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I have a couple of pieces of dust on the low pass filter that won't budge no matter how many times I run the "Clean Now".

This is a crop of a shot showing the dust.



Is my only option now to manually clean the sensor? How dangerous is that, especially for someone with presbyopia?

I normally just get my lens blower thingy and jet air over the sensor on my D300... thankfully anything that's been on the sensor came off. If its persistent I'd bring it into a qualified service person though.

I just tried the lens blower. It is now much worse. Much, much worse.

Yikes! Sorry, I keep my lens blower in a case and only use it in a room where the windows are closed so that there's no additional dust coming in. A friend of mine goes the extra step and has a vacuum cleaner hose right next to whatever he's cleaning.

Andrew,

A hammer?

You may need to wet clean. I honestly don't expect the internal cleaning mechanisms to do much more (or less) than what a blower might do.

How difficult is a wet clean? What do I need?

The timing couldn't be worse. I have a dive with grey nurse sharks planned this Sunday. The last time I went my strobe cable died and it was a waste (photography-wise). Looks like this trip is going to be ruined, too.

ATJ wrote:How difficult is a wet clean? What do I need?

Not difficult. There'll be several old threads with instructions if you dig through the forums. Try looking for "eclipse".

I have a dive

No need for it to be quite that wet.

You should be fine; it only takes a few minutes.

Nothing can go wrong!

OK, Eclipse E2 ordered from Quality Cameras. Hopefully it will arrive before the weekend.

Oops. Looks like I need swab for the sensor. Do I need a Copper Hill Sensor Swipe 14mm Kit?

You should be fine; it only takes a few minutes.

if its your first time - set aside a little more than a few minutes....

oh..and not after your double short black.....

FYI, and I am not necessarily recommending these

I have used the Photo-Solutions SENSOR-SWAB, worked well but expensive, I now use those PEC-PADS with the E2 solution, I have had no problems yet (touch wood).

I found this site helpful http://www.cleaningdigitalcameras.com/

actually now I think of it, make sure you have plenty of time to clean it, I remember the first time I did it and I was there for ages

Andrew,

I did the same thing last year when I used a blower and blew more gunk onto the sensor than it originally had. Like yourself, I too ordered a cleaning kit from qualitycamera, which if Stu is his normal efficient self you may even receive tomorrow.

It took eight pec pads to totally get rid of all the dust on my sensor.

You may find the following page helpful.

http://www.pbase.com/copperhill/ccd_cleaning

It's daunting at first, but once you have done it done it successfully, you'll want to keep doing it.

Bit like sex, really!

I had to get a wet cleaning kit in Italy while i was travelling not long ago as i had a huge smudge on my sensor. I was pretty freaked out about doing a wet clean, however after to swabs and 5 minutes it was all done and a case of "is that it, thats to easy". I used the stuff from Visibledust, followed by a dry clean with the Arctic Butterfly.

I must say Andrew, that first photo does nothing for me, it's rather boring really.

ozimax wrote:I must say Andrew, that first photo does nothing for me, it's rather boring really.

The UFO folks are very interested in it, Ozi.

ozimax wrote:I must say Andrew, that first photo does nothing for me, it's rather boring really.

Oz .... i find that the image has a lot to offer.....depth quality and the unseen...... it fringes on the side of genius, just out there...... there is a lot to be said about this image....

there is a lot to be said about this image....

But is any of it good?

Mods, this has surely been posted in the wrong section. S/B in Review & Critique section
Being where it is many people may have missed this extraordinary image.

ATJ wrote:Oops. Looks like I need swab for the sensor. Do I need a Copper Hill Sensor Swipe 14mm Kit?

Yes (just in case no one else answered)

I'm surprised Stuie at Quality camera didn't ask if you needed the full kit. He normally never misses a chance to supersize an order

BullcreekBob wrote:I'm surprised Stuie at Quality camera didn't ask if you needed the full kit. He normally never misses a chance to supersize an order

He didn't need to ask because I already worked out I needed the full kit and he canceled the E2 only order. I also have the kit sitting on my desk ready for my first (and probably 2nd, 3rd, etc.) wipe tonight.

OK, I have done it. It was a little daunting but turns out to be relatively easy. My first go actually did a sterling job and removed the two main pieces that started the whole thing as well as most of what I added later trying to fix it with the blower. I still ended up with a few pieces including some new ones. I few more goes and it is almost completely clean. There are still two very small and faint pieces that are close to the edge and are a little stubborn, but they are only just noticeable at f/32. At f/11 it is perfectly clean.

In all, I had 6 goes although the first couple did most of the cleaning. The last 3 I only swiped one side of the sensor as that was where the only dust was.

I'm proficient at wrapping PEC*PADs around the sensor swipe.

Well done Andrew

Are you still sboer ?

gstark wrote:Are you still sboer ?

Yes. But are you? "sboer"?

ATJ wrote:

gstark wrote:Are you still sboer ?

Yes. But are you? "sboer"?

Alwyas. And nveer confsued.