Sensor Cleaning Service!

Any one know of any or any one local forum member i could pay to clean it? Thanks

If it's just loose dust you've got, I could give it a pass or 2 with my artic butterfly. I'm sure some of the stores in Cardiff would clean it for you, not aware of their prices though.

Invest in a Butterfly!........you will be looking at anywhere between £30/50 for a shop clean.....

if you dont mind i would greatly appriciate it

I had a quote from my local camera shop for professional sensor cleaning and it was £50!

Professional sensor cleaning is not necessarily performed by professionals.

That would not surprise me!

My sister's son told her that if she tried to clean a DSLR sensor she would ruin it. Has to be cleaned by a shop. When I was giving her my old IstD, in intentionally left some dust on the sensor. I showed her how to check, then I cleaned the sensor with fluid and wipes. When I finished she said, "That's it?"

Yep. Brushes and blowers are even easier if they get the job done but a wet clean with Eclipse isn't a big deal.

I agree - I've done two wet cleans with a Delkin kit - it's not difficult.

I do my own with swabs and fluid. You just need a steady hand, the ability not to breathe for the duration and the balls to do it in the first place for the first time. Then you realise how straight forward it is!
I would never pay for a local shop to do it as Mannesty says, they aren't always pros that do it!

Paul

[quote:]I do my own with swabs and fluid. You just need a steady hand, the ability not to breathe for the duration and the balls to do it in the first place for the first time. Paul [/quote]

Dust had become an issue I could no longer ignore - the blower didn't shift it any more (it used to), and something had to be done, as you can see from this.

I bought an Arctic Butterfly 724 on the strength of comments from people here, but it was intensely disappointing; it didn't shift anything.

Clearly, a wet clean was needed, and after a bit of reading, I bought some Eclipse E2 fluid and some swabs from CameraClean.co.uk.

The result of the first go was this, and the second go improved things a bit more, resulting in this, although that obviously introduced a huge lump of something - this disappeared after a go with the Arctic Butterfly, giving this as the final result.

All the above pictures have had the contrast cranked right up to make the dust more obvious - the originals don't look anywhere near as bad, but believe me, the amount of cloning needed had gone beyond a joke.

It's not perfect yet, and I'll have another go at some point, but at least the camera's usable again.

It says in the instructions, 'press firmly' as you wipe the fluid-moistened swab across the sensor. I did (and mostly the swab just bends as a result), and the camera still works fine. It's not a process to be in the least scared of - just be careful.

My conclusions are that the Butterfly is only any good at all for loose dust. Crap that sticks will never shift without a proper wet clean.

Choose wisely - all this cleaning equipment is expensive. With the Butterfly, the swabs and the fluid, I'm about £100 down.

Hope this helps someone, anyway.

so is the moral of this thread,clean lightly and clean regularly ?
Chris, can i ask how long you had left cleaning,to build up such deposits please ?

I've recently discovered a ton of crap on my sensor I had no idea it was there until I got a macro lens and started shooting some longish exposures at small apertures.

After seeing ChrisA's post I'm looking at the Eclipse E2 stuff. What swab/wipe should I be using? Some of them seem to be around £25 for a pack of 10...

I can't be spending £100 on this, the whole camera only cost me £175. I'd rather buy a K20D

Thanks for any advice!

Well, it happened over a pretty short space of time. Previously, there'd been the occasional few bits of, presumably, dust, and the Rocket Blower would shift them easily. Then, seemingly over just a few short weeks, all that crap you saw in the first picture appeared.

I wonder if it was pollen - apparently that sticks. Maybe I was just unlucky. You'd think it would be all over the inside of the lenses too, if it is - I'll see if I can see any. It's not like I've left the camera out with the front uncovered.