D800 Sensor Cleaning

<p>I need to clean some persistent spots of the D800. </p>

<p>Looking around, it seems like the Visible Dust Green Kit would be good for a sensor that has the AA filter.</p>

<p>But, Wondering what others are using?</p>

<p>Thanks.</p>

<p>Full disclaimer, this is what I have done and it has worked, but you need to be very careful and you have the potential of really screwing up your camera if you are not.</p>

<p>First of all, I make sure I am doing this in the cleanest, most dust free room possible, and make sure the humidity in the room is in the 40% range to keep down the dust and static electricity. For dust, I've had good luck with the Arctic Butterfly 788 on both my D4 and my D700.</p>

<p>For spots of oil, or other gunk (accidents happen), I have VERY CAREFULLY used brand new Q-tips with a brand new bottle of denatured Isopropyl Rubbing Alcohol. Just barely wetting the Q-tip, letting it air dry a bit, then VERY CAREFULLY, a small section at a time, gently swab the oil or gunk area. And I mean really gently. I try to finish off with brand new Q-tips and distilled water to make sure I've removed all residue.</p>

<p>Just be really careful trying to remove anything but dust.</p>

<p>Words of wisdom Tim. Thank you.</p>

<p>-O</p>

<p>I've just had my camera cleaned by a professional sensor cleaner here in the Netherlands. The guy has a real cleanroom (read more about it <a href="http://www.chipclean.nl/content/view/13/27/lang,en/">on his website here</a>).</p>

<p>He takes 'before' and 'after' pictures. Mine was not even that bad, but he had one Canon in, that he'd already cleaned 8 times, and more dust kept falling out whenever he fired the shutter again. He said it looked like they'd tried to either clean it with a bicycle pump, or a very old (dusty) phtography blower (is that the proper name for it?).</p>

<p>Anyway; be very careful how you do it and try to avoid blowing anything into the camera. I thought it well worth the €50 (~$65) that he charged, because his cleanroom is a *lot* cleaner than the cleanest room I've ever been in...</p>

<p>Good luck.</p>

 

<p>A note to go with Tim's post: don't buy just any isopropyl alcohol. The kind you'll find at Walmart (or equivalent) is typically 70% alcohol and 30% water, and that will leave a residue behind. Go to a real pharmacy and get pharmaceutical grade isopropyl - ask for it at the prescription counter if you can't find it on the shelf. It will probably be in a smaller bottle than the cheap stuff and won't be the cheap stuff, but it's 99+% pure. If you can't find it in a pharmacy, try a chemical supply store - ask for reagent grade (pronounced ree- A-gent). If you don't know where to find such a store, ask a local high school chemistry teacher where the school gets its lab supplies.</p>

<p>I use the method show in this video by Lens Rental. </p>

<p>

<p>I don't recommend isopropyl alcohol for lens or sensor cleaning. It evaporates too slowly, and tends to leave streaks and spots. Q-Tips shed lint like crazy. 70% IPA is actually better than the 99% stuff (which has the consistency of thin mineral oil). For lenses and filters, I use packed alcohol (70% IPA) swabs (e.g. diabetic supplies), folded once and used like a brush rather than like a scrub pad. Better a thin film of alcohol than a thick one which dries to leave spots.</p>

<p>The time-honored wet method is Eclipse fluid (spectroscopic grade methanol) and Eclipse lens swabs or PEC-Pads, which are completely lint-free.</p>

<p>A quicker, easier method uses ultra-fine brushes. I have a Visible Dust "Arctic Butterfly" kit, which travels with me. It removes dust and lint in under a minute. The brushes are charged using an electric spinner (as an alternative to canned air). The static charge imparted to the bristles suck up lint.</p>

<p>I only revert to the wet method if something sticks to the sensor, like an oil droplet from the shutter, or something in the air falls on it.</p>

<p>I use pre-moistened swabs designed specifically for sensor cleaning and find they work really well.</p>