Cleaning sensors

Mycroft H

My sensor is totally manky - i can actually see the dust on the sensor by eye. Tried shifting it with a rocket blower and made no difference. Two questions.

Where in Dublin can it be done and for how much.

OR

How easy is it to do yourself? And where do I get the cleaning equipment

Thanks

Fionn

it was €50 the last time i looked.
ISS do it.
It's easy enough to do yourself - but, well it's like a lot of things you do in life, for the first time - you'll be nervous and anxious and all that. When it's over you'll wonder why you were

theres lots of different tools out there to achieve a clean sensor. I'm about to embark on a cleaning frenzy again soon.
Most of the camera stores will have various brands of cleaning stuff for sensors.

Borderfox

Conns do it too for €50 usually takes about an hour, I do my own and its fairly easy to manage. Pick a kit (make sure you get the right fluid) and make sure the battery is charged then its just a matter of giving it a good wipe, the full frame sensor is a pain in the hol* to clean but eventually gets there

oshead

Waste of money paying someone to do it for you. I got a neat little fluid based kit from Gunns on Wexford St for about €40 or so. Does the job really well.

Borderfox

Just another option for people, I know I was very nervous the first time I did it.

Thecageyone

I bought one of those dust grabber straw/pen things last time I was in Dublin. Did the trick, just need to find alcohol swabs for it now [only came with 2 ... for €20!]

jpfahy

I use stuff from here:

http://www.visibledust.com/

CraggyIslander

Was in conns fri and today (their main techie was off friday)

Cost 50 for a dry cleaning (which shop man did for me on fri, but told me to come back when their techie was back to check up)

Their tech did a dry and wet clean today (50 going upto 100!! for the wet) and he himself still wasnt happy with results as there are still noticeable spots around edges when pushing levels, so not got charged more (their tech is well honest :-) )

First sensor cleaning for me, and should have been doing it regularly, but as I use camera so irregularly never bothered me till it got visible........ however some of dust on mine may be 'cemented' to sensor (due to not cleaning it till now) Especially one spot near edge

Will be taking cam and new L lens (my first a 100-400 ) for spin at weekend to find out how noticable / croppable remaining few spots are (without blowing levels).

lesson learned and two thumbs up for conns techy mario :-)

edit: Did stop at gunns first, but they're on a well-deserved holiday :-)

akaspike

E100 for a wet clean :eek:
I was going to get this done at the weekend but not at that price. Is there anywhere else that could do it on the same day, as i'll only be in Dublin for the day.

CraggyIslander

self service I'd say, which I'll be learning myself after this experience. Like landymans, my sensor was manky to naked eye as well. Just needed to get it done asap and well

akaspike

I'll check back here tomorrow, but i guess self service would be the cheapest and quickest way.

ValueInIreland

Check out DUST AID sensor cleaning kits for about €30, available from Irish dealers.

zerohamster

http://www.micro-tools.de/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=SFNT&Store_Code=Eng

I get mine here fast shipping and good prices. very reliable too.

go for the 'sensor swab plus' and you cant go wrong (make sure you get the right size though)

belfastman

If you want a wet sensor clean try Declan at Camera Repair Centre he charges €30 and tests are placed on your memory card. 01 4781638

Heebie

http://www.dml.ie/ deal in Visible Dust kit. They're a Hasselblad dealer, as well as Manfrotto, and they have a studio in-house with logs of lighting etc.. I think they might also be a Phase One dealer. Mostly medium format gear.

They cleaned my two Pentax bodies (using the kit you can see on the link below) for nothing when I stopped in to see their showroom and studio.. I ended up buying a few things while I was there and will probably go back looking for the cleaning supplies they were out of. (They carry sensor & lens cleaning kits..but were actually sold out of both.)

I had a good time chatting up your man there, and did a little bit of drooling over some of the medium format gear. (full bellows adapters and such.)

jpfahy wrote: »

I use stuff from here:

http://www.visibledust.com/

gman2k

I found this to be a useful article.

Mycroft H

Thanks everybody

Picked up the Dust Aid swab kit in Gunns of 27 quid.

It was recommended over the visible dust because they can sometimes leave smears on the low pass filter.

Now for the fun bit. Is it recommended to hold the camera on the tripod facing up or down? I.e down so the dust falls out?


Oh yea.. Camera exchange do a dry clean for 30 quid. Not a rip off 50 from conns

pixbyjohn

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KX67L2SipLY
Dust aid wet sensor cleaning video

woop

dublin camera exchange 20 or 25 euro, they sell the kit for 30 I think

dont go near conns/berminghams, complete rip off imo for something reasonably simple

^bit late I see^

Jehsub

My sensor was manky too. The guys in http://www.dml.ie/ in the Western Business park did a great job in cleaning it for me.

Mycroft H

Update. I've done it myself with a kit from gunns at the time. Sensors fine. Cost 22-23 euros at the time and there is still more fluid and swabs in the kit. Can't go wrong :-)