Tag: cleaning

Cleaning Your Sensor

Jason4 Comments

As with most things, your camera needs maintenance too – and I’ve waxed here periodically about establishing a maintenance schedule, cleaning schedules, and the whole schmear – but I’ve never addressed the specifics of cleaning that most important piece of equipment – the sensor in your camera.  As I dive in here, it bears mentioning that I am not advocating any one of these over another – just sort of laying the foundation on the various ways that are available:

1.  Having someone else do it – Most camera stores offer this service for around $50, so if the idea of getting anything near your sensor just gives you the heebie-jeebies, by all means, this option is a good one for the nervous Nelly.

2.  Air Blowers – These are rapidly becoming one of the more popular options as they are relatively cheap, easy, and don’t require messing around with chemicals.  You simply put your camera into the cleaning mode, insert tip of the air blower near the sensor and puff it a few times remove and you are done.  Some claim fantastic results with these while others say stubborn dust won’t come off from this method.  The advantage of this approach is that you never have to touch your sensor (technically the filter in front of the sensor) with anything!  The downside is that results may not get everything off.

Air Blower Method

Giottos Rocket Blower

3.  Sensor swipes – Certain swipes are made just for camera sensors that use hydrostatic charges to remove dust from your sensor.  It’s got an advantage in that it’s a dry cleaning approach so requires no chemicals.  I have heard of some who are reluctant to use this as foreign fibers and materials can get in the swipe which could scratch your sensor.

Lensklear

4.  Chemical cleaning – Pec Pads, Eclipse alcohol and sensor swipes all combine in this method to give the most thorough cleaning, virtually guaranteed to remove even the most stubborn dirt from your sensor.  The risk – doing it wrong can permanently damage your sensor and the cost of buy-in is a lot higher than other methods.  Once you buy-in though, the long term cost drops rapidly!

PecPads

Since I only mentioned it briefly at the beginning, I should also clarify that the idea behind cleaning your sensor is actually a misnomer – all of these solutions are cleaning the filter in front of the sensor – the sensor technically never gets cleaned unless you use option 1 – sending it in for a cleaning.  All the camera vendors (Canon, Nikon, Pentax, etc.) offer this service, but the downside there is multi-faceted in that it’s usually more expensive, you have to go without your camera for a period of time, and there’s shipping involved!

What methods do you use?  I know some people that combine multiple approaches, while others simply just shake it out once and a while (heck, I read a story once of a guy that used his t-shirt! – not sure how valid it is, but you get the gist).  Sound off in the comments with your own cleaning products and approaches!

Rocket Man!

Jason9 Comments

Cleaning your gear is a maintenance ritual each of us must develop that suits our own style and behaviors.  For me it’s lists…logical lists that I formulate after thinking about what makes sense to me, so I can do things the same way every time.  For me it’s all about consistency and repeatability.  While this same technique is something I recommend for others, it may not always be the best course of action if you don’t like that kind of rigidity.

However, regardless of what styles or approaches you use to clean your gear (and I’ve talked about my approach to gear maintenance in the past in detail), some of the best recommendations I can make is in reference to the types of utilities and tools you use.  So, today, I’d like to take a look at one of the tools that I have come to rely on more than any other – the Giottos Rocket Blower.

giottos

So, what makes this thing so great?  Funny you should ask, let’s get started with the…

