OF DUST AND SENSOR CLEANING

Sunday, September 18, 2005

I am used to changing the lenses frequently when I am out shooting. So it was only inevitable that I end up with some dust on my sensor. I discovered very prominent dust marks after I returned from my trip to Kali river region. The first thing I did was to check my owner's manual that recommended to blow with a blower. And things that you were not supposed to use included a blower with brush, compressed air and vacuum cleaning. I did not have a blower brush or any other tool for cleaning, and was anxious to get out and shoot. Much to my foolishness, I decided to blow from the mouth. The result was not very surprising, there was moisture on the sensor and things got worse. Only then that I decided to look up the internet for help, and also called up my camera dealer.

My camera vendor promised to check up with Canon folks and get back to me on the matter. But I read at several places that they may take 6-8 weeks which is really long time. Besides, I had to be prepared for further incidences of sensor dust as I did not want to go back to Canon each time and wait for long durations. So I decided to look for a good sensor cleaning kit. Looking up the usual resources like sensor cleaning articles on photo.net or luminous landscape did not help much. A search on Google lead me to intemos and visible dust. But there were no reviews or testimonials on intemos, and someone had posted bad experiences he had when using visible dust cleaning system. But a search in forums of photography-on-the.net gave a rich list of good and bad experiences in sensor cleaning. After much reading, I have now placed an order for sensor cleaning kit from copper hill. I have a read a few good reviews and sample reports that gave good feedback on their cleaning system. I hope it works out good for me.