Sensor Cleaning

[PnwGuy]

Went out for an early morning session. Photo-wise I didn't get much. But it was a gold mine of experience.

Anybody have any tips on cleaning the sensor on my Rebel XTi? I have a little dust in the lower left. :o

Thanks much in advance!!

[benjames]

It has a self cleaning sensor doesn't it?

[PnwGuy]

It has a self cleaning sensor doesn't it?

Yes it does. But, it's not able to remove the speck that's on there. The manual mentions setting it to manual cleaning which will expose the sensor and allow me to clean it, however I've never cleaned the sensor before, nor do I know how, nor do I know if I should even attempt to. I was curious as to how others dealt with this issue.

[Merlyn]

You can do it. Just purchase the proper items to do it with. read the following link and check other links under camera sensor cleaning.
http://www.cleaningdigitalcameras.com/

[PnwGuy]

You can do it. Just purchase the proper items to do it with. read the following link and check other links under camera sensor cleaning.
http://www.cleaningdigitalcameras.com/

Thanks, that was a great link!! I almost tried it but then decided to take it to my local Kits rather than risk it. They said their charge was $65 to clean the sensor and to give the camera a good servicing. Since it's only a couple of weeks old I was willing to pay them the 65 to just clean the sensor and show me how to do it, skip the thorough cleaning, and to go over the care and feeding of my lenses and get back in business right away.

They checked it and found no dust on the sensor, but a little had gotten into the viewfinder which they said is nothing to worry about. They sold me a hurricane blower and showed me how to use it on the sensor. They didn't even charge me for the time!! I felt obligated to buy something so I picked up a Manfrotto 682 Self-Standing Monopod and quick release tilt head. :-)

I guess it worked out OK.

[smc1377]

I've cleaned my sensor before, but only after a ton of reading. And I did buy a kit from the website mentioned above.

My only concern about cleaning your particular camera in this manner (with the sensor swabs, etc) would be that the XTi is different than a typical Canon in that it has fewer layers of protection of the sensor, plus it moves around (vibration to shake off dust).

So if it would have been me, even though I've successfully have cleaned my 10D, I wouldn't risk trying the same method on the XTi since the sensor area is just fundamentally different. At least not until I hear of lots of other people who have done this without damage to the XTi.

[PnwGuy]

...So if it would have been me, even though I've successfully have cleaned my 10D, I wouldn't risk trying the same method on the XTi since the sensor area is just fundamentally different. At least not until I hear of lots of other people who have done this without damage to the XTi.

Thanks, and I agree. I'd much rather pay $65 and have it done safely and correctly than to damage the sensor and have to replace it or the camera.

They recommended to bring it in if the sensor needs to be swabbed instead of trying to do it myself. I'm OK with that. I'll stick to computers and networks and let them do the camera stuff.

[yokolok]

I understand that the XTi's sensor is made of a different material from that of the earlier models, and thus would require a different type of solution for cleaning it...(am not sure but i think they call the solution E2)...so best to check before buying the solution to make sure you have the right one...:)

[mdwsta4]

$65!?!? i'll do it for 1/3 that and even that's too expensive. blowers don't really do much. sometimes they'll get rid of a bit of dust, but my experience is they either move dust to another spot on the sensor, stir up more dust, or don't get rid of the big dust spots.

i'd recommend a kit from these guys:
http://www.copperhillimages.com/shopping/pgm-more_information.php?id=4

their tutorial makes it seem much more painful than it actually is. their kit will last hundreds of cleanings, is top notch, and is half the cost of what you paid to have it done once.

[smc1377]

i'd recommend a kit from these guys:
http://www.copperhillimages.com/shopping/pgm-more_information.php?id=4

In Merlyn's post above, he had a link to a similar site, but when you click on the "Where To Buy" link, it takes you to Microtools.com which has basically the same kit as your copperhillimages site for about $20 less. That's where I purchased my kit from.

[Nicholas]

I am Nicholas of Copper Hill Images and the only reason I am writing this is to correct the previous comment. It was said that Micro-Tools sells the exact same kit for $20 less than we do, but I have no idea where that he got that number from or why he would intentionally mislead everyone in this forum community.

Micro-Tools sells a basic kit for $22.95 plus shipping which in my area would be $9.00 for a total of $31.95.

Copper Hill Images sell a basic kit for $29.95 plus a flat rate for shipping anywhere in North America for $8.00 for a total of $37.95.

Also, the materials the customer receives with this kit, the 'Swipe, Eclipse and PecPads are IDEAL for cleaning the mirror, so we have no need to throw in something else that would be redundant.

But besides all of that, our SensorSwipe is made of a proprietary material and made with very stringent standards that no other company has been able to copy.

