Filter is finally clean
kom...@yahoo.com
moving shit around the filter...removing some and introducing some
more! Anyway, I had it cleaned by a dude who contracts for Nikon and
was down at Canaveral for the (aborted) launch last week to clean the
gear that is going up in space with the crew...and it took this
"cracker jack" over an hour to get my shit clean! Bottom line, if
you're gonna do it, be confident and very careful! I think my first
attempt is what ended up doing me in and only succeeded in "cementing"
some of the dust to the filter and leaving "water spots".
Another note - take Rockwell's and Nikon's advice: before reaching for
the chemicals, blow on that sucker good. This guy got most of the
gradu with *GASP* canned air and a very, very light touch. This method
ultimately removed all but the stubbornest of crud. Only after several
90% successful attempts did he bring out the PecPads and chemicals.
This was a professional's absolute last attempt, and IMHO, should be
your's as well...just saying...
Ben
lars
Glad to hear you managed to get the thing clean.
Since going to brushes (charged with canned air to generate 'static
cling'), I almost never have to do a wet clean, and my sensor/filter is
kept nice and bunny free. The less you muck around in there the better,
and brushes minimize the intrusion, IMHO. BTW, blowing canned air in
there definitely qualifies for 'don't try this at home' status...
You can pay through the nose via VisibleDust, or you can go the artist
brush route. I couldn't find good brushes locally for under $10 each,
but found an inexpensive set on eBay (seller = "bearislandtc"). They
don't have any sizing in them, so you can use them right away (if you go
with artist's brushes, make sure you wash them repeatedly to get all the
sizing out before use!).
Keep it clean,
Lars
EF in FLA
> moving shit around the filter...removing some and introducing some
> more!
Good lord, what the heck you been doing? Eating dinner off the thing?
I never had a filter I couldn't reasonably clean by breathing hot air on it
and wiping it with an old tee shirt. You may be overestimating how much
said "shit" is really affecting your photos anyway.
ef
Dirty Harry
"EF in FLA" <bga...@microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:JQBFe.52372$mC....@tornado.tampabay.rr.com...
LOL hes talking about a digital sensor filter, not one you screw on a lens.
kom...@yahoo.com
Wrong interpretation of "filter". I'm talking about the low pass
filter/CCD, not the Tiffen filter on the end of my lens! Put an old
tee shirt on that, and you might as well go ahead and make your check
out to Nikon/Canon/whoever for a new one.
kom...@yahoo.com
lars wrote:
> Glad to hear you managed to get the thing clean.
I've only had the thing for six weeks or so. I first noticed a
little..well, a decent sized squiggly and tried to blow it off - no
luck. I then tried a homemade implement with PecPads, and only
introduced a shitload more dust onto it. It has beena struglle at
anything greater than f9 with no background noise!
> Since going to brushes (charged with canned air to generate 'static
> cling'), I almost never have to do a wet clean, and my sensor/filter is
> kept nice and bunny free. The less you muck around in there the better,
> and brushes minimize the intrusion, IMHO. BTW, blowing canned air in
> there definitely qualifies for 'don't try this at home' status...
He told me one of the big problems is dust that settles on the shutter.
Most people do the one pass with the pads or the brush or whatever,
and the dust will fall off the shutter onto the filter, leaving you
pissed off and wondering why the stuff is still there. So he first
blew on the shutter and then on the filter, ensuring no dust was left.
BTW, can you describe your method, your "cleaning workflow", a little
more in depth for me? I assume what you are saying is to blow some
charged air on the brush prior to going in so the brush picks up the
dust electromagnetically?
> You can pay through the nose via VisibleDust, or you can go the artist
> brush route. I couldn't find good brushes locally for under $10 each,
> but found an inexpensive set on eBay (seller = "bearislandtc"). They
> don't have any sizing in them, so you can use them right away (if you go
> with artist's brushes, make sure you wash them repeatedly to get all the
> sizing out before use!).
Thanks for the tip, dude.
Ben
lars
kom...@yahoo.com wrote:
> BTW, can you describe your method, your "cleaning workflow", a little
> more in depth for me? I assume what you are saying is to blow some
> charged air on the brush prior to going in so the brush picks up the
> dust electromagnetically?
>
>
Yes, though the term is more likely 'electrostatically' (but I'm no
physicist, so don't hold me to that).
The eBay guy has a link in his listing to a website that describes how
to use brushes to clean the sensor, and I followed those instructions.
Basically, blow the canned air on a soft, sizing-free, CLEAN brush, and
then swipe it lightly across the sensor. Blow canned air in the bristles
after each swipe. The dust is drawn away right off the surface. If you
get a 2 brush set, you use the other brush to clean the mirror box area
(focusing screen, mirror, mirror box sides, etc.), which helps keep the
whole innards clean, and results in less dust settling on the sensor, at
least it seems to in my experience (versus the old days of 6 months ago
when I used to push the dust around with a blower).
>>You can pay through the nose via VisibleDust, or you can go the artist
>>brush route. I couldn't find good brushes locally for under $10 each,
>>but found an inexpensive set on eBay (seller = "bearislandtc"). They
>>don't have any sizing in them, so you can use them right away (if you go
>>with artist's brushes, make sure you wash them repeatedly to get all the
>>sizing out before use!).
>
>
> Thanks for the tip, dude.
>
> Ben
>
You're welcome,
Lars
EF in FLA
> filter/CCD, not the Tiffen filter on the end of my lens! Put an old
> tee shirt on that, and you might as well go ahead and make your check
> out to Nikon/Canon/whoever for a new one.
>
LOL oops..........
ef
Dave Martindale
>Wrong interpretation of "filter". I'm talking about the low pass
>filter/CCD, not the Tiffen filter on the end of my lens! Put an old
>tee shirt on that, and you might as well go ahead and make your check
>out to Nikon/Canon/whoever for a new one.
In addition, you can have a lot of crud on a lens-front filter without
affecting anything except lowering contrast a bit, because at that
location the light is about as far from focused as possible.
The IR/anti-aliasing filter in front of the sensor is very close to
the image plane, so crud on it is nearly in focus.
Dave