Nicole
02-10-2007, 11:04 PM
Like Leisa (NaturesPixel), I was fortunate enough to get a cleaning kit from Copper Hill (http://www.copperhillimages.com/index.php?pr=products). I received the Sensor Sweep II kit, which is a dry cleaning kit, rather than the wet kit that Leisa got.
http://static.flickr.com/124/361913969_560b1135b7.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/nicolesphotos/361913969/)
And if she thought her sensor was filled with dust bunnies, I think mine was a breeding colony.
Before:
http://static.flickr.com/157/385917582_f02ee1fcfc.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/nicolesphotos/385917582/)
(f/29, 2/5 sec (note: the straight, diagonal line on the right is from my ceiling) and that weird curvy piece of dust was showing up on all of my pictures, and was very resistant to blowing)
So, with much trepidation, since I definitely couldn't afford to ruin my camera, I sat myself down at the table, steadied my nerves, and opened up the cleaning kit.
http://static.flickr.com/185/385921264_84aee88390.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/nicolesphotos/385921264/)
The instructions are really easy to read, and pretty straight forward. The kit contains vellum paper, instructions, a brush, and all comes in a little case. There are 2 possible ways to charge up the brush. The first way, is by using air (from a blower, or condensed air). The second way is by sweeping the brush along the vellum. They say to use whichever works best. I wound up using my blower to charge up the bristles since the vellum didn't work for me.
It took a couple of times, and it didn't get my sensor 100% clean, but there is a very marked difference between before and after:
http://static.flickr.com/126/385920839_c83385d91d.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/nicolesphotos/385920839/)
(f/22, 1/8 sec)
Needless to say, it cleaned off *a lot* of the dust bunnies. I'm sure that if I work at it a bit more, I'll be able to get it totally clean. I'd say there's a good chance that if your sensor is as dusty as mine was, you might want to start with the wet cleaning kit, and then doing upkeep using the dry kit.
It was easy to use though, so I feel better about making future attempts at cleaning everything up.
I'd give the dry kit 3 1/2 stars out of 5, because it won't get rid of a really bad dust bunny invasion, but I think that it is easy to use, and works really well to get rid of a lot of the specks.
(Note: I used the "Find Edges" filter to really find where those bunnies were, and the before shot seems a lot messier due to shadows on the ceiling, so it was only the really big pieces that are dust)
http://static.flickr.com/124/361913969_560b1135b7.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/nicolesphotos/361913969/)
And if she thought her sensor was filled with dust bunnies, I think mine was a breeding colony.
Before:
http://static.flickr.com/157/385917582_f02ee1fcfc.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/nicolesphotos/385917582/)
(f/29, 2/5 sec (note: the straight, diagonal line on the right is from my ceiling) and that weird curvy piece of dust was showing up on all of my pictures, and was very resistant to blowing)
So, with much trepidation, since I definitely couldn't afford to ruin my camera, I sat myself down at the table, steadied my nerves, and opened up the cleaning kit.
http://static.flickr.com/185/385921264_84aee88390.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/nicolesphotos/385921264/)
The instructions are really easy to read, and pretty straight forward. The kit contains vellum paper, instructions, a brush, and all comes in a little case. There are 2 possible ways to charge up the brush. The first way, is by using air (from a blower, or condensed air). The second way is by sweeping the brush along the vellum. They say to use whichever works best. I wound up using my blower to charge up the bristles since the vellum didn't work for me.
It took a couple of times, and it didn't get my sensor 100% clean, but there is a very marked difference between before and after:
http://static.flickr.com/126/385920839_c83385d91d.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/nicolesphotos/385920839/)
(f/22, 1/8 sec)
Needless to say, it cleaned off *a lot* of the dust bunnies. I'm sure that if I work at it a bit more, I'll be able to get it totally clean. I'd say there's a good chance that if your sensor is as dusty as mine was, you might want to start with the wet cleaning kit, and then doing upkeep using the dry kit.
It was easy to use though, so I feel better about making future attempts at cleaning everything up.
I'd give the dry kit 3 1/2 stars out of 5, because it won't get rid of a really bad dust bunny invasion, but I think that it is easy to use, and works really well to get rid of a lot of the specks.
(Note: I used the "Find Edges" filter to really find where those bunnies were, and the before shot seems a lot messier due to shadows on the ceiling, so it was only the really big pieces that are dust)