| Joined: | Thu Apr 5th, 2012 |
| Location: | Goose Creek, South Carolina USA |
| Posts: | 418 |
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Robert wrote:
Well I have avoided sensor cleaning like the plague.
I tried to clean my D1 sensor years ago and made a right mess of it. I ended up spraying IsoPropyl Alcohol (IPA) directly into the mirror chamber to 'hose out' the resulting smears and crap. I actually still have that aerosol on my desk.
The camera went haywire for a while but once it sobered up it went back to normal. Since then I have always taken the cameras to professional technicians to do it. Either ACS in Norfolk or one of my local camera shops who take pity on me from time to time. When I get invites to Nikon NPS Roadshows they offer free sensor and lens cleaning, I always avail myself of that offer.
The first time I went to an NPS roadshow I was fascinated by watching the techniques the technicians used. There isn't a wet cleaning spatula in sight. They use long thin round wooden sticks like long toothpicks or cherry sticks, about 3mm (1/8") diameter and maybe 150mm (6") long with plain ends.
Having examined the sensor with an illuminated loupe, they use a very soft brush to brush out the mirror box and to remove any loose dust from the sensor. Then they use a small blow gun running from a small quiet compressor and blow all the muck out.
They then take a strip of lens cleaning tissue and wrap it quickly around the tip of the stick, depending on the mark, they might dip the end in a cleaning solution, or use it dry. They have two or three small dishes with different cleaning solutions in each. Another check with the loupe, repeat as needed. Final result is immaculate I have watched them clean dozens of sensors and not once have I seen them wipe a sensor across with one of those spatula sensor cleaners. They only remove individual marks or groups of marks. They sometimes rub quite hard to remove a stubborn mark.
Most of the effort is to clean the mirror chamber and shutter area. They don't use AC power supplies either, each technician has a couple of fully charged batteries and switches their own battery for the one in the body if there is one, for the cleaning process.
They only take a few minutes to clean each camera, my D3 was particularly bad and it was done very quickly, afterwards it was immaculate. The D3 sensor seems particularly prone to dust bunnies, some images it doesn't show but for others it's quite a bit of work cleaning them up.
I have taken to using a very soft brush to take out the worst offenders, when funds allow, I intend to get an illuminated loupe and a small (quiet) compressor for cleaning duties, the pressure has to be kept low, else it could wreck the shutter.
Self cleaning sensors seem to do a good job. I only have the D3300 and that gets all sorts of abuse but I haven't noticed any spots on the images.
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Gary