Tuesday, April 20, 2010

CCD Cleaning

http://www.bythom.com/cleaning.htm

If you've got a D3s, D60, D90, D300, D300s, D700, or D5000, regularly use the built-in dust cleaning mechanism. About once every shooting session and after any long period of disuse should be fine. Remember to hold the camera normally (sensor perpendicular to the ground) so that the dust falls to the adhesive strip at the bottom of the sensor chamber designed to catch the dust. Skip to Step 3.
(For those without a built-in shake dust removal system) On a regular basis, use your blower bulb to try to dislodge casual dust from the filter surface (camera should be facing down so that dust dislodged falls out of the camera through the lens mount). Do this in a clean environment and regularly, and you generally will get most of the dust dislodged this way without having to touch the filter.
Use a Sensor Brush whenever you need to remove casual dust the automated cleaning or blower bulb can't dislodge. Follow their procedures exactly; don't take shortcuts. Most of the time, this is enough cleaning to remove the offending dust. If you're traveling, you can use an Arctic Butterfly for this step, but be extremely careful not to touch it to the sides of the sensor mounting frame.
If a Sensor Brush session doesn't remove stubborn dust, use a Sensor Swab wet with Eclipse or Dust Aid Ultra Clean solution. Again, follow the manufacturer's procedures exactly.
If you still have a persistent dust bunny, you'll probably have to really wet a Sensor Swab (being careful not to wet it so much that the cleaning material breaks) and go over that spot again, perhaps with a gentle scrubbing action. This will likely leave streaks. If it does, let the sensor dry and then do another regular Sensor Swab of the sensor. Sometimes you have to do this sequence several times (wet pollens are no fun to remove).

1 comment:

  1. Thank you for the kind words. Please get intouch with me at joel@photosol.com
    Joel
    Photographic Solutions

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