Well, I have bought all the materials, the cleaning tools, the high priced cleaning solutions, and will be embarking on the big Nikon "No-No", this weekend.

Being fairly technical minded, I don't think I will have much trouble, but was wondering if anyone else had gone through this process with their digital camera ? Besides my warranty is out anyway's.

If I send the body in, it akes 5 weeks, and costs about $195.00 out of Denver. The cleaning systems cost me a total of $125.00.

The only other option was to buy a second body, but these are changing so fast I can't keep up with them.

Any thoughts before I "get 'er done"

John Little

Denver, Colorado

Don't have a digital SLR myself, but a quick google found this:

http://www.bythom.com/cleaning.htm

Hope it helps.

Ken

Hi Ken,

You were reading my mind. This was the article that set me out to figuring I could do this on my own.

Buying the clenaing materials instead of trying to be a re-inventor of the wheel sounded better.

We will see how well it all works.

Bottom line, the long term situation is that Digitial SLR makers are going to have to consider this in the future, as most people cannot be without their cameras for weeks on end, plus the sending it off to who knows where to take care of the dust issue.

Thanks for the info.

John Little

I Checked Ken's reference to the same good site you found, John, on cleaning the digital sensor with its caveats; the method and need apparently only apply to removable lens digital SLR cameras.

My pocket HP R607 digital camera has a fixed lens mount with variable 3 to 1 focal length zoom (35mm equivalent approximately 35 mm-105 mm) with protective lens slide when closed. So, the forum post does not apply to such simpler digital cameras. These pocket digital cameras have the sensor in an enclosed, protected area behind the fixed lens mount. I occasionally clean my optical lens the normal way; when the camera is on, the lens is open, extended and available for careful cleaning.

Hi Doug,

That sounds about right, since the D50 that I have is a D-SLR. I had some intersting results leaving Denver this morning and arriving in Las Vegas this afternoon, in that the dust bunnies are a bit more apparent here.

I was gathering that the better and less ozone prone sky's down here increase the ability to see this in the pictures, but it could also be the moisture problems cited in the article, since it was realloy dry in Denver, and there is some moisture in the air here today.

I will post the results from my efforts on Saturday. Based on what I find, and how it all turns out, then folks can decide if they want to try this or not.

John L

It was reported Sony a100 (was Minolta) has an auto-clean function. It shakes the reflect mirror every time you turn the camera on. I am actually thinking about buy one, because I have an old Japanese version of Minolta film SLR camera with two lenes, and a100 is the only current DSLR which support Minolta mount.

Be careful and good luck.

I am going to look this up on the Sony site.....that sounds like a great feature to have for the digital SLR.

I wonder if it soes shake this off in a fashion like this, were does the dust wind up?

Careful will be my middle name on this situation.

Thanks for the information

Just did a quick look. Actually a100 shakes the CCD sensor instead of mirror, during power-down. It also use the same mechanism to provide anti-shake function.

6 days later

I own one of the Minolta 5D models, now known as the Sony A100. They are essentially the same camera, but Sony went with a slightly higher resolution CCD but as a result they have a decrease in sensitivity. According to the reviews I have read the Sony gets noisy at high ISO settings and has a top ISO of 1600. The Minolta version has a top ISO of 3200 and very little noise. I have used the 3200 setting for indoor shooting with availably light only and it is fantastic!

I use two lenses for airport and aerial photos, both are old lenses from my Maxxum 35mm film camera. One is a 28-85mm and the other is 80-200mm. On the digital camera with its 25mm (APS format) sensor the effective image is a multiplier of 1.5.

The anti shake and self cleaning features do indeed work, at least withing limits. I did have to send my camera for warranty repair when the anti-shake sent south and stopped the entire camera from working. I wasn't happy about that, but it seems fine now and overall the camera is excellent.

Mike

8 days later

Well the results are in.

While I did not cause any damage to the sensor, nor the imager protective cover, the cleaning process was not successful in terms of removing the dust bunnies from the array.

It merely moved them around, and in a couple of cases made some of the spots a tad bit larger than what they were. It did not leave any smears on the protective cover, and I was able to do the cleaning in low enough light that I did not weaken the immulsion surface in any way.

From the activity, you have to gauge simply by feel of how much down force pressure you have to put on the imagers protective cover, and that is very difficult to do because the holder for the fabric tip is a rigid piece of rolled paper (if you have ever seen a tootsie pop, that is what it is made of), and unless you are really, really attentive to the amount of cleaning solution on the fabric tip, it can easily begin to fold over on you, and once again the pressure sensitivity is lost.

For the first pass I followed the instructions implicitly, 1 small drop on each end of the sweep fabric tip, and then sweep the imager cover completely moving right to left in two equal strokes, insuring that you move completely over the edge of the cover. This resulted in some removing of the bunnies, so I waited about 4 hours and repeated the process with a second cleaner tip, using the same 2 drops, but with some additional pressure. Thus the results I indicated above, at which point, I decided that enough had been done, and it was not going to get any better.

