cleaning mirror ccd?

[mailman77327]

I have a Nikon d100 and recently found some dust specks on my photos. How does someone go about cleaning the mirror/ccd? I don't want to damage anything by doing something stupid so any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance,
Chris

[kiwiracefan]

Re: cleaning mirror ccd?

Hi mailman, first off, the dust on your sensor is just that, the mirror has nothing to do with the sensor, all the mirror does is redirect light into the viewfinder. Second, there are several ways to clean the CCD's in D_SLR cameras. but the one i recommend to my customers here in NZ, especially if they dont want to do it themselves, is to send the camera to the local service center, as the filter infront of the sensor which is what the dust attaches to, is easily scratched, most of the service centers have a dedicated area where dust is kept to a minimum. when the camera is powered up to open the shutter and raise the mirror on the cleaning mode, there is plenty of static charge which attracts dust.
Thats my suggestion, i hope it helps

[AAFO_WSagar]

Re: cleaning mirror ccd?

the filter infront of the sensor which is what the dust attaches to, is easily scratched

Kiwi... I'm gonna disagree with you... I've been shooting DSLR since July 2000, went through the huge fear factor about scratching the sensor and subsequently, over the years, I've both cleaned my chips a lot and read even more about the subject.

My first experience with actually having to touch the sensor was 2001 at Oskhosh. I'd managed to blow a blob of the liquid that is in canned "air" onto the sensor early one morning. I HAD to get the resulting smear off and the only way I had to do it was with my silk lens cloth wrapped around a pencil eraser and the moisture in my breath.

Did NOT scratch the sensor.

If you think about the sensor's low pass filter as being about as easy to scratch as a pair of plastic/polycarbonate sunglasses, I think you'd be more accurate than the "easily scratched" mind set.

To answer the question of how to clean the chip, I'm not sure if the D100 has a mirror lock up function with battery only? The D1 through the D2X required use of an external power source before the function would activate. (D2X has firmware upgrade currently that allows use of battery for lockup as long as battery is fully charged) The D70 will allow you to lock it up without a power source also.

You *can* use the "bulb" shutter setting and VERY carefully clean at that setting, however, due to the risk of letting the whole mess crash down on you makes it not recommendable..

Once mirror is up and shutter curtains open, revealing the chip.. you can (VERY CAREFULLY) take a much less than full can off "air" (less than full so the risk of blowing liquid propellant is reduced) place the nozzle within about a half inch of the chip and very carefully blow it off.. keeping the can level and steady (no sloshing) at all times..

OK.. the above method is ONLY if you've got to do it and have not gotten any supplies on hand to do it right. Currently, the favored method is to use a "Sensor Sweep" brush... yes, I said brush. It's a high quality artist style brush, made specifically for the purpose at hand. You blow "air" across the brush, which charges it with static, you then gently wipe down the chip and it attracts all the dust and you're clean.

For stubborn "bunnies" you can use a Sensor Swab.. CLICK HERE This will take you to copperhillimages.com. They have a complete line of chip cleaning products. I purchased the complete kit and have been having great success at keeping dust down. It truly is a daily thing, unless you want to spend a lot of time cleaning spots off your images in post production!

Apology for the long post but I've probably been shooting DSLR longer than most folks and have now owned three different DSLR's and have had to clean them all daily ( or more often if necessary ) while at events.

It's truly part of shooting digital IMHO... something you just have to learn to live with and should be very proficient at..

Ok.. long winded response done..

Wayne

[zaqwrx]

Re: cleaning mirror ccd?

Here's a couple of sites with info (if you haven't found already)

This one devoted specifically to the task ...

http://www.cleaningdigitalcameras.com/

I've used the "Copperhill" method with some succes ...

http://www.copperhillimages.com/index.php?pr=Tutorials1