Advice

N01Chris

N01Chris

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Christian
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I recently decided to experiment with long exposures and because i was using small apertures and slow shutter speeds i noticed a small hair and a few spots of dirt, I tesed this on a few lenses and unfortunately they appear on them too :( I just want some advice, should I try and clean it myself (im on holiday and only have a gittos air blower also im only 15 and dont feel comfortable doing something like that but ive heard its easy) or wait till we make a trip to fort William (we are staying in the middle of know were) and ask in their camera shop (i think its not a major one like jessops) and get them to do it for me?

I took a photo unfocused at f22 and 0.6sec of my computer screen:


IMG_0812.jpg by ChristianJ-R, on Flickr
 
It's easy, but you might need a proper cleaning kit like some visible dust swabs and eclipse fluid if the blower doesnt work. The dirt is on the sensor, not the lenses as you probably gathered.
Make sure the battery is fully charged, put it in sensor cleaning mode and apply one or rep drops of fluid to the swab. With about pencil pressure, swipe from one side of the sensor to the other, flip the swab to the clean side and swipe back.
You may find you ned more than one sweep, use a new swab,don't reuse old ones

Test the camera at a high aperture against the sky like previously to see if you got all the dust.
It doesn't look that bad at the moment, so If you can't do it right away, then just make use of the clone tool in whatever software you use.
 
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thanks, the rocket blower will hopefully get rid of the hair, i can deal with the rest till i either go to a shop or order some when I get home, would you recommend any particular brand or type?

thanks for the quick response

p.s. i knew it was on the sensor, i just forgot to mention it
 
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I use visible dust green swabs and either eclipse fluid or smear away.
You can buy a pack of 4 swabs and little bottle of fluid for around £15-20, or it works out cheaper in the long run to buy a big bottle of fluid and 12 pack of swabs. A shop will want at least £25 and sometimes up to £50 to clean the sensor for you and it's not guaranteed they will do a better job than you.
 
thank, ill think about doing it myself or maybe get my mam to do it, she does miniature dolls and obviously needs a steady hand for that (its actually her camera, she bought it for her business but couldn't use it so i do them and thats how i got interested in photography!)
 
I decided to try and get rid of the hair since it was the most obvious in photos, i used a ghittos rocket blower and managed to get rid of some of the dust as well however it just moved one piece of dust and two more appeared -_- here is the pic:


IMG_0823.jpg by ChristianJ-R, on Flickr

i may try again later but im not home for another week and im worried that it might spoil my photos for the rest of the holidays :(
 
Until you can clean it properly, avoid using high f/numbers. You probably won't see them at f/8, and they usually only show up on areas of plain tone, like sky.
 
i constantly have these in my digitals , just use spot heal in photoshop and everything is sparkly clean .
 
N01Chris said:
I am planning to get a 7d for Christmas so i don't need any long term solution as i have had this camera for a year and therefore plan to have the 7d for at least a year before that is needing cleaning, would this be ok?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Visible-Dus...4J2E/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1345588225&sr=8-7
Click to expand...

Thats the ones, although your sensor really doesnt look that bad, and its likely you will make it worse. Id leave it until it gets worse and just use some software to quickly clone out the few bits there are.

This was mine before its last clean.


Nikon 300mm f/4 by TCR4x4, on Flickr
 
I dont go out often to take photos, just when I'm on holiday or going to gigs and events at school so I think I will just hold out till I get the 7d and maybe when that needs cleaned ill practice on my current (500d) camera :)
 
I think Im going to buy this http://www.cameraclean.co.uk/produc...SLR+Brush+16mm+for+1.5/1.6+Multiplier+Sensors and I can re-use it, as long as I keep it clean (in its box) and it should get rid of the dust on my sensor atm right?

edit: I want it clean because I recently discovered that it appears on videos and because i have the 500d i cant manually change to a larger premature so its visible the whole time.
 
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ok Ill just go with my original plan and get the wet clean, ill try blowing it later on but i already tried that and it and although it got rid of some of the dust and the hair a bigger dust clump appeared that is more noticeable
 
N01Chris said:
ok Ill just go with my original plan and get the wet clean, ill try blowing it later on but i already tried that and it and although it got rid of some of the dust and the hair a bigger dust clump appeared that is more noticeable
Click to expand...

Did you point the camera downwards the first time you tried the blower?
 
yea I did but I even blew the mirror box before i put it in cleaning mode
 
thanks though :) i watched/read loads of tutorials before i even took off the lens
 
N01Chris said:
thanks though :) i watched/read loads of tutorials before i even took off the lens
Click to expand...

OK Chris. :)

PS. Whatever you do, don't use a brush - I had an Arctic Butterfly (different to the one in your link but still a 'dry' cleaning gizmo) and it left more gunk behind than was ever there in the first place. Absolutely hopeless!
 
thanks, i think ill just go for the wet cleaning then :)
 
are you going to be shooting at small apertures all the time ?
youl probably not see it at larger apertures
 
When this first happened to my Canon 50D I was terrified. Swabs are definitely the way to go, but the sensor has a cover over it so you're not actually swabbing it directly.

Just get the relevant kit, green one I think, and apply a drop of the solution to each corner of the swab, then press it onto the corner one edge of the sensor and firmly and smoothly swipe it across the sensor, flip the swab over and go back the other way. Make sure not to go over the edges as theres lubricant there. Job done
 
A word of warning I wet cleaned my 400d sensor and left a dried solution mark on it. It is very important not to use too much fluid. I used three drops which was probably two too many! I ended up using a loupe and a sensorklear pen to remove the stain. I now dont wet clean and use a blower and the sensor pen instead. Seems to work well, 5x lifesize macro at f14 shows all sorts of horrors ;)
 
i mainly only go as high as f8 and you can see it against skys (as a boke ball) which is only really happens on my tripod which tilts the camera to the right as the main spot is on the left (towards the sky when in portrait but when im holding it im fine as I tilt it too the left :) the only problem is when I come to do photos of my mams minature dolls for her business, i use an aperture of f14 ish (these http://www.lisajohnsonrichards.com/blog/). Unless they are untreatable in pp i will have to clean it otherwise ill just hold off till christmas when i hope to get a 7d and that will solve the problem :)

p.s. thank you very much for your help :)
 
i did it for the first time using swabs and cleaner, it worked great, even though i was very apprehensive at first
 
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