Sensor cleaning

Can someone recomend a place to purchase cleaning swabs, Just where I purchased my last set are asking £37 for a pack of 12.
Ian

47th Street Photo


http://stores.ebay.com/47th-Street-Photo

Opteka SSC-20 Pre-Moistened SLR Sensor Cleaning Swabs
Pack of 20 swabs
$22.47 + $6.95 shipping

Works out at about a quid each

Paul

You can also get them on Amazon as low as $25-26

Worth considering against the UK prices

Paul

The thought of using the cheapest swab available in the delicate internals of your camera makes me cringe.

Will an Arctic Butterfly not do the job? They are a lot safer.

I wasnt advocating using a cheap product. Merely providing a possible link to an alternative, and Opteka are a very good brand.

Paul

As long as it's not an oily deposit,the butterfly should do the trick!

Thanks guys I have thought about the butterfly before it does seem less invasive than other forms of sensor cleaning tools. I found the swabs very easy to use although I was a bit concernd if I was putting to much preasure on the sensor while cleaning, but a very stubborn bit of dust came off a treat after a few goes with the swabs. The only thing was I was only able to swipe the sensor one time in each direction as per the instruction and at a price of £37 a packet it aint cheap.
Ian

I tried them once on my DS!...I USED 6 SWABS ON ONE CLEANING!...NEVER AGAIN!

I've used the wet swabs with success. Can't remember how much I paid for them. I got hem of ebay over a year ago. I think they were about £15 for a set of 15 swabs and a small pot of fluid.

I haven't cleaned my sensor for months now, although now I've two bodies I don't change lenses so often. Although that is changing as I've bought 3 more lenses in the last month!!

Me too. Got them from cameraclean.co.uk.

Not cheap, but it shifted a lot of horrible oily particles that the Arctic Butterfly didn't touch.

ChrisA wrote

This family-run business also trades under the name of 'Just' and is located less than 10 miles from where I live. They also sell pre-wetted swabs which, depending on the size of sensor to be cleaned, can cost up to £37.00 for 12. Whilst this may seem expensive, it is, IMHO, important to consider the whole 'package' and not simply the 'check-out' price.

The pre- and post-sale support this business offers is, in my experience, outstanding and refreshingly honest: by which I mean they will discuss your concerns and needs with you and not try to seduce you into buying products you don't need. For example, the fist time I spoke to them on the phone I was invited to drop in, which I did. I was given a warm welcome, provided with tea and given the undivided attention of the owner for at least 30 minutes. During this time he explained the whole cleaning process to me, demonstrated the same using a sensor that had been removed from a camera and reassured me that as the sensor is protected by a filter, there is very little risk of causing harm. He concluded by reiterating whet he had told me when I first e-mailed him with test images taken to show dust particles on my camera sensor: you don't need to clean it yet as under normal shooting conditions any dust present will not be be visible on the captured image and to avoid becoming an overly neurotic 'pixel peeper'. He then spent another 30-minutes showing me examples from his portfolio and the various ways an amateur can earn cash to subsidise their LBATotal cost to me £0.00.

A couple of days later I returned and said I had been much encouraged but would still like to see a demonstration of the cleaning cleaning process on an actual camera body (mine). This he then proceeded to do and 15 minutes later, including the taking of before and after 'test' shots, I had a spotless sensor. Total cost was, I believe, £20.00.

Subsequently I purchased from them a Dust-Aid Platinum (dry) Sensor Cleaning Kit and Eclipse (wet) Sensor Swabs, which I have used successfully, alone or in combination, to clean my GX10 and K20D sensors when absolutely necessary.

Small businesses offering exceptional service like this need and deserve our support: otherwise all that will remain will be the 'stack-em-high and sell them cheap (not) box shifters' who are not interested in serious, or refuse to allow, 'try before you buy', do not stock the wide range of accessories and ancillary equipment that we require (cf the related thread on local independent dealers on this thread) and are incapable, in the main, of giving informed advice and/or after-sales support; as is often the case when buying on ebay.

Jon

Thanks for that Jon this is the company I bought my swabs from I have no gripes with the company, there service or the quality of the product. I simply find the product expensive although it did do the trick in the end.
Ian