Stupid, stupid, stupid thing to do...

[pippin88]

Just did a very stupid thing...

Was cleaning my CCD to get rid of the dust bunnies I acquired / noticed from the Stockton Beach excursion and it was going alright, but then I got a smudge, (or to my horror, I thought it might be a scratch), that wouldn't leave. It was noticeable on a normal sky shot, didn't have to auto levels it or anything.

So I kept fiddling then came up with the genius idea of using a bit more eclipse, except I just applied a drop or two straight to the filter...

Needless to say the lowpass filter is not sealed watertight to the surrounds, and I now have eclipse between the filter and the CCD.

In to Maxwell's it will have to go. Hopefully they'll fix it under the normal free clean or warranty.

Hard to believe I even considered doing that, let alone thinking it might help clean it

[johndec]

It's only pure methanol, it should evaporate. It's actuallly very good at evaporating, I left the lid off a full bottle of eclipse and when I noticed a few days later it was half empty...

[kipper]

Ooops.......try leaving it in a warm area first dude. It is ethanol and might evaporate if in a warm enviro. Just crank the dial up on the heating.
Just hope it doesn't leave a smear.

Is it methanol or ethanol?

[johndec]

methanol

[kipper]

actually come to think of it, ethanol is corrosive......wouldnt be the best thing to use

[birddog114]

Use a Giotto Air Blower and hand pump the air as much as you can into the chamber and the methanol will be gone, the re-do the cleaning as usual.
You're not the only one pippin88! I had a guy came here last Monday asked me to help him with it after he used the eyedrop bottle to drop 4 drops of methanol onto the CCD of his one week old D2x.
Make me all the way thru.

[pippin88]

Thanks for the advice guys, I'm much reassured. Seems to be clearing up.

A week old D2x!

[stubbsy]

Good luck Nick & thanks for the cautionary tale

[pippin88]

Not looking good though guys:

[birddog114]

Have you re-cleaned it?
Are you in Sydney atm? if yes pop into the meet tomorrow and we might help you out!

Yes, one week old D2x, he played silly bugger when changing lens at the motocross track at Morrisset last Saturday, and the motorbike spinned its rear wheel to where he was standing and full of dust got into the chamber,
took me nearly 40 min. to help him out, the hard things were the dust dried up after he dropped few drops of methanol onto the CCD.

[kipper]

Birddog, that is so funny.
Did you tell him to dry clean it first instead of putting liquid onto dirt/dust.....god, that would of made some nice paste.

Some people don't deserve that camera.

[birddog114]

Birddog, that is so funny.
Did you tell him to dry clean it first instead of putting liquid onto dirt/dust.....god, that would of made some nice paste.

Some people don't deserve that camera.

He rang me while I was at my holiday home on Sunday, I thought it was some light dust, I told him to use the Giotto Air Rocket to blow it first, which he did, but as you know, inside the chamber, it has some corners and dust are still there, as soon the methanol went in it was like a paste.
Boy! I could not believe it once he brought over to me last Monday.
Don't you know: he's rich, has 6 x quite expensive motorcross, he just want to take photo while he up there playing with his toys.

[Oneputt]

Aha Birddog A night in shining armour. I wished that I lived closer

[kipper]

Still, there should be a licence to use these cameras. Just coz your rich shouldn't just allow you to have one!

[birddog114]

Still, there should be a licence to use these cameras. Just coz your rich shouldn't just allow you to have one!

Well, what can we do then?

[Matt. K]

Nick
That's not looking good. Leave it for a couple of days and if you are extremely lucky then maybe it'll clear up. By the way...sometimes those stubborn marks that will not go away can be on the rear element of the lens, not the CCD

[birddog114]

Nick,
You have a surgeon's hand, where is it?

[Alex]

actually come to think of it, ethanol is corrosive......wouldnt be the best thing to use

No, it's not! And eclipse is methanol, not ethanol.

Alex

[waspo]

Hi Nick, you're not the only one who's done a stupid thing, although I didn't go as far as putting solution directly on the sensor. Instead, I just drowned the pec-pad and wiped it across the sensor, that way it's atleast a bit contained and always evaporating down. Did the trick too!
If the solution has leaked under the sensor to cause the streaks, then I think you'll be out of luck. But, If the steaks are on top, I'd give it another quick sweep over with the pec-pad and a few drops of solution. After all, what have you got to lose.

[Alex]

Nick,

Sorry to hear. Do as Birddog said. Keep blowing using the giotto rocket near the edges of the sensor as much as you can. Unfortunately, from what I read though, the filter is almost 'glued' to the sensor and they become practically one part and replacing only a single one of the two is not possible. Sorry, I hope though you find a cheap solution.

Alex

[pippin88]

Looking a bit better, but I don't think this is going to clear itself up:



If I was in Sydney, I'd pop by, but I'm not till next weekend, so might come then, or might put it into Maxwells on the Friday.

[Alex]

Looking a bit better, but I don't think this is going to clear itself up:



If I was in Sydney, I'd pop by, but I'm not till next weekend, so might come then, or might put it into Maxwells on the Friday.

Nick,

I suggest Maxwells. See what they say and if they can do it on warranty. I dont think you'll get it perfect even if it was to evaporate completely.

