When to clean?

[BovrilArg]

Ok so I was reading another thread on the excellent Nikon service received in Montreal and a question came to me but I did not want to hijack an already good thread.

How often do you have your equipment professionally serviced? I am not talking about repair but rather preventative maintenance?


I use my 70-200 and 24-70mm quite a bit in varying environments. I am very careful with them and they are spotless. I do see a little piece of what looks like peeling paint in my 70-200 but this has been there since I bought it and does not impact the image quality one bit.

How about the cameras? Do you ever send these in? I am fairly good at cleaning my sensor and bought the necessary equipment to do it right. The sensor is spotless but there is a bit of dust on the mirror. This does not impact the pictures but is visible in the viewfinder. While I am brave at cleaning the mirror is well out of my comfort level.

[mistermonday]

I blow the dust off with an air compressor, a real air compressor, not canned air with chemicals. The air line has a special filter to keep dust and moisture from getting into the airflow.
Cheers, Murray

[cyclohexane]

Once every other year.

The bayonet mounts on the cameras and lenses do eventually wear out (ever notice the silver shavings left behind in your mirror box from the lens mounts?), and the cheap aluminum used tends to flex over time and will affect your images because your lens can no longer fit properly. There is some inherent free play in the mount, but when your mounts move across more than one axis, they need to be replaced.

If dust "welds" itself to the submirror used to autofocus behind the main mirror, your camera may stop focusing correctly with some or all of your focusing points. To check the submirror, carefully lift the big mirror up slowly with one finger; you'll see a second mirror that folds into the first one)

Some of the older cameras had mirror box designs that were prone to misalignment over time due to repeated use; the D2H and D2X were particularly bad about it, with a pair of screws that would loosen as quickly as every 10,000 frames, affecting the alignment of the mirror and focusing sensors. Some cameras were never significantly affected by this phenomenon, while the particularly egregious examples left the users with cameras that wouldn't focus at all. Nikon quietly rectified this with the D2XS by changing the design of the mirror box.

Canon also experienced a similar problem with a batch of 1D Mk.II cameras which they quietly replaced.

I used to have my equipment serviced at least once a year but I was shooting a lot of stuff that was rougher on the equipment then. If you use your gear regularly, it makes your life easier to have it regularly serviced as the techs will align everything, replace worn out mount and other parts, and you don't have to explain to your clients why everything's blurry or why you didn't get the photo.

[Dirk]

agree with michael every year will be enough unless you ar photographing dakar and switching lenses during a sandstorm than daily is more like it the best option

[Jim Jones]

Servicing can be hard on gear, too. Disassembly and reassembly of delicate equipment occasionally does more harm than good. Remember the old saying, "If it ain't broke, fix it until it is!" Long ago, when servicing Teletype equipment was part of my job, we tore down, cleaned, lubed, and tested printers once a month. They needed it. Engineering has become more user friendly since those dark ages. Pros who may take a thousand shots at one event, day in and day out, might justify regular CLAs. The digital cameras of us amateurs who only hope to capture a few great photos in one year should be obsolete before they need servicing. In almost 60 years of using Leica, I've sent a body off for a CLA only once.

[cyclohexane]

Jim, they don't quite make 'em like that any more. We have a Leica M3 doublestroke in the family that's about that old that, as far as I know, has never had a CLA, and but it's still ticking more or less like new. It was one of my late grandfather's cameras when he worked as a photographer.

The only digital SLR I've owned that never had a mechanical or electronic failure (not including failures caused by me through rough handling or bejng clumsy) is, ironically, a D2HS, the S model of the much-maligned D2H.

[jerryph]

I do it when needed, no schedule or anything. I've learned how to do my own cleaning because 90% of the time an outside surface cleaning and blowing out with the biggest model of Giotto Rocket Blaster is all the sensor needs. I clean the sensor using a wet/wipe method maybe 3 times a year. That said, I've received 3 free sensor cleanings from Nikon, they seem happy to do it each time I walk in the door without prompting if I happen to have the camera there.

[jerryph]

Originally Posted by mistermonday

I blow the dust off with an air compressor, a real air compressor, not canned air with chemicals. The air line has a special filter to keep dust and moisture from getting into the airflow.
Cheers, Murray

I'd not recommend that. Air compressors may have moisture filters, but the vast majority of those filters use oil as a way to filter out the smaller particles, and oil on a sensor can cause some serious damage. Also the potential for excessive air pressure is a strong possibility. Instead of blowing out dust, you could end up ripping off an internal part due to the high pressures.

Use the right tools for the job.

[mistermonday]

Originally Posted by jerryph

I'd not recommend that. Air compressors may have moisture filters, but the vast majority of those filters use oil as a way to filter out the smaller particles, and oil on a sensor can cause some serious damage. Also the potential for excessive air pressure is a strong possibility. Instead of blowing out dust, you could end up ripping off an internal part due to the high pressures.

Use the right tools for the job.

You need to use a special hepa filter which is non oil based. They make them for "clean room" work like this in high tech. You also need to set the pressure appropriately low. If you don't feel comfortable or knowledgable, off course take the camera to a qualified Tech.

[mistermonday]

Originally Posted by Jim Jones

Servicing can be hard on gear, too. Disassembly and reassembly of delicate equipment occasionally does more harm than good. Remember the old saying, "If it ain't broke, fix it until it is!" Long ago, when servicing Teletype equipment was part of my job, we tore down, cleaned, lubed, and tested printers once a month. They needed it. Engineering has become more user friendly since those dark ages. Pros who may take a thousand shots at one event, day in and day out, might justify regular CLAs. The digital cameras of us amateurs who only hope to capture a few great photos in one year should be obsolete before they need servicing. In almost 60 years of using Leica, I've sent a body off for a CLA only once.

+1
I am of the same belief. If you are careful in the environments where you need to switch lenses and keep the dust out to begin with, the camera will need minimal cleaing. I have had many DSLRs that have gone through their entire operational lives with 1 or no cleanings. Often cleaning a camera makes some things worse.