Neil Enns
12-01-2004, 06:30 PM
<img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/media/users/303/neile_nov25_title.jpg" /><br /><br /><b>Product Category:</b> Digital Photography<br /><b>Manufacturer:</b> <a href="http://www.visibledust.com/">Visible Dust</a><br /><b>Where to Buy:</b> <a href="http://www.visibledust.com/">Visible Dust</a><br /><b>Price:</b> $35.95 to $109.95 USD for Sensor Brushes, $29.95 USD for Sensor Clean<br /><br /><b>Pros:</b><li>Removes dust;<br /><li>Removes sensor smudges.<b>Cons:</b><ul><li>Incredibly overpriced.</ul><b>Summary:</b><br />I've had my Canon 10D for a little over two years, and during that entire time I've never once cleaned my sensor. Yes, I know what you're thinking, and yes, my sensor was filthy. I'd spend more time in Photoshop touching up painfully obvious dust spots than I would spend looking at my photos. But somehow I never got around to sorting through the myriad of methods on the web to clean the sensor, and just lived with it. However, after reading a <a href="http://www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/visible-dust.shtml">rave review</a> for Visible Dust's line of sensor cleaning products at Luminous Landscape, I placed an order. Is my dust now invisible? Read on to find out!<!><br /><PAGEBREAK><br /><span><b>Dirty. Dirty Dirty Dirty.</b></span><br />If you had any doubt about my sensor's need for a cleaning, the following picture should clean your doubt up right away:<br /><br /><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/media/users/303/neile_nov25_figure1.jpg" /><br /><i>Figure 1: That's one dirty sensor!</i><br /><br />That's two years of dust and crud, folks. Two years. 8O It's time for a serious cleaning.<br /><br /><span><b>Dust Removal with Sensor Brush</b></span><br />According to the Visible Dust website the Sensor Brush is "engineered to be different". Super-thin fibres with a special chemical treatment are designed to "last a very long time", and the wooden handle should "protect against electrostatic discharge". When charged with a blast of air from a can the brush is supposed to wipe away all traces of dust.<br /><br />I ordered the 8mm brush after reading somewhere that the smaller brush size is better at manoeuvring inside the camera body. Two quick passes should be all it takes to clean the sensor, with a blast of compressed air in between to clean off the bristles.<br /><br />So how did it work? Here's my sensor after a pass with the brush. Note that this, and all future photos, was taken by shooting at my LCD monitor, unlike the first picture which was shot against some frosted plastic. Even though the image quality isn't quite as good you can still see the difference:<br /><br /><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/media/users/303/neile_nov25_figure2.jpg" /><br /><i>Figure 2: After cleaning with the Sensor Brush</i><br /><br />It's definitely better. The vast majority of the dust is gone and all that remains are the smudges from water and whatnot.<br /> <PAGEBREAK> <br /><span><b>Spot Removal with Sensor Clean</b></span><br />To get rid of tough spots from liquid on the sensor Visible Dust sells a solution called Sensor Clean that comes with cleaning swabs. According to the site the Sensor Clean liquid is non-alcoholic, non-flammable, streak free, and removes static. The non-flammable part is interesting, since the generally-recommended alternative (Eclipse) is flammable and legally shouldn't be carried on airplanes.<br /><br />The Sensor Clean and cleaning swabs arrived in an anti-static bag, presumably to prevent dust from getting on the swabs, even though the swabs are in their own sealed package. To use the cleaning fluid you apply a few drops to the tip of a cotton swab, rub across the sensor, and then follow up with as many dry swabs as necessary to get all the liquid off. Here was my first attempt:<br /><br /><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/media/users/303/neile_nov25_figure3.jpg" /><br /><i>Figure 3: After cleaning incorrectly with Sensor Clean</i><br /><br />Oops. That doesn't look very good at all, does it? This was, to be fair, my fault. I didn't read the directions and assumed that, like an alcohol-based cleaning fluid, the Sensor Clean would evaporate and I didn't wipe off the residual cleaning fluid. On my second attempt I made liberal use of dry cleaning swabs to clean off the extra fluid:<br /><br /><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/media/users/303/neile_nov25_figure4.jpg" /><br /><i>Figure 4: After cleaning correctly with Sensor Clean</i><br /><br />Better, but there's still room for improvement. I gave it one more shot to see if I could get rid of the pesky spots:<br /><br /><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/media/users/303/neile_nov25_figure5.jpg" /><br /><i>Figure 5: After cleaning correctly a second time with Sensor Clean</i><br /><br />After this last attempt I decided to leave well enough alone. I believe the large brownish spots are actually from my LCD monitor, and the few remaining spots I can live with. A more accurate test would have been to go to work to shoot at my piece of frosted plastic again (as I did in my first shot), or against a <a href="http://www.cleaningdigitalcameras.com/howto.html">light box</a>, but alas time did not permit. <br /><br /><span><b>Conclusion</b></span><br />Even though I wound up with a relatively clean sensor using the brush, cleaning fluid, and cleaning swabs, I have to say that I was not impressed enough to justify the price. The cleaning swabs are nothing more than <a href="http://quickmedical.com/puritan/woundcare.html">medical-grade cotton applicators</a>. If you think you can use them up, you can order 1,000 for a mere $7.95 :) There are also several threads floating around about using a high-quality artist's brush as a substitute for the Sensor Brush, which doesn't seem like a bad idea either. About the only piece in the kit that seems unique is the cleaning fluid, since it's non-flammable, and even that is probably some generic fluid that can be obtained elsewhere.<br /><br />An alternate, and cheaper, approach is to visit a site like <a href="http://www.cleaningdigitalcameras.com/">Cleaning Digital Cameras</a> which gives detailed instructions on how to clean your sensor using a spatula, some Pec*Pads, and Eclipse. It'd be interesting to try cleaning a sensor using the cotton swabs and Eclipse too. I'm well aware of the fear people have in scratching their sensor, but the spatula method is well-known and everything I've read says it works well. I'd say save your money, grab a spatula, and clean your sensor knowing that you've got extra money in your pocket for sushi, or perhaps a nice big enlargement of your favourite photo.