sensor/lens cleaning?

hello im pretty new to all this and i have just noticed some blothes on some recent shots i have taken how do i clear this is it best to go in shop to get it cleaned or cheaper to get kit to clean myself
thankyou

I, like many others, use the Arctic Butterfly. If you go to a camera shop they will probably use one of these and charge you £40 (which is the price of the basic kit).

Personally I recommend buying the travel kit. It cost around £100 but will pay for itself in a couple of years.

Have you tried a proper blower yet? The Giotto Rocket is a good example. I bought cheap and regret it.

Mike

i have tried the sensor cleaning function on camera menu but battery runs out it says should have it plugged into mains but havent got mains adapter and i have tried the swab things but they leave it smeary and dont remove blotches

If you have a charged up battery it should clean the sensor as it only shakes it a bit. I have it set to shake each time the camera is switched on - not everyone thinks this is a good idea.

There's a knack to wet cleaning with swabs and I would regard that as last resort but since you have them what make are they? Blowing and arctic butterflies won't help with the smearing.

Better advice will follow no doubt

Mike

i dont no what make they are when i brought my sigma lens i got them didnt quite no what they were but the shop man said they were v good got liquid with them as well just orange swabs thats all i no : im just a ammy trying to take the next step but not got a clue

Well I think you need to wait for better advice than I can give but Google Eclipse cleaning swabs and I think they tell you how to use them. This wasn't a lens cleaning kit was it?

Mike

again no idea and i did fully charge by batt before doing the sensor cleaning but still run out

Hi Emma,

I always try to clean first by a blower (I hold the camera body lens mount down and blow up so that dust will fall out, hopefully), then with artic butterfly, and if that doesn't work with swabs and eclipse 2 fluid.

NB your GX10 will require Eclipse 2 not Eclipse due to the tin-oxide in the sensor cover

www.cleaningdigitalcameras has extensive information on how to clean the sensor along with evaluation of different methods.

Cleaning supplies can be purchased from www.micro-tools.de.

Cleaning the sensor is not as fearsom a job as it sounds and is something which all DSLR users have to come to grips with sooner or later.

I knew someone more expert would be along - although I notice he didn't explain about the battery

Mike

If you've fully charged the battery then it should hold the shutter open in the "cleaning" position for quite some time. I would estimete that I've engaged the sensor cleaning option for not more than a minute or so at a time as thats all it takes to do each stage of cleaning the sensor.

It could be that you battery is on its way out - do you get significantly less shots per charge than when it was new, GX10 battery should be good for several hundered shots?
Good value for money spare batteries can be had from 7 day shop - £6.99 + p&p.

thankyou for all your advice i went along to jessops today and brought a giotto blower and a microfibre cloth plus liquid and a sensor pen cheaper alternative to artic butterfly which i will get eventually i haved ceaned sensor and lenses and all are great the marks that was showing on images are no longer there so thankyou everyone

Glad to hear it. I think the first time is always the worst!

I got the pentax ccd sensor cleaning kit from srs microsystems when it was a lot cheaper - at the time it was around £28 but i see that pentax have virtually doubled the price!. i still think its worth the money as it does an excellent job and i can recommend it.