We enjoy the competition with our competitors and we stand behind our products 1,000%. Our company has been referred to as the "Gold Standard" in many online comunities when speaking about both our products and our customer support. I have no ill-will toward Micro-Tools, but, PLEASE -
get your facts and numbers straight before you throw them out there for the public to judge, OK?
Nicholas R.
http://www.copperhillimages.com

[NaturesPixel]

Copper Hill Images is where i am going to get my gear from... and not i am not brown nosing.. i have read their site and re-read their site over and over again i have read a lot of sites.. i like these guys kits and the price... and i have also read other sites pointing to Copper Hill Images including this site on cleaning Nikons CCD http://www.nature-photography-central.com/Nikon_CCD_Cleaning.html which also leads to a PDF for Fuji... which is the same as Nikon's :)

you should also read this post on the blog by Darren http://digital-photography-school.com/blog/how-to-avoid-a-dirty-dslr-image-sensor/ it has some very useful links at the bottom of the post :)

[mdwsta4]

their customer service is top notch. sometimes it's worth paying a couple extra bucks to ensure you're satisfied with the product and have someone that's actually willing to help you if there are problems. i have yet to meet someone that hasn't been happy with CHI

I am Nicholas of Copper Hill Images.....http://www.copperhillimages.com

[Darren Rowse]

Thanks for the clarification Nicholas.

Interested in offering a few of your kits as prizes for a DPS forums competition or to get a couple of our readers to review them?

No pressure - but we're always looking for hands on reviews and chances for our members to give great products some exposure :-)

PM me if you're interested.

[smc1377]

I am Nicholas of Copper Hill Images and the only reason I am writing this is to correct the previous comment. It was said that Micro-Tools sells the exact same kit for $20 less than we do, but I have no idea where that he got that number from or why he would intentionally mislead everyone in this forum community.

Micro-Tools sells a basic kit for $22.95 plus shipping which in my area would be $9.00 for a total of $31.95.

Copper Hill Images sell a basic kit for $29.95 plus a flat rate for shipping anywhere in North America for $8.00 for a total of $37.95.

Also, the materials the customer receives with this kit, the 'Swipe, Eclipse and PecPads are IDEAL for cleaning the mirror, so we have no need to throw in something else that would be redundant.

But besides all of that, our SensorSwipe is made of a proprietary material and made with very stringent standards that no other company has been able to copy.

We enjoy the competition with our competitors and we stand behind our products 1,000%. Our company has been referred to as the "Gold Standard" in many online comunities when speaking about both our products and our customer support. I have no ill-will toward Micro-Tools, but, PLEASE -
get your facts and numbers straight before you throw them out there for the public to judge, OK?
Nicholas R.
http://www.copperhillimages.com

While I appreciate and understand your need to defend your company, you also need to read what I posted before criticizing me.

You said above that I said that Micro Tools offered the "exact same kit" and I never said that. Please read again and see that I said "basically the same kit." And what I mean by that is that you are essentially selling the same Eclipse Solution, the same Pecpads and some sort of wand.

Also, you said that you had no idea where I got the price from, but if you were to actually click the link I quoted in my post, you'd see that the other user (that I quoted) linked to your wet/dry kit that cost $41.95. It doesn't take a math genius to realize that Micro Tool's kit that cost $22.95 is "about $20 less." It's all right there in my post, in black and white. I didn't pull the number out of thin air like you'd like people to believe.

While I perhaps may be guilty of not further exploring to see if Copper Hill Images had an even more basic kit, all I was doing was comparing what the other user linked to and what I purchased previously. And I only made that comparison after noting that both kits contained the 3 essential items both you and I agree a kit should have, which are the Pecpads, the Eclipse solution and some sort of wand (and they both had some extra stuff which further validates my comparison).

What you perhaps should have done was enlighten us that your site had a lesser kit that contained just the 3 essential items instead of accusing me of purposely spreading misinformation. I was simply comparing the price from the first site mentioned in this thread to the price of the second site mentioned in the thread.

But to that note, you are not comparing apples to apples either. Your basic kit comes with fewer things than Micro Tool's kit. Their kits contain the same 3 essential items plus low lint cotton applicators and chamberswabs. And for less money.

The point of my post was to point out that the first site referenced in this thread has a kit that cost less than the kit linked to from Copper Hill Images. Even after your correction and attack, the point still remains true.

There was no intentional misleading or mal intent of any kind. For you to come in here and accuse me of doing such clearly tells me more than what I need to know about your company. Others are, of course, encouraged to make up their own minds.

[Nicholas]

smc1377,

It's obvious you have an axe to grind with me which forces me to defend myself again. You are comparing MT's version of the basic kit with our Wet/Dry Kit, specifically $22.95 versus $39.95. I fail to see where this is apples to apples.

