Lens pen to clean sensor and mirrior?

[shaoken]

To TS..

As you have mentioned "lens pen". Lens pen are not suitable to clean the sensor and/or mirror.
It is better to get a blower brush that can wipe off the dust and blow it off at the same time.

 

[spheredome]

Sensor cleaning has to use sensor pen (from lenspen). You will need a torchlight.

For first few times, move the pen slowly towards sensor as it is hard to determine the depth since there is a filter in front of sensor.

If it is just dust, the sensor pen can just dislodge by a very light touch, then blow off. For moisture marks, then light top/down stoke will be needed, follow by final long sweep stroke to the bottom to remove the small spots, then blow away. Do not use the brush as should it get oily, will leave marking. Turn the pen cap once each time a dust is pick up.

Focus screen is very hard to clean on the contour side due to tiny grooves. So any liquid clean will leave marking which require very patience ring by ring wiping

 

[kkgoxplore]

I had used lens pen to clean my D300 sensor - using the long brushing stroke per the instruction. It can be done but I would not advocate it unless absolutely necessary (my heart was kind of in my mouth while I was cleaning it). Stubborn dust cannot be removed by blower.

Pardon me, I did not use the LensPen but VisibleDust Arctic Butterfly. I hope I have had not gotten anyone into any trouble. Sorry. :embrass:

 

[SJneo]

Hi TS,

"I spotted a very obvious dust particle thru my OVF"

if it still exist after air blowing the mirror i think very high chance the dust is on the focusing screen which in this case would not affect the picture quality. It a very delicate piece prone to scratches and many would actually recommend against cleaning it yourself:nono:.

Either live with it else bring it to the servicing center to clean

Had my own painful lesson. Tried to meddle with it to clean and ended up with a ugly scratch which is a pain to see every time i take a pic. Eventually replace it at the servicing center.

 

[android17]

The spot from my ovf doesn't affect my photos, but I found other spots from the pictures I've taken, thus I know those other spots are sensor dust, as I've changed lens to test and those spots are still around.

I'll send my camera to service centre for cleaning next week, but I will still go ahead with my self cleaning for this weekend, since I hv to start learning how to clean sensors. Can't be depending on service centres all the time also

The sensor swab and cleaning solution so ex! Nearly US$100!

 

[night86mare]

The sensor swab and cleaning solution so ex! Nearly US$100!

you can save money using pec pads

see this thread

alternatively, i use high quality cotton buds.. but do so at your own risk.

 

[night86mare]

Sensor cleaning has to use sensor pen (from lenspen). You will need a torchlight.

For first few times, move the pen slowly towards sensor as it is hard to determine the depth since there is a filter in front of sensor.

If it is just dust, the sensor pen can just dislodge by a very light touch, then blow off. For moisture marks, then light top/down stoke will be needed, follow by final long sweep stroke to the bottom to remove the small spots, then blow away. Do not use the brush as should it get oily, will leave marking. Turn the pen cap once each time a dust is pick up.

for sensor cleaning, i do not recommend sensor pen.

reason being, unless you are going to use it for only 5 times, beyond that, i suspect whatever welded dust it absorbs is going to be there on the tip. if it happens to be abrasive, then good luck. even if that is unlikely, i.e. can always use blower to dislodge loose particles.. i think after that amount of time it will become less and less effective and more exasperating. definitely not a cost effective solution.

i have tried using sensorklear before, dumped it in the end, not that great for removing welded dust either.

 

[night86mare]

This just happened to me when I tried to clean my KM 5D's focusing screen.:cry:
Is there anyway to fix it now?:embrass:

you will have to change.

as to how, i don't know.

i tried to get fatigue to do it for me, but i guess he was busy; got a great deal on ebay uk on the same slr.. so BBB.

 

[CS TAN]

The spot from my ovf doesn't affect my photos, but I found other spots from the pictures I've taken, thus I know those other spots are sensor dust, as I've changed lens to test and those spots are still around.

I'll send my camera to service centre for cleaning next week, but I will still go ahead with my self cleaning for this weekend, since I hv to start learning how to clean sensors. Can't be depending on service centres all the time also

The sensor swab and cleaning solution so ex! Nearly US$100!

If you are not planning to do this very often, your best option will be to send the camera in to the service centre to get the sensor clean. Not sure how much Sony will charge to do the cleaning, but Canon is only charging $20+GST so with the US$100, you can get it clean at least 5-6 times...

For Canon, you should be able to get the camera back within 1-2 hour.

 

[tanslrs]

I won't worry about dust for the event you're going unless you intend to stop down the aperture frequently. I usually see spots in my photos from F8 onwards.

 

[spheredome]

If it is behind the focusing screen, if you know how to remove the screen will be able to pick the speck lightly with a dry cotton bud. If it is on the other side, then no cure.

In any case, one must be comfortable in removing screen and cleaning sensor. Else don't do it. No matter what situation, it is either service centre or DIY, no miracles.

I have removed the focus screen on all my dSLR and do sensor cleaning, so gets easy with each use. Of course, I am confident bec it is my camera to begin with. For instance in order no to leave any finger print, wear those inspection glove "without" powder (common ones has powder).

Cotton buds can cause scratch so don't rub but good to pick up specks.

Hi TS,

"I spotted a very obvious dust particle thru my OVF"

if it still exist after air blowing the mirror i think very high chance the dust is on the focusing screen which in this case would not affect the picture quality. It a very delicate piece prone to scratches and many would actually recommend against cleaning it yourself:nono:.

