensor cleaning

[sir-les-mp]

Ive been playing with a canon 400d i got a little while ago from the MM
However ive seen from some of the shots what looks to be dirt particles.

Rather than try and find a canon camera workshop near me which i know will not be easy i was wondering on how i could clean the sensor, mirror and focusing screen myself.

i did do a gently clean using a dry cotton bud very very gently across them and did notice a slight improvement

so what supplies do i need to make a proper job of it

 

[footman]

Fixation sell sensor cleaning kits:
http://fixationuk.com/Fixation/Sales - Gadget Bags and Tripods OLD.html

or you buy one of these:
LensPen SensorKlear Loupe kit

 

[^^Gord^^]

Start with a rocket blower. Lock the mirror open, hold the body upside down and blow into the body. 2-3 blasts and wait a few seconds for anything to fall out. Close the mirror while it is still upside down. That will shift most of the dust.

Anything that hasn't been moved I would use eclipse solution and a sensor swab. Depending on how bad it is you might need to repeat.

The sensors are stronger than you think as they have a thick filter on top of them but stay away from the focus screen (at the top), the mirror and the auto focus (at the bottom).

 

[mrk]

I must be old fashioned as I still use the Sensor Swype and PecPads + sensor cleaning fluid! I find it works great and the swype has been with me since my first DSLR, the 300D!

 

[Andy90]

http://www.cleaningdigitalcameras.com/index.html

Does a pretty good job of outlining the pros and cons of each cleaning type.

Personally I use Eclipse Cleaning Fluid and Sensor swabs from Photographic Solutions Inc. They can be easily sourced from the web.

You're never going to get a sensor 100% clean you will probably end up with one or two stubborn spots here and there.

When you've got it as clean as you can, take a look at page 112 of the Canon 400D manual, it shows you how to append dust deletion data to the camera. It bascially takes a shot against a white object (piece of paper can be used) it then spots where the dust is on the sensor and then builds a map which it uses to remove the spots in subsequent pictures.

 

[Raymond Lin]

I must be old fashioned as I still use the Sensor Swype and PecPads + sensor cleaning fluid! I find it works great and the swype has been with me since my first DSLR, the 300D!

Me too, takes 15 min, saves me a fortune.

 

[mrk]

A friend of mine has one of those expensive £75 electrostatic vibrating brushes and he was showing me it, I tried it out and while it got the dust off thesensor it just boshed it around the lens chamber via the vibrations and movement of the brush.

This is why I prefer the swype + fluid and pecpads method as it lifts the dirt off the sensor and on to the pecpad.

You can get a pack of 25 pecpads for about a fiver as well and that lasts me a long time and if you slice a pecpad in half you can double the longevity as you don't need to wrap an entire pecpad around the swype!

 

[Raymond Lin]

A friend of mine has one of those expensive £75 electrostatic vibrating brushes and he was showing me it, I tried it out and while it got the dust off thesensor it just boshed it around the lens chamber via the vibrations and movement of the brush.

This is why I prefer the swype + fluid and pecpads method as it lifts the dirt off the sensor and on to the pecpad.

You can get a pack of 25 pecpads for about a fiver as well and that lasts me a long time and if you slice a pecpad in half you can double the longevity as you don't need to wrap an entire pecpad around the swype!

You got to be careful, I read somewhere that the near edge of the pecpads is not 100% lint free.

 

[mrk]

Aye watching the edges here I tend to slice one straight through the middle and make sure the swype wraps around the middle of each slice so its edges are wrapped around the sides.