As I said in my last post, the SensorSwipe, PecPads and Eclipse are perfect for cleaning the mirror and our SensorSweep is perfect for removing dust from the walls of the chamber, so why should we be redundant? Obviously, Micro-Tools does not want their brush or swab to be used on the mirror. I don't know why this is so, but you are placing a tremendous premium on 10 pads and q-tips which will do the job NO BETTER than 10 PecPads. Oh, yes, we give our customers FREE instructions with their purchases, too.


You say this:
"What you perhaps should have done was enlighten us that your site had a lesser kit that contained just the 3 essential items".
Why do you use the term "lesser kit"? We could not have been in this business doing the kind of volume we do for the past 5 years if we were not giving the public a great value for the money, especially regarding the SensorSwipe. Maybe you should go over to flickr.com and see what has been going on there recently, you'll find the issue of "quality control" quite interesting, I'm sure.

You then say:
"While I perhaps may be guilty of not further exploring to see if Copper Hill Images had an even more basic kit, all I was doing was comparing what the other user linked to and what I purchased previously."
I agree that you were guilty of not identifying the items you were comparing, giving the impression that we are price-gouging and ripping off our customers. Again, you are placing an incredible value on 10 pads and some q-tips which add no extra functionality to the two kits in question. Do you understand my point here? Some companies sell about 25 different items to clean the inner workings of a D-SLR. If their bread-and-butter tools are as good as they claim, why do they need the extra 23 tools to complete the job. We sell 2 tools, one for wet cleaning, one for dry cleaning. You seem to think that throwing in a bunch of redundant items adds functionality to the package. I disagree, but I also understand how a person with no knowledge or experience in sensor cleaning would believe they're getting something extra for no additional cost.


"For you to come in here and accuse me of doing such clearly tells me more than what I need to know about your company."
Again, I will defend my company and our business practices and pricing anywhere and everywhere they are besmirched. You obviously have an agenda against Copper Hill Images and your last post did nothing to justify your illogical and irrational comparisons. I have NO PROBLEM whatsoever with you coming in here and saying you were very happy with your purchase from Micro-Tools or anyone else. But I'm not going to just sit here while you twist and distort the facts.

But the real bone of contention I have with your argument is your CLEAR IMPLICATION that cheaper is better in this field. Our customer support and service is the best in the business - period. I'm not going to go into the details of the quality controls in the production of our products for you, but, once again, they are the best in the business, too. To you, these two things are meaningless and worthless, so we will never see eye-to-eye here in this thread.

Why don't you PM me, give me your name and address and I will send you a free SensorSwipe and a free SensorSweep to use and evaluate. No strings and no promises, just take them and try them on your sensor and then come back here with a review. This will give you something tangible to make a judgement on instead of further conjecture. And if you have some free time, please read some of this page:http://www.pbase.com/image/44646301

Nicholas
http://www.copperhillimages.com

[smc1377]

Nicholas,

This is how I came to post what I posted originally:

1. The 4th post in this thread by Merlyn posted a link to cleaningdigitalcameras.com which sells cleaning kits under the name of Micro Tools.

2. In the 9th post of this thread, mdwsta4 posted a link to one of your cleaning kits.

3. I clicked on it, noticed that the kit was about $20 more in price, but contained the essentials needed to clean sensors.

4. I posted my observation that the first link (from post #4) had a kit that was cheaper than what was posted in the 9th link. I then also mentioned that I've purchased a kit from that first link. That's it. It was a 2 sentence post.


There was no bashing of your company. There was no intention of misleading my fellow members as you keep accusing me of. There was none of what you keep saying.

I don't understand why you keep attacking me. I posted a simple observation comparing two links provided in the thread. For you to come onto this board for the first time and start attacking my character, when I've been nothing but helpful to other members, is completely uncalled for and very unprofessional.

Like I said, if anything, it would have been nice for you to just let us know that you had more to offer than just a $42.95 cleaning kit and that along with the product, you provide excellent customer service (which in my book, is worth a lot these days).

Quit accusing me of having some kind of axe to grind. Again, I just posted a simple observation and I don't appreciate someone making assumptions and then attacking my character based on those assumptions.

I'm sure what you sell is of the highest quality. If anyone has done any sort of research into this topic, they'd know that there's nothing better than Eclipse Solution and Pecpads. They'd also know that the wand you're selling, or the one that Micro Tools is selling, is about the best method of cleaning. I never said or even implied in the slightest way that your product was not as good as the other guys' nor that it was not good at all. Those are assumptions you made.

I simply posted an observation that Merlyn's link had a cheaper kit than the link provided by mdwsta4. It really is that simple.

