Scotch Tape dSLR Sensor Cleaning

[gielamonster]

Hey guys, I just tried a controversial sensor cleaning technique... scotch tape. YMMV and all that, but it was just the ticket for my 20D. I've had the camera for about 6 years, tens of thousands of clicks, many dusty environment lens swaps. This is the first time I've cleaned it. Very happy with the results.

I didn't use special tape or anything, I think this stuff is probably 20 years old from Toys-R-Us or something. I just pulled it out of the drawer. I practiced with it on my dusty bathroom mirror. It picks up the dust extremely well.



I read some paranoid posts about adhesive residue being left over, but I tried a bunch of ways to do that and was only able to do that on the bathroom mirror if I tried to drag the tape over it while pressing. So don't do that, duh. It worked really well when you just fold it like this video:

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqsyTqRjJDI[/ame]

Here's some before/after:


120mm, F/20

I was excited to try it and unfortunately didn't snap the best before shots. I still had the long lens on so this is all I've got (manual focus as close as it goes):

Before:

75mm, F/32

After:

75mm, F/32

Another pair, within the 75-300's min focal length, why its OOF.
Before:

75mm, F/32

After:

75mm, F/32

And here's a sheet of white paper with a nifty 50 after. Really wish I took one of these before!

50mm, F/22 ***EDIT: was taken at F/22, not F/1.8***

As you can see, incredible improvement. I was getting ready to drop $30-50 on cleaning supplies, but decided this camera is old and beat enough to try the freebie method first. Really glad I did, excellent results. I'll probably go back at it to get some of the remaining bunnies around the edges.

BTW, as you can tell I'm neither a good photog nor have nice equipment. Obviously this technique is probably better for guys with older/cheaper equipment.

Here's another thread on the method:
http://www.dpchallenge.com/forum.php...READ_ID=199733

[sparkchaser]

Very interesting.

The nifty fifty shot is a bit misleading. You should have shot at f/20 or so.

I see it did remove a lot of dust but quite a bit is still left. It's an interesting technique but I think you're better off with a rocket blower and a professional cleaning kit, if not a straight up professional cleaning.

[Bear Grylls]

http://www.adorama.com/GTRAB.html

Buy that and call it a day. I bought that plus a whole bunch of wet cleaning equipment for my 1Ds.

I have yet to even open the wet cleaning supplies, that little air puffer did the job 100%

[gielamonster]

Very interesting.

The nifty fifty shot is a bit misleading. You should have shot at f/20 or so.

I see it did remove a lot of dust but quite a bit is still left. It's an interesting technique but I think you're better off with a rocket blower and a professional cleaning kit, if not a straight up professional cleaning.

D'oh, the nifty shot was at F/22. Brain fart while I was typing, but not while I was shooting.

Its really a shame I didn't take better before shots. That light in my kitchen is filthy and has paint overspray on the outside. I whipped up this page to make it easier to see where the dust disappears, just mouse over the images to quickly compare before/after:

http://evilengineering.com/dSLRclean/

You'll notice the sensor dust is very dark and sharp. The kitchen light dirt is dull and moves around between the images.

I should also mention that I have a few different puffers that I've tried on this dust and it had almost zero effect. Occasionally it would remove some, but usually it would just stay put or else pick up in spots and put it back down in others.

[sparkchaser]

Ah, gotcha.

The "dust" I saw in the lamp "after" shot was the dirt in the lamp.

Well then, good job.

The extreme edges still need some work.

[e24mpwr]

Screw that. I'm going to a camera shop for a cleaning if I need one and I can't get there with the rocket blower. Half the time they do it for free because they recognize me and I buy stuff from them.

(When I say "Camera Shop", I'm not talking about the place in the mall - I mean a place that with carpet dating back to Richard Nixon, has display cases full of lenses older than you and is staffed by a bunch of soft-spoken guys who fail to understand the invention of the comb)

[coffee328]

Screw that. I'm going to a camera shop for a cleaning if I need one and I can't get there with the rocket blower. Half the time they do it for free because they recognize me and I buy stuff from them.

(When I say "Camera Shop", I'm not talking about the place in the mall - I mean a place that with carpet dating back to Richard Nixon, has display cases full of lenses older than you and is staffed by a bunch of soft-spoken guys who fail to understand the invention of the comb)

A place close to Mellow Mushroom?

[e24mpwr]

A place close to Mellow Mushroom?

Yup - the SEC crew in Ral/Carrboro are pretty much the same...

[coffee328]

Yup - the SEC crew in Ral/Carrboro are pretty much the same...

I was over at Peace the other day to get a filter, but it was $50 vs $30 at B&H...soooo, I opted not to support the local brick-and-mortar store this time.

[fishfeet]

It is difficult to support the locals when you're pinching penny's with expensive equipment. $20 saved over the amount of stuff we buy adds up to be a lot. But I do try to throw them business as much as I can.

I'm a SEC fan over Peace. They treated me, a non-pro, much better than the guys at Peace did.
Plus SEC rents lenses which I have done a few times.

This is now officially a Raleigh camera crew thread. We own this forum.

[coffee328]

Yeah. And it's not that it was $20 off, but the fact that it was almost twice as much. It's been a while since I've been in there, so I can't recall the price differences in things like lenses or bodies.

I was with a friend who was purchasing some equipment some time last year, and we arrived about 10 minutes before closing at Peace (it was impossible to arrive earlier that day), and we walked to the open door just to have an employee sprint to the door and shut it in our face and lock it. He didn't even say one word, just shook his finger at us. Anyway, that turned me off a bit from Peace. Meh.

/off topic rant

[gielamonster]

No worries guys, this is the off-topic forum after all! In an ideal world I would support a B&M local store, but honestly I don't use them for anything. I do all my research online and buy my deals sight unseen. I'm also very DIY (mechanical engineer), so its hard to ask other people for help.

For instance, I'm about to try this on my 20D's sticky shutter button:

Canon 30D Shutter Button Repair! [8/365] [Dec 10] by Ryan Shippelt, on Flickr

I can't resist the urge to start shooting dSLR video. I'm finding T2i's on local craigslist for pretty darn good prices. So I'll dump this and my BG-E2 on ebay once I have it in tip-top shape and hopefully only be out a couple hundred.

[ken_vs_ryu]

my anus puckered.