So the game plan is to purchase an additional Nikon D80 body (un upgrade to the D50), then use the existing lens sets, and then send the D50 in for a professional cleaning which will take about 6 weeks out of Denver, then keep it as the spare body going forward, and then as they get dirty send them in on a rotating basis so that I always have a camera available.

So, if I use the standard manner to deem something of value, this one was a "2" Thumbs Down.

The process is painless enough, but nowhere near worth the roughly $160.00 (plus shipping) expended to try and make it happen, and the results did not come close to meeting any expectations.

Best,

John Little

Perhaps this suggestion is outrageous in its simplicity, but would a clean dry turkey baster gently squeezed dislodge the dust bunnies with just a bit of air pressure?

Hi Doug,

Actually your suggestion is not outrageous at all, as that was very close to my first attempt to clean the sensors protective cover. I used a very low volume air blower from a new and clean dust blower that we are all used to in the old camera day's, but without the duster on the end.

Thre is a syndrome with digital cameras that they call "welding" of the dust to the surface in which, if I understand the science right, the dust is held tightly due to static electricity.

While the liquid cleaning worked on some of the bunnies, others are locked onto the surface so tight they just won't come loose.

I talked with several factory folks in the business this evening here in town, and they admitted that they and the manufacture's are catching haites about this issue, and that even the very high end pro's are complaining loudly, because they do change lenses often, and that this issue is the next thing that should be addressed by the makers of dSLR's.

Otherwise they tell me "find the lens I like, and stick it on the camera, and don't change it if you don't have to".

Hi John,

$160 for a sensor cleaning kit sounds unreal; I commend you for the purchase, trial and sharing your results here. If one can afford it, the answer may lie in having a dedicated digital camera body for each lens, like in the old optical SLR days, to protect the digital sensor from dirt, dust, lint, etc. Then there would be no worries about spots in your pictures.

I still have a 1970s vintage working pair of same make/model optical SLR bodies with a 55mm F1.7 macro lens on one and a 28mm F2.8 wideangle on the other. I found I rarely used the 70-150mm F3.5 macro-zoom, or the motor driive with intervalometer and adjustable burst function. But, I don't lug all that weight around anymore, which included filters, lens hoods, tripod, spare film cans and batteries and a lightmeter, even though the bodies were aperature-preferred automatics.

Now I just use a single pocket 3 to 1 ratio zoom digital about the size of a pack of king size cigarettes. Always available, and can take about 200 shots per Li-ON battery charge. Of course, I cannot get good closeup shots of airliners in flight with that rig-but specialize in GA, warbirds and vintage aircraft, which are my real interests. The shirt-pocket digital has simplified my life, and no development or printing costs. Incidentally, 99+% of my shots are outdoors wearing sunglasses using the optical finder, not the screen. I wouldn't have a digital camera without that optical finder-but the trend is away from that with ever larger screens, which don't work for me in sunlight wearing prescription dark sunglasses.

When I am taking short trips, and I cannot predict whether I will get to an airport in the area, I still carry my small Nikon Point and Shoot Digital Camera, and it still takes great shots.

But I am the same as you, I do not like a camera without a viewfinder. I also wear glasses, and trying to view a scenary image through the LCD on the back in the sulight is not just difficult but dogone impossible (plus by the time you wrangle it all around, what you wanted to take a picture of has moved on) .

Also the other problem is that the Viewfinder on the point and shoots give the proper width and length of the final images view....the LCD's in most camera don't in most cases.

Per you last message, I have 18 lenses, and as I told the Nikon Rep, I cannot afford 18 different bodies, UNLESS Nikon was willing to give me a a buy one body and get 10 bodies free deal......< : >

You probably know how that went over....... :

8 days later

It has only been 7 hours and 33 minutes, and I am already suffering from seperation anxiety.

The pains began as I filled out the paper work that the dealer handed me, as I carefully re-packaged my D50 into it's original box.

I carefully removed the Lens, took out the SD Card, and then the battery, removing the eyepiece hood, and placing them in a seperate bag, and then placing the original body cap back on the camera, wrapping the camera in the anti-static plastic wrap, and then sandwiching it between the foam packing materials, and then slipping it back into the shiny gold Nikon box that I first purchased the camera in.........

......then this tender moment was completely shattered with the words, $175.00 please, will that be plastic or cash, and we will see you back here in about 5 weeks !, also remember there are no guarantees that the camera will come back as clean as new, but we will ship it back to the factory, and they will do the best they can.

I pause to look in the camera case at the dealers store.....hmmmm there is that D80 I have read about, and the newly lower priced D200...........oh well, that will have to wait for a few more paychecks.

Now were the heck did I put my 8080s at ??.....Sams Club is going to have a field day with me for the next few weeks (40 rolls of 24 exposure ought to just about do it) !!

7 days later

Well, I could not help myself.

I looked at the price of the D80 and the D200, without realizing that the store had not updated it's prices in the display for the D200.

With the price reduction, it was a no-brainer. So when my D50 gets back, it will become my back-up camera, and I have promoted the D200 for day to day use.

