Cleaning...

[Simonch]

Ok.. so left my 350D in the car over night, and it was all condensated this morning when i took it into the house, took the lens off, and wiped the mirror clean, now its covered in wee speckles!! think its still condensation! any ideas on how to sort this?

Kind regards,

An idiot!

 

[Alex_B]

what did you wipe the mirror with? maybe whatever you used left traces ...

I never clean my mirror but let condensation just dry ... and I should say that I have my camera with me overnight in tents and sleeping bags.

do you have anything on your sensor? that would be more of concern and trickier to handle.

BTW, lucky you to live where you live ... lots of nice shhoting locations around there

 

[Big Mike]

You really have to be careful when you take a cold camera (or anything) from cold (dry) air...into a warm & humid place. From now on...seal it in a plastic bag, before you bring it in...then let it warm up before you take it out.

If it does get condensation...the best thing to do, is probably to just leave it alone and let the moisture evaporate. By opening it up...you probably let dust & dirt settle onto the moisture...which may dry up and cause spots.

Cleaning the mirror should be be done with caution...it's quite sensitive. And really, the mirror has nothing to do with the image...so even if it's dirty, it's not a big deal. The sensor, on the other hand...will cause problems when it's dirty.

To check if your sensor needs cleaning...set it to F22, put in on a tripod (or whatever) and take an image of a uniform background. An empty wall...blue sky etc. Then open the image on the computer and look for dust specs.

If you have them...do a search for 'sensor cleaning'.

 

[neea]

I just baught a camera cleaning kit today.
It appears to be useless as the blower brush has now shed it's hair all over the darn place.

 

[Simonch]

Good effort mate, that sucks!! none of the bristles were left inside the camera, were they?! you might get some lovely big lines across you're pictures! live and learn i suppose!

 

[Iron Flatline]

From the current issue of Shutterbug:

How to clean a Sensor

The article is really more of a summary of available products than a step-by-step, but those can be found all over the internet, incl. this forum, btw. There's a lot of other articles online, just google Sensor Cleaning.

Basic summary: If it is a few spots, then see if you can live with them, and deal with them in Photoshop. If not, try a blower to see if you can knock off stuck dust. If that doesn't work, you're going to have to use swabs with cleaning solutions. Be careful though as you might seriously damage the sensor, and ought to consider sending it in, or having a pro clean it.

My understanding is that using swabs is not as difficult as everyone makes it out to be, but they would be remiss if they didn't warn you about the sensitivity of the sensor.

Happy scrubbing.