Sensor cleaning

[finny99]

Anyone try this cleaning method 20D

 

http://www.tribcsp.com/~sigma2/SensorDust01.html

[iqbal]

Thanks for the link. Great information.

[m_barbu1]

I wouldn't trust that I can "fog" anything without also getting saliva on it (<a href="http://www.lib.mcg.edu/edu/eshuphysio/program/section6/6ch4/s6ch4_6.htm">which is not just water</a>).

[myworkshop]

I would never try this on any of my cameras. I love how he said his friend was a chemist...So if a chemist says your "moisty" breath won't hurt the most expensive component on a several thousand dollar piece of equiptment I should believe him? I'll leave it up to Canon to tell me how to clean my sensors.

[m_barbu1]

<p><i>says your "moisty" breath won't hurt the most expensive</i></p><p>...or that it would provide sufficient lubrication as a surfactant.</p>

[alan_myers]

<p>I really wish you hadn't shared that link.</p>

 

<p><b>It lists one very bad idea after another!</b></p>

 

<p>"Fogging" with your breath introduces both moisture and lots of microscopic organisms into the camera. That might be a good plan, IF AND ONLY IF your goal is to turn the sensor into a Petri dish or something like that! Very bad plan if you want to continue using the camera to, say, take photographs for some time in the future.</p>

 

<p>Using a cotton swab (or "cotton bud", i.e. "Q-Tip") anywhere inside any camera is also a VERY BAD IDEA.</p>

 

<p>In fact, it's one of the first things you are taught NOT TO EVER, EVER DO in camera repair tech training.</p>

 

<p>The reason for this is that cotton swabs can and do shed tiny but tough fibers. Those can and do get into shutter and mirror mechanisms to jam them, ending up needing a very expensive repair! In fact, in one of the photos at that website you can see cotton threads of one of his "cheap" generic swabs threatening to do damage.</p>

 

<p>Look into most all camera mirror boxes and you'll find rough textured black surfaces that are there to reduce reflections. Those and all the sharp corners in there are simply ideal to catch and pull tiny cotton threads out of cotton swabs, and then retain them inside the camera precisely where they have the greatest potential to do more and serious damage.</p>

 

<p>Also, it's very, very important to use something to remove any and all dust particles before wiping coated glass surfaces with anything. This includes both the mirror and sensor filter, in this case. The reason is that many dust particles are like very tiny but hard rocks, and can gouge or scratch glass or coatings on it.

 

<p>All I can say is anyone referencing that web page and using the cleaning "techniques" listed there - by an obvious amateur who's making it up as he goes along - had best be fully prepared to send their camera in for major repair work. Better keep Canon's service department phone number handy and an extra $600 or so in your checking account, you're pretty likely to need both!</p>

 

<p>My recommendation - <b>DON'T FOLLOW MOST OF THE ADVICE YOU READ ON THAT WEB PAGE! IF YOU DO, YOU RISK SERIOUS DAMAGE TO YOUR CAMERA.</b> (Yes, caps are rude, but I want to emphasize this point as much as humanly possible.)</p>

 

<p>Whoever posted the page doesn't even have the common courtesy to provide an email link so that readers can contact them.</p>

[geoffs1]

I'm with Alan.

 

Ick.

 

But if you want to give it a go, feel free...

[finny99]

Thought it was fishy, if anyone knows how I can delete the post I will gladly do it,trying to find the option to do it I cant. I was thinking of trying this , glad I didnt

[alan_myers]

Hi again Greg,

 

Well, maybe your post should stand.

 

Perhaps it can serve to warn others who are searching for info on sensor cleaning and stumble across that web site.

 

One of the problems with the Internet is that just about anyone can post an authoritative looking page, filled with good or bad info, on topics that they may or may not know anything about.

 

This looks like one of those cases where a lot of potentially damaging misinformation is out there for all the world to find, think it looks like good info and use it to potentially screw up their cameras!

 

The older I get, the more I learn just how much I don't know about stuff... And the more cautious I am about making recommendations!

[m_barbu1]

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