Shel,
There are already lots of replies, but I'll add mine without looking at
them so I'm not influenced - Sensor cleaning is an emotive issue. I
change lenses too often in places I shouldn't.
The cover over the sensor is a filter. Most digitals have them though I
think the Kodak 14 megapixels don't.
The worst my sensor has ever been was caused by a blower brush. It was
brand new and full of dust. Blowers pull in the air where you are, if
there is dust in it it will be propelled towards your sensor at high
speed. I don't use them.
The local Pentax importers use dry nitrogen to clean the sensors. This
is I think 99.9% pure nitrogen so when it comes out under pressure there
is no water vapour to freeze and damage the filter over the sensor.
A dry nitrogen setup will cost you about AU$200 plus gas. I've
considered it but haven't gotten around to it.
Canned air is commonly used but you must be very careful not to hold the
can so that the propellant escapes as this is hard to clean off and will
take a lot of effort and if it gets under the filter you are in trouble.
This goes for dust as well. It is possible to spray around enough
air to get the dust lodged between the filter and the sensor. I've
never seen it but I'm told it's possible. I use compressed CO2 which
does not have a propellant but can cause water vapour to form if you are
not careful - I haven't had it freeze yet.
Sensor swabs seem like a good idea but they supposedly have one small
point of contact and can miss the dust you want to get rid of completely.
I have a sensor swipe (see http://www.pbase.com/image/15473243 ) It
does a good job if you can get the Pec Pad wrapped around it correctly.
I now use this for the stubborn dust only. It has only failed on one
spec of dust on my second istD body. It's off to C R Kennedy soon for a
professional job. It has gotten rid of all sorts of crud that has
gotten on to my sensor.
For light, non-adhesive dust I have a visible dust sensor brush from
http://www.visibledust.com Both the full size and light brushes do a
wonderful job. For a regular clean of light dust they are great. there
are a few other options available now - including one from Copper Hill
who provide the sensor swipe.
That's about it for my experience (and Journey) in cleaning sensors.
Hope it is of some use to you.
Leon
http://www.bluering.org.au
http://www.bluering.org.au/leon
Shel Belinkoff wrote:
Time to clean the sensor in the DS ... locked up the mirror and saw the
sensor thingy. It looks like there's a plastic layer over the actual pixel
things. Correct? Is that particularly delicate or is it for protection,
and, therefore, of a durable nature?
I was thinking of using a blower brush with the brush bristles removed. Is
that OK? Any other suggestions?
Shel
