Little Green Eyed Dragon wrote:

So I coughed up the 60.00 for sensor swipes and fluid and proceeded.
I have used just about the whole box and still lots of dust.

That indicates that either you're doing it wrong, or it's far worse than
just mere dust. The only time I had to do a physical (swab/fluid) cleaning
was after the camera spent some time on a windy beach in 100% humidity
conditions.

Don't try too hard; just wet the swab with the fluid (and make sure it's
the right fluid, if you bought it with the swabs and it was made to clean
a sensor then it should be... pure methanol is what you really want) and
gently swab in one direction. Don't scrub back and forth.

Another suggestion from someone else was to use canned air
which the manual says specifically not to do. Has anyone successfully
tried this or has success with some other approach.

Do not use canned air. It is highly compressed so that it turns into
liquid, and it also contains propellant and almost certainly lubricant.
Very bad.

I use a compressed CO2 blower, but you have to be careful here, too --
you can't use CO2 cartridges meant for a BB gun, for example, or other
industrial uses, as they may be too compressed and contain lubricant.
Only food-grade, low-pressure CO2 cartriges should be attempted. These
don't last very long at all (if you hold the trigger, they will blow
for probably 30 seconds) but they aren't compressed enough to liquefy
or become cold, they don't blow hard enough to drive bits of crap into
the sensor and scratch it, and they are clean since they are meant to
be used on stuff that you're going to eat or drink. This is still
probably an idea that should only be attempted if you're confident.

--
Jeremy |