Either live with it else bring it to the servicing center to clean

Had my own painful lesson. Tried to meddle with it to clean and ended up with a ugly scratch which is a pain to see every time i take a pic. Eventually replace it at the servicing center.

 

[T.A.]

you will have to change.

as to how, i don't know.

i tried to get fatigue to do it for me, but i guess he was busy; got a great deal on ebay uk on the same slr.. so BBB.

Sony can change it but at what cost I do not know. It's a 4 yr+ cam, maybe it's a better
idea to live with it whilst saving up for a new one.:bsmilie:

 

[android17]

just an update.

I gave my sensor a blowjob justnow ;p

And it seems ive cleared some of the sensor dust, as I no longer see the dark spots anymore from the pictures (didnt really pixel peep though, but im happy with the condition now).

However the big/irritating dust particle which i saw from my OVF, is still there. I switched to live view mode and it appears on my LCD screen as well, thus I know that its not some dust that is trapped in my OVF. When i used the manual focus live view (which works by lifting the mirror and directing light onto the sensor), the dust is not visible, so from this i can confirm that the dust is not a sensor dust.

Well since the sensor looks ok now, just that irritating dust on which doesnt affect my IQ, i will bear with it for this weekend, and send my camera to Sony for cleaning next week.

Thanks everyone for the inputs though. They are valuable information for me, and I will probably still purchase some sensor cleaning kits in future (don wanna keep sending back to sony for cleaning, even though its free).

 

[gargle]

nice to learn the different approaches to cleaning sensor. all i know is ... just don't use spit and cotton bud ... ;p

 

[CS TAN]

just an update.

I gave my sensor a blowjob justnow ;p

And it seems ive cleared some of the sensor dust, as I no longer see the dark spots anymore from the pictures (didnt really pixel peep though, but im happy with the condition now).

However the big/irritating dust particle which i saw from my OVF, is still there. I switched to live view mode and it appears on my LCD screen as well, thus I know that its not some dust that is trapped in my OVF. When i used the manual focus live view (which works by lifting the mirror and directing light onto the sensor), the dust is not visible, so from this i can confirm that the dust is not a sensor dust.

Well since the sensor looks ok now, just that irritating dust on which doesnt affect my IQ, i will bear with it for this weekend, and send my camera to Sony for cleaning next week.

Thanks everyone for the inputs though. They are valuable information for me, and I will probably still purchase some sensor cleaning kits in future (don wanna keep sending back to sony for cleaning, even though its free).

If you managed to blow away the dust particle, you might want to check carefully to see if there is a stain mark there. Usually if the particle stayed at the spot for a long period, there might still be stain mark on the sensor if you just use a blower to get rid of it. However, the stain mark might not be too obvious so it is up to you whether you want to do a wet clean.

 

[dreamspace5005]

Just did sensor and mirror cleaning using lens pen. There's dust in my viewfinder so decided to take out the focusing screen from my 50D without using any tools(there is a tool for it can check it out here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hf-4G4wGe-Y) and gave it a good blow at the focusing screen area before putting back the focusing screen. I managed to blow away the dust in my viewfinder but there's still some micro tiny dust left. Now looking thru the viewfinder is much much better... the whole process took me like 2 hrs plus...doing it carefully and slowly cos i dont want to scratch anything there..

 

[seanlim]

TS! Do NOT use a lens pen on your focusing screen.

had to learn it the hard way a few years back...Back then still kena chop head 200+ by nsc

:bsmilie::bsmilie:

 

[night86mare]

If you are not planning to do this very often, your best option will be to send the camera in to the service centre to get the sensor clean. Not sure how much Sony will charge to do the cleaning, but Canon is only charging $20+GST so with the US$100, you can get it clean at least 5-6 times...

For Canon, you should be able to get the camera back within 1-2 hour.

i think it's not 1 x sensor swab + 1 x serving of liquid..

normally swabs come in boxes of 12.. liquid definitely can last past 2 boxes..

if you think of it that way, cleaning yoruself is way economical.. and that is the atas way.

my way, just pay for eclipse or e2, the cotton buds are more expensive than normal ones, but also not that expensive.. i think clean one time less than 50 cents, can last 2 months. :bsmilie:

 

[geekbrains]

i think it's not 1 x sensor swab + 1 x serving of liquid..

normally swabs come in boxes of 12.. liquid definitely can last past 2 boxes..

if you think of it that way, cleaning yoruself is way economical.. and that is the atas way.

my way, just pay for eclipse or e2, the cotton buds are more expensive than normal ones, but also not that expensive.. i think clean one time less than 50 cents, can last 2 months. :bsmilie:

Bro, not only that..Once you buy the swab, you can reuse the swab by removing the existing cleaning cloth and replace it with a DIY cut PEC Pad. Thus the 12 swabs can be reused unlimited number of times..I have 3 bodies and I can't imagine sending them for cleaning all the time. Think of the expenses at NSC

 

[LBL2009]

Bro, not only that..Once you buy the swab, you can reuse the swab by removing the existing cleaning cloth and replace it with a DIY cut PEC Pad. Thus the 12 swabs can be reused unlimited number of times..I have 3 bodies and I can't imagine sending them for cleaning all the time. Think of the expenses at NSC

PEC PAD not recommended for sensor cleaning.

http://www.photosol.com/padproduct.htm