Others are free to chime in if they think I was wrong in my simple 2 sentence post. It was a simple observation, not an attack of any kind to you or your company. That's why I was offended by your response/attack saying that I was intentionally misleading my fellow members here.

I was further offended that you think I have it out for your company. By me pointing out that one link had a better price than the other is in no way an attack or an insult to the other company. Again, feel free to come in here and say that you had a *better* value kit and that you also provide excellent customer service. I'd be cool with that and I would applaud that. But don't come in here accusing me of trying to torpedo your company.

Sell your product and your services--you don't have to needlessly attack me in doing so.

I appreciate your offer to send me your product to test. However, I have already just purchased a kit that contains the same exact products you sell (except the wand was different) and I've raved about it a few times on this board already. There's no need to convince me of the product, I already know that the specific items you sell in this kit are excellent products.

[Nicholas]

"I clicked on it, noticed that the kit was about $20 more in price, but contained the essentials needed to clean sensors."

I'm not attacking you but I am bewildered at how you find the above statement to have any merit? What do you mean by the essentials? To my mind, you're saying that my Wet/Dry Kit is essential to get a clean sensor while Micro-Tools $20 cheaper kit is all you need to do the same. It didn't make any sense the first time I read it, and it still doesn't.

"Sell your product and your services--you don't have to needlessly attack me in doing so."
If you think that I just wandered into this forum just to sell my goods and to have a little fun by attacking you, you are terribly mistaken. This is not how we generate business. I didn't know anything about this forum until yesterday and I don't know you from Adam, I only know what you posted about my products and I wanted to straighten a few things out, that's all.


"By me pointing out that one link had a better price than the other is in no way an attack or an insult to the other company"
Again, it is indeed an insult and misleading for you to make a comparison of two different items. With every succeeding post, you are trying to explain your reasoning behind your original post, but it keeps getting muddier and muddier to my mind.
"I simply posted an observation that Merlyn's link had a cheaper kit than the link provided by mdwsta4. It really is that simple."
No it isn't, the comparison is for two different products and you're still misleading everyone here.

The people of this forum deserve better than to watch you and I arguing this matter when we are at loggerheads. I have made all of the points I wanted to make and we should both let it go now and move on.

Nicholas
http://www.copperhillimages.com

[PnwGuy]

Sooooo...how about them Seahawks?!


My take is there were some misconceptions and miscommunication which have been clarified by both sides and other than some defensiveness displayed, no harm done and no bad opinion of either party. Let's get back to doing what we enjoy. :-)

[Nicole]

Sooooo...how about them Seahawks?!


How about dem Bears? ;)

... And now back to your regularly scheduled programming

[smc1377]

Nicholas,

Last thing I'm going to say on this is you need to step into reality and realize that life isn't fair. Never are any comparisons between products or companies an absolute fair comparison, nor does anyone expect it to be.

We could be talking about mp3 players and one person could say the iPod is the best and the other could say that the Zune is the best. I could come in and say that one is cheaper than the other and that's what I purchased.

Where's the harm in that? I shouldn't be expected to compare EVERYTHING about the two, nor the retailers who sell it, nor the return policies, nor which one has the better customer service, nor which one sounds better, nor which one's batteries last longer.

The "essentials" that I'm talking about are the same 3 things that you referenced in your first post and in your second post and the same three things I keep naming, which are the Eclipse Solution, the Pecpads and the wand. When I saw that the link referenced at CHI had those three things, I called the comparison good, just like a comparison between an iPod and a Zune is a valid comparison. Sure, there are differences but they essentially do the same thing.

Again, people are just as welcome to chime in and say that they like the other product more than that one I chose for their own reasons, but they don't need to attack me in the process. That is the reason why I will never buy from your company.

Like I said, feel free to clarify or correct any misinformation. But you just assumed I had it out for you and so you attacked me. That's uncalled for.

Feel free to search for and read all my other posts. I don't talk down to anyone, nor do I have it out for anyone. I offer what I know and do my best to help others out, just like they've helped me out.

Say whatever you want, but most people realize that my 2 sentence response was just an observation and not any kind of attack. Like I keep saying, come on here and enlighten us. We'd all appreciate that. From the looks of your website, I know I could all learn a lot from you. (Absolutely love your photos, btw.) But don't come on here and start firing bullets (accusations that I am intentionally misleading other members and that I have it out for you and your company).

To other members of this site: The products that Nicholas sells are the best that you can get if you are looking to clean your own sensor. It's up to you if you want to buy it from him or from other sites, but he does sell the best there is. :cool:

[NaturesPixel]

Ok you guys thanks for the robust discussion - I think all that needs to be said has been said and so we'd ask you take your discussion into PM or email.. or you could just forget it .. :)

Thanks for understanding :)