Please express your impression.

[birddog114]

How many people do the cleaning of the ccd since the last meet on Sat. 4/9?
How do you find the task? fun? easy?scaring? do it again frequently?
Gentlemen, The D70 Community needs your expression.

[gstark]

I did mine yesterday.

It's somewhat more daunting than I expected.

The main thing I noticed was that my blower brush is simply too small.

Although I didn't use the brush part of it, it was totally inadequate when it came to attempting to just blow the loose dust off the sensor, so a much larger blower is now on my shopping list.

Apart from that, it's a task that I think I'd prefer to perform less frequently rather than more frequently.

[birddog114]

I did mine yesterday.

The main thing I noticed was that my blower brush is simply too small.

Although I didn't use the brush part of it, it was totally inadequate when it came to attempting to just blow the loose dust off the sensor, so a much larger blower is now on my shopping list.
.

Gary,
You should have one of the following:
http://www.2filter.com/prices/products/rocket.html
I ordered 2 x 190mm tall, should be here next week, same time with the Sensor swab + Pec*Pad, if you need one, please let me know, of course will pass to you whatever it cost me.

[gstark]

Exactly.

[Raydar]

I basically sit down & give all my gear a good clean about every two weeks.
So If needed I would be cleaning the CCD at that point.
Just one thing I’ll have to get used to owning a DSLR I guess

Cheers
Ray

[Mj]

I've managed to avoid ccd cleaning so far. It's sure to be needed in the near future so I'm keen that you all hone your skills and sort out what not to do well in advance

Not too concerned about blowing and brushing, I've a nice big blower something like the rocket, but cleaning fluids and such are a whole other matter.

Clean away gentlemen... clean away !!!

[Onyx]

I don't change lenses very often currently, as that kit lens is on there 90% of the time. However I do suffer severely from the dust bunnies disease.

I find the CCD needs cleaning about twice a week - however that's because currently I'm using the camera far more than is usual. 200-300 pics a day, i figure that's as many times the shutter flips up and down, spreading and shifting any dust in the proximity of the mirror box.

Sometimes I've been relunctant to shoot smaller apertures due to the prominence of visible dust spots, and will select a wider than optimal aperture which is detrimental to image quality... well, maybe not so much quality but creative intent.

[W00DY]

I wouldn't know where to start!!!! Well ok, I would start by reading the forum...

I am waiting for the next gathering so I can hopefully see it being done first. So far I don't think I have any dust on the CCD.

W00DY

[Greg B]

There used to be a small compressed air blower which was very handy in the darkroom, or for getting stuff off filters and lenses. Don't know whether they are still available, or whether they might be potentially too powerful for the matter under discussion, but they were very handy. I'll try and find an old one in my well buried darkroom gear to get the name.

[gstark]

There used to be a small compressed air blower which was very handy in the darkroom, or for getting stuff off filters and lenses. Don't know whether they are still available, or whether they might be potentially too powerful for the matter under discussion, but they were very handy. I'll try and find an old one in my well buried darkroom gear to get the name.

Greg,

These are still (to my knowledge) available, but they're not suitable for cleaning a sensor with. Consider the effect of some of the propellant getting onto the sensor.

[Greg B]

Gary

I have considered the prospect of propellant on the sensor. This is not a good prospect, not good at all.



Let's move on....

Greg

[Raydar]

Yes please.
Don’t try this at home kids!!!!!!!!!!

Cheers
Ray

[Glen]

I cleaned my ccd this week for the first time (and the 9th time and tenth, etc) and found it very straightforward with pec pads, sensorswabs and eclipse. Took me a few goes to get it perfect, by wipe three only had one spot but took seven more goes to move it from corner to corner before I got rid of it! Realised at the end I was using too much eclipse (must have thought I was washing a car) so with only one drop it came off in one go. Very pleased with the results and would have no hesitation to do it whenever needed.

Now if only downloading XP sp2 would have worked as well, lost my computer for 2 days.

[birddog114]

Glen wrote:
Now if only downloading XP sp2 would have worked as well, lost my computer for 2 days.


**That's the answer: we did not see your post in the last two days.**

[Onyx]

Yea Glen, didn't you see my "XP2 is evil" post?

[Geoff]

How many people do the cleaning of the ccd since the last meet on Sat. 4/9?
How do you find the task? fun? easy?scaring? do it again frequently?
Gentlemen, The D70 Community needs your expression.

I haven't done it yet, I'm a huge wuss! I haven't needed to do it since the first (and only) time I sent it back to maxwell...I would ultimately prefer to do it with an experienced user the first few times..I think that would definately ease my concerns!

[Glen]

Geoff, really straightforward with the kit from Birddog. Hopefully there will be a session on this or I am at Neutral Bay if you need it prior to that session.

Yes Birddog, Onyx, just got the computer back now (Monday night) after replacing the drive. Aren't Microsoft wonderful people

[birddog114]

Yes Birddog, Onyx, just got the computer back now (Monday night) after replacing the drive. Aren't Microsoft wonderful people

Glen,
Glad to hear that you're back on line, haven't heard from you since last post, I thought that you have had problem with your system, try to catch up with all the posts while you're off line. 53 members as we have today!!!
Few other bit & pieces and we're waiting for you.
Cheers

[Glen]

Thanks Birddog, it feels like my tongue had been cut out for a while! I have three computers on my network but really all my bookmarks, nikon view, etc were on mine so really is a nuisance to work without those things. I am going through all the posts now. 53 is great news (when I saw that post I thought someone turned 53). Glad to be back