PROS

  1. It’s got an air valve built in to prevent it from taking in dust and dirt on the intake end.  This design (I would venture to say) was a first-of-its-kind in cleaning accessories, because every other blower that I’ve seen prior to this made no such claim, which means that they hadn’t incorporated the idea into their design at all.
  2. It’s air at the ambient temperature.  Too many canned air options use chemicals that can be damaging to your sensor – my recommendation is to stay away from canned air entirely.
  3. It’s not super fast air being directed at your sensor like a missle.  Although it kind of looks like a grenade (these are fun to take through airport security! 🙂 ), the power behind the discharge of air is not like that stinging charge that comes from canned air options.  You have more control over the flow of air too, as you can give it a quick pump or a slower steadier pump depending on what you want to do.
  4. It’s not weak air like from many other pump-style – this thing really can deliver a good blast of air to get the most stubborn dust out of a sensor area, or the surface of a lens.  Just don’t use it around your dog that likes squeak-toys because it does give a little sound like that due to the air valve!
  5. It’s dirt cheap!  This retails at B&H for $15!  Low cost solutions are always a huge pro in my book.  The picture above also includes a link to the B&H page for it.  If you are a NAPP member, you can also get free 3-day shipping.  Just my cup of tea!
  6. It looks like a grenade!  Talk about a cool conversation piece.  I can’t tell you the number of airport security people that have asked me “What the hell is that?” !

CONS

  1. It looks like a grenade.  I can’t tell you the number of airport security people that have asked me “What the hell is that?”!  The cool factor wears off when you are trying to catch a plane, or it’s oh-dark hundred and you’ve not had any coffee because they won’t let that suspicious looking McDonalds or Starbucks cup through the security gate.  (That same cup of coffee that costs $6 on the other side of security has been deemed safe though…go figure!)

There you have it, 6 pros and 1 con means this product gets a thumbs up in my book.  (Surprise surprise since it’s in my cleaning kit!)  As always, if you have any ideas, suggestions, or are interested in products that have not been covered here on the hardware review days, drop your thoughts into the comments area or kick me an email (is it possible to kick something that is all 1’s and 0’s inside a computer?).  Happy shooting and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow!

Grab the feed

The Meat is in the Maintenance

Jason7 Comments

With another week come to a close, I got a late start in recording and putting together the podcast for today, so it’s going up a tad late.  However, as the old saying goes, good things come to those who wait.  This week, I look at some of the photo news, relevant to Canon users, photographers, and just some good old news tidbits.  In the “meat and potatoes”of the week, I look at what should be included in an extensive maintenance schedule for any photographer, including cleaning, software, firmware, batteries, data, backups – literally the whole schmear!  It’s quite the meaty helping on maintenance, so be sure to bookmark, download, listen, and whatever it is others do when enjoying podcasts as this is sure to be useful info for lots of people!

I also remind everyone of how you can win a Think Tank Photo Streetwalker!  This is a $150 value bag, and there are still a few opportunities left to participate in the random drawing.  Make sure you tune into the third segment to find out how (sorry, but only domestic US residents are eligible…) this can be yours for a simple song!  (Hint:  Make a post to the blog and you will probably be entered to win!)

Finally, I take a few listener questions from Josh and LaRae (thanks for the comments and email), as well as your weekly photo tip.  I made same changes to the recording process that I think have cleaned it up quite a bit, so I’d really like to hear some feedback on what people think of the difference in audio quality this go around!  Please don’t be shy, and make sure you let iTunes know they’ve dropped the feed!

Have a good weekend everyone.  Happy shootin, and we’ll see you back here Monday morning!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Rituals – Cleaning your Gear

Jason3 Comments

Checklist

Rituals are an important part of many cultures and belief systems. Yet rituals can also be patterns of behavior. We drive the same way to work every day, we tend to eat similar meals from one week to the next, and we do certain things each and every day, like brushing our teeth, taking a shower (hopefully anyway!), and a host of others. Well, just like other rituals, many of us become very fastidious about our work flow. We color manage things, we duplicate images, back them up, and save in multiple locations. Yet I’ve not seen anyone really talk about establishing rituals over cleaning their gear. In that area, I feel that I am something of a loner, because I do clean my gear in a very ritualistic pattern. It may be overkill to some, while to others it may not be enough. Nevertheless, cleaning our gear is something we should all consider making a part of our recurring activities.

Tomorrow is the second Friday of the month, and since I’ve set that date (just an arbitrary date, no specific logic behind the date other than I didn’t have anything else “scheduled” for that date at the time I came up with this) as my monthly camera cleaning date. I clean every piece of equipment I own. It takes a few hours, but that way I do maintain a regular schedule of maintenance for all this gear. So, today I am sharing my cleaning schedule with you.