Alex

[kipper]

You sure Alex, I thought that was the reason why a lot of people kicked up in regards to ethanol being used in fuel. Because it was corrosive to certain parts of the engine.

[Alex]

You sure Alex, I thought that was the reason why a lot of people kicked up in regards to ethanol being used in fuel. Because it was corrosive to certain parts of the engine.

Hi Darryl,

Ethanol is certainly not corrosive, otherwise a glass of red, which I believe we both enjoy, would do us more damage than it actually does

I believe it does damage to the car parts for other reasons due to technicalities of combustion process in the engine. I am not a car mechanic, but I am a chemist.

Anyway, eclipse is pure methanol and is absolutely harmless to the glass surface.

Cheers

Alex

[pippin88]

The Giotto Rocket Air is worth it's wait in gold.

Been pumping it constantly into the corners since my last post (45mins) and it seems to have cleared it up reasonably.



Now just appears filthy, not stuffed.

I just hope that dirt is on the outside (probably as I've had a few goes at cleaning it without a new pec pad each time etc)

[Alex]

The Giotto Rocket Air is worth it's wait in gold.

Been pumping it constantly into the corners since my last post (45mins) and it seems to have cleared it up reasonably.



Now just appears filthy, not stuffed.

I just hope that dirt is on the outside (probably as I've had a few goes at cleaning it without a new pec pad each time etc)

Nick,

Looking much better, it might work afterall. Yes, hopefully the dirt is on the surface.

Good luck
Alex

[DaveB]

eclipse is pure methanol and is absolutely harmless to the glass surface.

Of course the methanol does pick up the contaminants you were trying to clean away and you can end up with streaking if you don't clean it properly.

It is possible to remove the filter on the D70 (we do it when doing astro and IR conversions on these cameras) so cleaning the front and back of it is fairly straightforward (I would be pleasantly surprised if Maxwells treated it as a warranty job though!). What could be trickier is if there's been crap deposited on the CCD itself.

Nick, looks like you're making progress!

[pippin88]

Looks like I've got it clean enough for tonight, will have to take sky photos to be sure.





I may have scratched the filter (I thought I might have and in an attempt to clean it I dropped methanol on it in the first place)



So maybe might have to replace the low pass filter? Someone got one spare

[leek]

Nick,
I sincerely hope that your photos were of some very bad examples of wallpaper...
Otherwise, you have some extreme blotches and stripes to deal with...

[DaveB]

So maybe might have to replace the low pass filter? Someone got one spare

If so, ouch! I'm not sure about the D70, but last time I checked for a particular EOS DSLR the replacement cost was many hundreds of dollars (ever since, I've been afraid to ask about the filters for later models!).

[pippin88]

Yes, bad wallpaper John.

The splotchyness comes from autolevels on a poor image, but time (and daylight) will tell.

Suspected as much Dave.

Thanks to everyone for their tips / ideas and commiserations.

[leek]

Yes, bad wallpaper John.
The splotchyness comes from autolevels on a poor image, but time (and daylight) will tell..

Can I suggest a flash photo of an A4 sheet of white paper... This has worked for me in the past...

[DaveB]

The technique I use for test shots is JPEG mode (Large Fine/whatever), your lowest ISO, Av-mode using the smallest aperture the lens will handle, and exposure compensation to +1EV. Use manual focus and set the lens to as close focus as possible.

Then point it at as uniform an area you can find as possible. If you're indoors you'll end up with a fairly long exposure, and this is no bad thing. In fact you WANT the camera to move during the shot and thus blur the subject. Any dust inside your camera will move with it and not be blurred.

This technique has worked on all the DSLRs (Nikon/Canon/Minolta/Pentax) I've cleaned. The only reasons for selecting JPEG mode are that it makes checking the image on your computer easier, and it makes zooming into the image on the camera's LCD possible (e.g. the Minolta 7D won't zoom into RAW shots!).

[pippin88]

Seems acceptable in daylight:

Taken at F29:



Auto Leveled - as you can see there are some splotches, though I'm not sure which side they are on.



I'm just hoping the whole image isn't a bit splotchy or blurry.

[waspo]

Wow, looking good, Nick. I'd almost say you could get away with that!

[Alex]

Nick,

Well done. It should not be noticable with busy photos. If you are lucky, the spots may be on the surface of the filter. Give it a clean again, this time the proper way, and try again.

Alex

[fozzie]

Pippin88 - on the surface, looking good.

Still might pay you, when in Sydney next to take along to a meet for Birrdog114 and perhaps Matt.K to look over.

[pippin88]

Pippin88 - on the surface, looking good.

Still might pay you, when in Sydney next to take along to a meet for Birrdog114 and perhaps Matt.K to look over.

That's what I was thinking, give someone more experienced (and wise) a go.

[birddog114]

Nick,
You'll be OK with it, come to the mini meet next time and I'll talk with you about it if those spots are still there.

[pippin88]

Will probably be at the Mini Meet next week (if there is one on).

Seems to be taking photos ok from just a play in my room.

Time and more of a play will tell. (Prob stick my macro lens on as its the sharpest I have)