spots :(

[Overread]

my reading of compressed air is more like a canned air - like an airbrush canister - where the air is under considerable pressure and stored with other chemicals (often leading to those small drops of liquid).
As for compessed air acting like a sandblower I get your point, but I can't see how its working like that with a DSLR - the sensor is behind a glass screen to start with and to get the same effect as a sandblaster -- well you would have to be compressing that blower very very fast (infact I think the rubber would give out if it tried to recreate the same pessure).
If air blown from a blower is a threat to a sensor then surly too is the artic butterfly which requires pressure to be applied to the sensor glass

 

[Bifurcator]

no...

 

[Overread]

I am searching, but I am having a very hard time finding any guide or refrence to a blower damaging a sensor - many clearly say that they are not as good as a swab of course, but non say that they lead to damage - infact many say its better to blow away the early dust to reduce the changes of it scratching through use of the swabs.
The only damage caused can be from hitting the sensor (or more correctly the glass infront of the sensor) with the nozzle of the blower - that is about the only damage refrence I can find

 

[Alex_B]

I do not use any blowing on my sensor either. I prefer contact sports

 

[Overread]

I prefer contact sports

hmm this could be clue - see I hated contat sports........

 

[Fiendish Astronaut]

I clean my D350 myself (and I've only ever had to do it twice in three years).

http://www.cleaningdigitalcameras.com/index.html

Some might say it's risky but in reality it's a piece of cake. My 40D is supposedly self cleaning. I'm sure at some point it will have to be cleaned anyway, but I may just buy the correct size swab to do it. I guess if I had a 50mp Hassleblad then maybe I'd consider getting a licensed pro to do it! Wouldn't want to damage one of those...

 

[Alex_B]

BTW, you can damage the camera with compressed air... if the airflow is very strong, which it is with some, then you can damage the shutter blades if you are unlucky.

 

[Bifurcator]

BTW, you can damage the camera with compressed air... if the airflow is very strong, which it is with some, then you can damage the shutter blades if you are unlucky.

Yup!

But that site that is supposed to be so technically adept covers it as a feasible solution. I call BS - those guys are lammers!

Any kind of blowing at all can lodge free dust particles or grit-specs where they shouldn't be and this occasionally includes on the underside of the front filter where the dust will FOREVER remain. Most dust specs are NOT soft but very abrasive! Even casually squeezing an air-ball moderately hard creates air speeds of around 100 feet/sec. at the nozzle tip. Any speck that enters that stream either from inside the ball of from floating around, is going to whack that glass damn hard. If you're cleaning daily or weekly this can and WILL degrade the optical qualities of the filter over time.

Seriously, those guys are hosers!

 

[Alex_B]

Yup!

But that site that is supposed to be so technically adept covers it as a feasible solution. I call BS - those guys are lammers!

Any kind of blowing at all can lodge free dust particles or grit-specs where they shouldn't be and this occasionally includes on the underside of the front filter where the dust will FOREVER remain.

Seriously, those guys are hosers!

3 years ago I was in a camera shop to buy some things. The salesperson took a shot with my camera and realised I had some dust on the sensor. Then he said he would fix that quickly. Before I could even say more than "Errm, excuse me sir, ..." he already had the lens detached and was working with compressed air from a compressor on my sensor! I turned quite pale as you can imagine, but it was too late.

That night my cleaning the sensor took ages as the bulky dust was gone, but all the fine drops of oil and other things from the compressor on my sensor were not easy to remove.

This happened in a dedicated camera shop ... not a discounter ... but I guess it always depends on the person, and also the dedicated shops have one or two morons.

 

[Bifurcator]

LOL! Yup!

Any tech that doesn't naturally understand the dynamics of what he's doing only knows what he's told or what he observes - So moronism propagates too.

 

[Alex_B]

http://www.cleaningdigitalcameras.com/index.html

Hmm, on that site they state regarding my favourite method, the speckgrabber:

• Pros: Not too expensive
• Cons: Users love to touch the tip which contaminates it and then you start seeing smudges left behind afterwards.

I am sorry, but since when is the stupidity of some users a con for a method? As with all methods, if you do not apply them the way you are supposed to, they will fail. I guess the speckgrabber is just too inexpensive to be popular

Also I disagree (by experience) with their general statement, that dry cleaning does not remove welded dirt on the sensor.

 

[Bifurcator]

Also I disagree (by experience) with their general statement, that dry cleaning does not remove welded dirt on the sensor.

Seconded!

 

[Overread]

hmm the speckgrabber is something that I have not heard mentioned till now - not even in guides - as you say it appears a less popular method

 

[Alex_B]

hmm the speckgrabber is something that I have not heard mentioned till now - not even in guides - as you say it appears a less popular method

It is too cheap to be promoted.

Also it sometimes needs some patience for a full sensor clean since the surface of the speckgrabber is small compared to the surface of the sensor.

At a full frame sensor I usually need 2 or 3 attempts where I first clean the grabber with an alcoholic pad and then touch the whole sensor with the grabber followed by a test shot. If I still see specks at f/22 I repeat the procedure.

 

[Bifurcator]

Also a sensor loupe with a very bright light shows me specs I would never see without it.