Posted by Larry Corbett on July 10, 2007 at 12:16 PM
Hi everybody
Am after some advice regarding Visible dust "Artic Butterfly" sensor cleaning products.
My EOS 1D2 isn't so bad as with garden birds etc as I rarely close down below f8, but my EOS 5D which is my bread and butter camera for everything but garden birds etc is absolutely full of dust, with images with which I have closed down to f16 you could do dot-to-dot pictures on the monitor screen (some of which are a big improvement on some of my own pics ), it can take nearly half an hour getting rid of black spots of each image.
I've tried sensor swabs, etc but to no avail and am reluctant to send my cameras away for cleaning, I was wondering if anybody had used the new Visible dust "Artic Butterfly system" ,to my mind the price they are charging is alot to pay for a few brushes (photography really is designed to drain your bank account!), does this cleaning system really work?
Thanks in advance
Posted by Sean Bolton on July 10, 2007 at 12:54 PM
Hi Larry
I tried the Artic Butterfly and I wasn't particularly impressed. It seemed to pick up grease and dirt from around the sensor and dump it on the sensor! It was worse after I used it than before. Maybe it was just my incompetence or technique but I wasn't that keen on it.
I use Sensor swabs and eclipse fluid (very carefully after stories of damaged sensors) on my 5D. For me I find this works very well although you have to be careful with the swab to avoid leaving clumps of dirt in the corners.
Also I only clean my sensors very rarely these days, only if there is significant and noticeable dirt in the image. A few spots around the edge are unobtrusive and easily cloned out if needed.
Roll on a 5D with the dust removal system in it.
cheers
Sean
Posted by szekiat chan on July 10, 2007 at 1:07 PM
if u're anywhere near london, it might be worthwhile to bring it down to the chaps at fixation who will do it the same afternoon for you.
Posted by Andy Astbury on July 10, 2007 at 1:31 PM
Hi Larry - I use the Butterfly and to be honest I wouldn't be without it. It kept the D200 sensor clear right up until I got rid, and believe me it did it's job a plenty.
Switching to the D2Xs to be honest the sensor has only needed cleaning once in the last 3 months I've had the camera - perhaps there's some truth in CMOS chips attracting less crap than CCD's.
On my 1D2 there's a couple of 'bunnies' that it can't budge so looks like I'll be swabbing that anytime soon.
The one thing I do know - and this comes from a Canon service guy I was talking to a few weeks back - is that you really need to be careful with the butterfly, especially on a 5D, because the way the mirror bearings are designed, during mirror operation the bearing grease gets flung down the mirror edges and on the sides of the mirror box - touch this and it's curtains time
I have a visible brush 724 and am very impressed, Sean is right it is easy to get grease on the sensor if you go too close to the edge but once you have used it a couple of times you wont want to be without it,I use it on my MKIII as it came with dust and still gets some on the sensor even with the self cleaning
I see from your website your based near Solihull. I work at the flash centre b'ham and we keep the butterfly's instock and we also offer sensor cleans if this helps. I use one myself and like the guys above wouldn't use anything else.
(i'm not trying to push anything here, just trying to help)
Discussion
6 repliesAm after some advice regarding Visible dust "Artic Butterfly" sensor cleaning products.
My EOS 1D2 isn't so bad as with garden birds etc as I rarely close down below f8, but my EOS 5D which is my bread and butter camera for everything but garden birds etc is absolutely full of dust, with images with which I have closed down to f16 you could do dot-to-dot pictures on the monitor screen (some of which are a big improvement on some of my own pics
I've tried sensor swabs, etc but to no avail and am reluctant to send my cameras away for cleaning, I was wondering if anybody had used the new Visible dust "Artic Butterfly system" ,to my mind the price they are charging is alot to pay for a few brushes (photography really is designed to drain your bank account!), does this cleaning system really work?
Thanks in advance
I tried the Artic Butterfly and I wasn't particularly impressed. It seemed to pick up grease and dirt from around the sensor and dump it on the sensor! It was worse after I used it than before. Maybe it was just my incompetence or technique but I wasn't that keen on it.
I use Sensor swabs and eclipse fluid (very carefully after stories of damaged sensors) on my 5D. For me I find this works very well although you have to be careful with the swab to avoid leaving clumps of dirt in the corners.
Also I only clean my sensors very rarely these days, only if there is significant and noticeable dirt in the image. A few spots around the edge are unobtrusive and easily cloned out if needed.
Roll on a 5D with the dust removal system in it.
cheers
Sean
Switching to the D2Xs to be honest the sensor has only needed cleaning once in the last 3 months I've had the camera - perhaps there's some truth in CMOS chips attracting less crap than CCD's.
On my 1D2 there's a couple of 'bunnies' that it can't budge so looks like I'll be swabbing that anytime soon.
The one thing I do know - and this comes from a Canon service guy I was talking to a few weeks back - is that you really need to be careful with the butterfly, especially on a 5D, because the way the mirror bearings are designed, during mirror operation the bearing grease gets flung down the mirror edges and on the sides of the mirror box - touch this and it's curtains time
I see from your website your based near Solihull. I work at the flash centre b'ham and we keep the butterfly's instock and we also offer sensor cleans if this helps. I use one myself and like the guys above wouldn't use anything else.
(i'm not trying to push anything here, just trying to help)
regards
Kevin