After I get some time with it under my belt, I will report back. I have posted about 20 pictures that I have taken during the week on my lunch break at KAPA.

These are settings that I took from an online recommendation, but I am going to adjust them back to some defaults because the pictures with the online settings are way to washed out for my taste, and would need some real work in Photoshop (thats my next purchase).

I just don't shoot NEF or RAW, because JPG really turns out just fine for my purposes.

Is there anyone else shooting RAW ?

a month later

Using a Canon 100 - 400mm IS lens on my 30D is an ideal piece of equipment for photographing aircraft with one exception. Because the lens has a push / pull system for zooming it tends to suck a lot of dust into the camera and place it on the sensor. I have to clean it quite often and have purchased the " Arctic Butterfly " cleaning brush along with " VisibleDust Sensor Cleaning Swabs " & " Smear Away " fluid. ( http://www.visibledust.com ) If a person follows the instructions to a tee they should obtain next to professional results. Granted the entire package added up to quite a bit of cash( about $180 Cdn ) but in the long run it has saved me time, money and the frusteration of sending my camera away. There is an alternative in my area and that would be to take it to a service shop but at $50 a cleaning I thought it best to do myself. It's a decision I don't regret.

The following link is a " must read " imo if one decides to use a brush of any sort. If you follow the steps he points out it will save you a lot of frustration. The link will also provide great reading on the entire subject.

http://www.prime-junta.net/pont/How_to/a_Brush_Your_Sensor/a_Brush_Your_Sensor.html?page=4

I hope I've been of some assistance.

That may be the difference, is the use of the brush type cleaners as opposed to the use of the "kits" that rely on the liquids and thin layers of cleaning clothes that are sold.

I got the D50 back and the folks I sent it to did a great job, and at only 65.00 to have it done, I am not going to complain.

I have now sent in the D200 for cleaning (only 5 weeks old), and what I noticed was that right out of the box, the sensor had a great deal more dust than the D50 had out of the box. The 70-300 VR had never been off the D200 body since it was purchased, I keow that field and randon dust had not gotten into the camera due to use.

The store I purchased the D200 from (as well as the D50) told me that there had been a greater number of D200's coming back in for cleaning in a shorter period of time in comparison to other cameras. There was no reasonable explanation from them, but I did not really expect they would have one

I did try and clean the sensor with the kit I had, but I did not get much more sataisfaction than I found while trying to clean the D50.

But being able to swap the bodies during the cleaning cycles really takes the urgency out of the situation.

I am not opposed to trying the alternative cleaning products and processes, but the article you cited made one thing clear, and that may be the issue to watch for......the brushes have to be absolutely clean and free of any contamination, and short of the "clean room" that might be a tough one to guarantee.

I appreciate your ideas though, and maybe at some point the digital camera people will be able to devise a way to create either an anti-static barrier in the camera body itself, or even make it possible to remove the sensor and cover so that you can easily clean it without being concerned about the other internals of the camera.

Hi John....

As annoying as it is it's not uncommon to see dust on a new out of the box camera. When you start using it and even if you don't change lenses dust will get in. Don't ask me how it just does. Now keep in mind that a speck to small to see will show itself and appear to look monstrous. If you think your sensor is clean try this trick. Take a picture of a very blue sky... no clouds allowed. Then open the picture up in a photo editor of your choice and convert the picture to " greyscale "... your in for a big surprise.

Regarding the clean brush issue. I concur it has to be squeaky clean and that's why I posted the link to a site that tells you how to make sure it is. My experience with my $100.00 brush was that " someone " other than myself had his mitts on it while it was in the store and it streaked my sensor the first time I used it. It left a noticeable smear on the sensor hence my need to find a site advising how to clean it. The author mentioned he had to wash his 4 times so I guess I got lucky doing it 3. I wasn't happy having to try and clean my unit and carefully read as much as I could on the subject. After doing so I went at it and in the end the process wasn't scary at all. If you're smart enough to use a camera I would venture a guess that the cleaning won't be a problem. Just take it slow and follow the instructions with what ever you use. btw, besides the brush and because of the streak it caused I ended up buying the fluid and applicator to make sure all was well. That worked like a charm. Since buying my cleaning stuff I have probably used it at least 6 times, maybe more. If I do the math that's over $300 including tax so it's paid for itself more than once.

One more note and it's more of a guess. I'm sure the pro shops don't want anyone to know how easy it is to do it yourself. It takes only minutes and has to be a big cash cow to them.

Hi G.

You brought up one thing that I had not thought of.....I have been checking the level of dust on the imager by taking a picture using the 55mm lens distance against a photographically correct gray scale 22"x34" scim sheet.

I like your idea better, and am going to run through some pictures I have of the sky scene and then convert it to Gray scale......thanks for the great tip.

I will follow your link and see if I can get my hands on these brushes. Your probably right, imager cleaning is a real cash cow for these stores, and it wouldn't be long before I would burn up the same amount of money sending the camera out.