Time to clean the sensor.....

I have dust on the sensor of my 10D.

<p><img

src="http://home.hccnet.nl/jesper.de.jong/images/CRW_1371.jpg">

<p>So I've already read some articles about cleaning it. My question

is about what cleaning agent I should use to clean it. Can I use

lens cleaning fluid that I got in an expensive lens cleaning set? Or

do I have to use something else?

I meant INexpensive lens cleaning set.

<a href="http://www.photo.net/equipment/digital/sensorcleaning/">Cleaning the CMOS Sensor of the Canon EOS 10D (and other digital SLRs)

</a><p>Holy cow! How did your sensor get that dirty? I haven't had to clean mine yet, and the camera is almost a year old and carried daily. I <i>never</i> change lenses in a windy or dusty enviroment, and when I do change them, the body is pointed down and is not lenseless for more than 3 or 4 seconds.<p>An ounce of prevention...

Use the Eclipse fluid only. And then only a very small drop or two on a swab. About once a month is good. Dust will get in no matter what you do, in an SLR the film carries it off and you don't notice the odd speck so much on a neg, but in a DSLR it just accumulates on the sensor. Dust can get in even if you never change lenses, for instance using a zoom lens that pumps air as it is zoomed. The best bet is to simply treat it as normal maintainance like lens cleaning. And its not nearly so scary the second time you do it.

"Holy cow! How did your sensor get that dirty?"

 

For a never-before-cleaned 10D sensor, the amount of dust on Jesper's looks fairly typical to me, based both on images I've seen on sensor-cleaning how-to sites, as well as my own experience.

 

Note to Jesper: Don't be discouraged if it takes several passes to get all the dust off during your first cleaning session. Just be sure to use a clean PecPad for each cleaning pass. And as Steve Barnett has advised, use only Eclipse fluid for this job.

The image above of my dirty sensor was made at f/22 and with the contrast and sharpness heavily enhanced on the computer - in "normal" photos the spots aren't noticeable. I noticed it on another ("real-world") photo that was made at f/22.

<p>OK, I've read this article too: <a href="http://www.pbase.com/copperhill/ccd_cleaning">http://www.pbase.com/copperhill/ccd_cleaning</a> - there is a link on one of the pages with info on how to get Eclipse fluid and PecPads in Europe (I'm in the Netherlands). A bottle of Eclipse and a pack of 100 PecPads will cost me about � 20 ($ 25). The shop also sells pre-made sensor swabs, but they have an outrageous price (12 for � 65 !!!!!) and according to the article, they don't work that well.

<p>Hmmmm.... I am not looking forward to the operation.... How dangerous is it to put too much pressure on the sensor? Can the sensor get misaligned (i.e. displaced from the "film plane") if you're not careful enough?

The swabs are a good bet, and do work well with the 10d (make sure you get the right ones. If in doubt the ones you need are marked for the D30 and D60 and also Nikon D100 and D1). If you have never cleaned your sensor before you can at least take one apart and see how it is folded. The price may seem high for the swabs, it is(!), as they are made and sealed in a dust free environment. But you will get enough to last nearly a year, by which time you can make your own from Pec Pads.

I used the Sensor swabs with Eclipse solution (pure Methanol) to clean my 1Ds. I didn't think the 4 dollar price per swab was bad, when you consider the cost of the sensor, and the cameras. If you make your own swabs make sure you don't get dirt on the pad, because that will damage the sensor.

I use the swabs on my S2. Be GENTLE, one direction only, one time only, make sure the AC is plugged in (batteries can fail at the worst times).

I'm in Australia, and I'm not having any luck finding Eclipse cleaning fluid (I guess it's an American brand?).

 

Does anyone else have any suggestions for a cleaning fluid?

 

My local chemist recommended "surgical spirit", which seems to be basically methylated spirit (denatured ethanol?). Would this work OK? I don't think he really understood what I wanted it for - I told him it had to be pure methanol, and it wasn't until I read the MSDS for the product that I found out it wasn't methanol.

 

What do other Australians use to clean their sensors?

Just to follow up on my previous post - I bought some surgical spirit and tested it on an old filter. It left a white milky deposit behind. I wouldn't recommend it for cleaning anything!

 

The MSDS for it said it contains up to 10% castor oil (I guess to stop people from drinking it?). That doesn't sound like something I want to smear on my DSLR's sensor!

<p>For the benefit of anyone who finds this thread in a web search for Eclipse in Australia, I've finally tracked down a supplier. Details are <a href="http://photo.pool-room.com/Advice/dslr-sensor-cleaning.html">here</a>.<p>