Dealing with dust

[AlbertP]

What's your preferred method of getting the dust bunnies out of your DSLRs? Is there anything better or cheaper than Invisible Dust? Cheers.

[caribou]

Theres is a very cheap and easy technique which involves using 3MM scotch tape. Thousands are people are using this technique and it leaves no residue.

[photosbymorgan2]

Originally Posted by AlbertP

What's your preferred method of getting the dust bunnies out of your DSLRs? Is there anything better or cheaper than Invisible Dust? Cheers.

I use the rocket blaster. I just point my camera down and blow the dust out with the rocket. I have never had any trouble gtting rid of the dust.

One thing a lot of people do not know is that if you turn off your camera before changing lenses then you will cut down on the amount of dust you will collect. When the camera is on the sensor is charged and will act like a magnet and attract the dust more.

[Tim Gray]

I've been using the Visible Dust brushes since they've been out - and occasionally if that doesn't do the trick the Coperhill method (home made rubber spatula, pec pad and eclipse fluid.)

There've been reports of success using an inexpensive artist's nylon brush and charging the same was as the Visible Dust brush - the trick is to make absolutely sure you've got all the glue/residue out of the brush. The test is stroke a hundred times or so on a uv filter and see if there has been any kind of transfer.

[Alice Morrison]

Originally Posted by Tim Gray

I've been using the Visible Dust brushes since they've been out - and occasionally if that doesn't do the trick the Coperhill method (home made rubber spatula, pec pad and eclipse fluid.)

There've been reports of success using an inexpensive artist's nylon brush and charging the same was as the Visible Dust brush - the trick is to make absolutely sure you've got all the glue/residue out of the brush.* The test is stroke a hundred times or so on a uv filter and see if there has been any kind of transfer.

Another vote for invisible dust. We pay 4k for cameras. What's another $100??



BTW, nice work, Tim.

[hartcons]

Or get an olympus e-300 like I did

For my d70 I was using the pull your hair out method and then copperhill and finally visible brushes and now thank goodness I haven't seen any horrible dust blobs in my pics for a while (but I've also stopped taking f22 sky shots with auto levels because they were just too depressing). Using a blower has always been disastrous with my d70 (dust everywhere).

I assume everyone will copy Olympus eventually but for now I think Olympus has the lead in this area. But I also think there might be such a thing as sticky dust from humidity/condensation (and I've also heard mention of shutter grease) that might be difficult to just shake off.

[ditto1958]

Originally Posted by AlbertP

What's your preferred method of getting the dust bunnies out of your DSLRs? Is there anything better or cheaper than Invisible Dust? Cheers.

Trade in your cameras for an E-1 or E-300

[Alice Morrison]

Originally Posted by ditto1958

Trade in your cameras for an E-1 or E-300

I would be open to this if Oly offered more lenses.

[hartcons]

Oly doesn't have a ton of lenses, but it does have some nice ones (especially ones with low F for brighter viewfinder, low light and I think even faster autofocus and that focus closely as well). There are now three sigma lenses that work, too. In general I think oly makes better lenses than nikon.

But it's not like with my d70 (yet) where I can walk into almost any camera shop and find lots of lens options.

But keep in mind that oly lenses are all digital from scratch vs. using film lenses which I've been told don't always have enough resolution for digital.

Maybe if more folks like you buy an e-system camera there will be additional incentive for more lenses.

[sandrah]

Originally Posted by caribou

Theres is a very cheap and easy technique which involves using 3MM scotch tape. Thousands are people are using this technique and it leaves no residue.

That sounds scary. Are you sure it takes off the dust and doesn't leave residue?

I've tried the air blast technique but that was bad for me, we turned the can upside down and blew upwards into the camera.

Did you know that causes the can of air to form some sort of condensation? Well, it did in this case and I now have some lovely little dots on the exterior section of the taking surface.

Luckily, it is the area that usually doesn't have any significant details in it. But never again.

Last time I had it cleaned the Camera store charged $50. Sandra in Sacramento

[RobAmy]

Originally Posted by photosbymorgan2

I use the rocket blaster. I just point my camera down and blow the dust out with the rocket. I have never had any trouble gtting rid of the dust.

One thing a lot of people do not know is that if you turn off your camera before changing lenses then you will cut down on the amount of dust you will collect. When the camera is on the sensor is charged and will act like a magnet and attract the dust more.

Good point about turning the camera off, I also use the rocket blaster and it works well. I also used swabs on the 10d 20d and the markII. Worked great on all of them

[photosbymorgan2]

Originally Posted by RobAmy

Good point about turning the camera off, I also use the rocket blaster and it works well. I also used swabs on the 10d 20d and the markII. Worked great on all of them

Some people say to really cut down on dust when changing lenses that you should also pull your battery as this discharges the CMOS completely. I do not know how true this is.

[Mark Thomas]

I blow off any dust with a heavy duty enema bulb I bought at a chemist for a fraction of the price of a photographic blower. I use medical alcohol and cotton buds for spots that the blower won't lift. The sensor is not as sensative as the manufacturers say - probably just to cover themselves.

Cheers

[photosbymorgan2]

Originally Posted by Mark Thomas

I blow off any dust with a heavy duty enema bulb I bought at a chemist for a fraction of the price of a photographic blower. I use medical alcohol and cotton buds for spots that the blower won't lift. The sensor is not as sensative as the manufacturers say - probably just to cover themselves.

Cheers

What type of store do you purchase the medical alcohol from and would cue tips work for lightly removing the dust?

[Mark Thomas]

I purchase it from a chemist and use 100% cotton earbuds. A camera repair shop I know uses pure cotton wool that they hold grip in a medical tweezer that locks. They are experienced at this and are careful not to let the metal touch the sensor - but it's basically the same priciple as an ear bud, just a bit more sturdy.

I don't do this often as the blower removes most of the dust. Sometimes the sensor looks clean (no visible dust) but has spots that could be from the shutter movement .

Cheers

[hartcons]

Originally Posted by photosbymorgan2

What type of store do you purchase the medical alcohol from and would cue tips work for lightly removing the dust?

From experience I can tell you that lint-free is the only way to go (and I don't think Q-Tips are lint free) If I had it to do over again I think I'd start with http://www.visibledust.com/ brushes and only go to the wet methods if that didn't work out. There's a new game in town at http://www.intemos.com/ but I haven't tried them.

[Mark Thomas]

Sometimes you have to use a wet method. I have found that there is a residue that makes spots on the sensor - was told it was from the shutter but can't confirm that. Regarding the earbuds, I always blow after the wet method and sometimes use a lint free cloth wrapped around the eraser on a pencil for really sticky spots. This is not ofted as the blower gets rid of any lint.

Cheers

[JDArt]

Originally Posted by AlbertP

What's your preferred method of getting the dust bunnies out of your DSLRs? Is there anything better or cheaper than Invisible Dust? Cheers.

I use a bulb blower usually, but when I'm getting ready to do macro work at f/16, I drag out the visible dust brushes and plan on spending half an hour or so cleaning, testing, cleaning.

It's truly a drag.