My Gear Cleaning Ritual

  1. Part One – Wipe Down This can take anywhere from 10 minutes to 2 hours depending on amount of crap in my bag! I first take the battery out of camera and insert in charger. While camera battery is charging to full capacity I use lint free lens clothes (you can get a 12-pack from WalMart for $1) to wipe down the camera body, the lens casings, my CF cards, my flash cards, everything! Then I take out all the velcro dividers from my camera bag. With the bag empty I use canned air and spray out my camera bag. Then I wipe everything down with a only slightly damp paper towel. I’ll also pick any fuzzies I can see off my velcro tabs.
  2. Part 2 – Glass cleaning This takes about 20 minutes, depending on whether certain lenses need multiple swipes. I Use the Eclipse/PecPad/Sensor Swab kit for all my detailed cleaning. First I remove the lens caps (front and rear, and dust them off with my canned air. Setting these aside I take a PecPad out and dab a few drops of the Eclipse solution on it. In a light circular motion I wipe from the center of the lens to the edge and swoop it away in a fluid motion. I then return the caps to the glass.
  3. Part 3 – Card clearing and formatting I lightly tap the CF cards with the holes facing down and stack them label side up by my card reader. After each is tapped, I run them through my computer, copying any images off into a folder titled “Unsorted”. Once the content is safely moved, I then format the cards from the OS command prompt (for me it,s format E: /FAT32)
  4. Part 4 – Air cleaner I take my Giottos Rocket Blower and with battery compartment open I pump twice into chamber, and then close. I then turn the camera sensor side down, uncap and repeat in that chamber with the blower. I recap the body then and lay it sensor side down on a pre-placed static bag.
  5. Part 5 – Sensor Cleaning I prep the sensor swab according to instructions with firm tight folds. I take the now fully charged batter, insert in the chamber, turn the camera on and move the menu to sensor cleaning mode, flip the camera over and lay it down on the bag. Then I dab two drops of Eclipse onto the edge, uncap the body and angle the wand to 45 degrees, placing the edge against the sensor. and in one motion move it from the first edge to the far edge. Without lifting the wand, I then shift the wand to the opposite 45 degree angle, slide it up and align the top edge of the PecPad to the top edge of the lens and in a single light motion, slide it back across the top of the sensor mirror. Using the same fluid motion I then lift the swab off the sensor, replace the body cap with my other hand and set the swab down on the static bag. I then turn the camera back over, and power down.
  6. Part 6 – Accessories check I take the now mostly de-charged camera/battery combo and insert my CF cards back into the camera. All cards are formatted in camera. Once the formats are complete, I then insert back into computer one last time and copy the low res contact info image back onto all CF cards. The battery is then taken back out and recharged again. (I do have spares too that get charged, and I take this opportunity to also charge all AA’s and stuff back in my camera bag. I’ll check my notebook for enough paper, my pen for ink, flashlight for batteries, business cards in front pocket of bag, ensure I have at least 5 model release forms, and I’ll wipe down my Krages card and cheat sheet (two laminated sheets of info I keep in my bag).
  7. Part 7 – Repack Reassemble Velcro dividers and insert everything back into my bag
  8. Part 8 – Tripod Maintenance Take legs off tripod and wipe everything down there. Remove all quick release plates and do the same. I then re-assemble the tripod and tighten down all the legs again.
  9. Part 9 – Inventory List Print out checklist inventory and insert in camera bag (when travelling).
  10. Part 10 – Relax Drink an ice cold beverage!

So, which of these rituals do you include in your gear maintenance schedule? Did I miss anything? Does anything I am doing sound weird or wrong? What do you think? Share your cleaning schedule in the comments or via email: jason <AT> canonblogger <DOT> com In the meantime:

  • Happy Friday 13th
  • Happy Fathers Day Weekend
  • and Happy Shooting (watch those apertures!)