Just received a Delkin Sensor Scope Cleaning Kit from B&H ($109.95 + free shipping) to clean the sensors on my 5d and 20d. So far, so good. The sensor scope is a 5x magnification lens with embedded led lights which illuminate your sensor so you can see if and where the dirt on the sensor is located. It also included a mini vac to suck out the mirror box, chamber, and sensor area, plus sensor cleaner and wands to throughly clean your sensor. I will post before and after shots later but it did make cleaning my camera very easy. I did order VisibleDust 1.0x sensor wands to use with my 5d, as the wands included with the kit are for 1.6x sensors and I did not want to risk a streak down the middle of the sensor. As always, please click the banner above to order from B&H... search for Delkin Sensor Clean and you will find it. Expect a full cleaning tutorial soon. [This attachment has been purged. Older attachments are purged from time to time to conserve disk space. Please feel free to repost your image.]
I look forward to the tutorial Tim, is it so important to buy a specific kit to your match your camera? I only ask as Ive seen some old model kits heavily discounted
not camera specific, sensor-size specific. if you have a 1.6x sensor, then you want 1.6x swabs, and so forth. i chose this particular kit due to the scope, fluid, vac, and case more than the swabs (which i can use with my 20d or clean my buddies' cameras with). i bought extra 1.0x swabs for the 5d.
My thoughts exactly Tim. After you do it once its not that bad. I'd like to hear your thoughts on the Delkin kit. I bought one and wasn't very satisfied with it. I didn't have much luck with the vacuum and the swabs kept "shedding" little fuzzy things on the sensor. I've had much better luck using a rocket blower to clean out the mirror box and chamber, and I've switched to the visible dust wands and cleaning solutions which ended the shedding problem. I love how easy it is to see the dirt on the sensor with the scope though...
It's about time for me to clean my sensor too. I use sensor swabs and the fluid. I have a few spots in the top part of my sensor that are showing up at f11. So, its time.
I too cannot wait for the article that should come as a result of this purchase. I have a few sensor buggers that I need to get rid of
quick before and after test: [This attachment has been purged. Older attachments are purged from time to time to conserve disk space. Please feel free to repost your image.]
Wow looks like cleaning was a success! I can only imagine what mine looks like. I haven't even thought about doing this, and i have had the camera over a year now. I was wondering, is this something I should do?
Probably yes...but if you want to test it to find out...close down your aperture and point at a nice blank area like sky or a white surface - even better if out of focus. You'll quickly notice if you've got dust on the sensor with a small aperture. Of course, there are alot of factors - do you live in a dusty area, do you swap lenses alot, do you have big zoom lenses which can cause a 'suction' action when quickly zooming in and out, etc. Even with anti-dust sensor coatings and vibrations, all sensors can eventually get some dust spots. I am particularly prone - our area is superbly dusty and filled with pollens and other airborne particles, humidity is very high so the camera often goes through fogging in and out of cold to hot environments, I do change between 3 lenses quite often, and one of my lenses is a huge 200-500 zoom. Even holding the camera face-down when changing lenses, with the sensor vibration at turn-off and clean mode, anti-static coatings, etc...I still get dust on my sensor - within the first week I had it! Cleaning is definitely a regular routine. I use a rocket blower most of the time - which handles 80% of the dust. I've got the swabs for when I need a wet clean. I would like to get a sensor brush though - I hear they do pretty well and may save having to go through the wet swab process as often. Kit sounds awesome, Tim - I don't think I could spring that much for it myself though. If I had a FF camera and another body like you do, it might be a good investment...but for one 1.5x sensor, it'd harder to justify. Also, I have one of those new fangled sensors that requires the newer cleaning fluids, which don't often come with some of the kits. Keep us up to date on the tutorial process though!
