How NOT To Clean Your Mirror/Prism/Sensor

Wed, 12 Mar 2008 09:26:20 -0700

Dust, dirt, fibers, and/or lint. The blessing of interchangeable lenses carries the curse of all kinds of crap being able to get inside of your camera. Even if you’re paranoid enough to not change lenses outdoors, don’t breathe while the lens is off, or even sacrifice an old polaroid print before every lens change, etc., you will, at the most inconvenient of times, get some schmutz somewhere in the optical path of your camera. Depending on where it is, you won’t even notice it until you’re looking at your pictures later on, only to see a spots or dark blotches on your otherwise pristine pictures.

Two years ago, I got something stuck to the sensor on my Rebel XT. Fortunately, I did enough reading online to know to not just pull out a tissue and try to wipe it off, but rather to take off the lens, lock the mirror up, and shoot puffs of air at the sensor from an air blower. This did the trick, and the black spots were gone from my images. After this experience, I became a lot more careful about when and where I swap lenses, but not quite to the level of insanity mentioned earlier. For the sensors at least, Canon has followed the lead of other vendors and added dust removal systems to their recent models. Anti static coatings, ultrasonic vibrations, and other pieces of tech help prevent dust from attaching to your sensor, and after upgrading to an XTi and 40D, sure enough, I haven’t had issues with dirt on the sensors. The same can’t be said for the mirror and the prism however...

On my recent trip to Joshua Tree, I noticed some black stuff in the viewfinder of my camera, while walking through the Cholla cactus garden. Taking a few snaps of the sky confirmed that whatever it was, it wasn’t on my sensor, but it was still bugging me. It was at this point, 30 miles from anywhere, that I did something bad. Well, not bad, but definitely not ideal.

A few months earlier, while flipping through PopPhoto, I came across a listing for stuffable microfiber cleaning cloths (Spudz). Having lost a few cleaning cloths already, their size and attached hooks made them very attractive. Hence, I ordered a pile of them, some for me, and as it was the holidays, a bunch to use as small xmas presents for friends and family. When they arrived, sure enough, they were pretty damn cool. I was never again at a loss for something appropriate to clean dust off of the front of my lenses. Because of this, I keep a couple in my gear bag, and toss one in my pocket when I take a walk with a camera.

Now at this point, in retrospect, I should have asked myself, was it REALLY necessary to get the few little specs out of my viewfinder? They weren’t compromising the autofocus or metering in any significant way, and I was in a desert for gods-sake. But, being annoyed that my fabulous 40D/24-70mm camera rig was no longer “pristine”, I just had to do something. First, I pulled out a rocket air blower, pulled off the lens, and tried to blow it out. No luck, after a dozen puffs of air, the schmutz was still there.

Where air had failed, I was sure that a cloth would prevail. And so, I pulled out one of my spudz cloths, and gently wiped down the mirror. Looking through the viewfinder again, damn, no difference. Looking at the mirror, it became apparent that the stuff wasn’t on it, but on the focusing screen below the prism. And so, boldly going where I shouldn’t have gone, I wrapped the spudz cloth around my finger, and reached inside to wipe the focusing screen. After putting a lens back on, and looking through the viewfinder, there was good news and bad news. The good: the large black specs (they looked like detached veclro hooks in hindsight) were gone. The bad: there was now a coating of smaller gray fibers on most of the viewfinder image.

Realizing what I had done, I spent the next 10 minutes trying to use the blower to get the crap out of there. I removed some of it on the edges, and was able to confirm that the sensor didn’t get anything on it. Looking at the time (I was supposed to home in the bay area that afternoon), I proceeded to get over it, pack up my gear and hit the road. Ultimately, I was able to clean most of the stuff off of the focusing screen, using an even larger air blower, and a quality silk cleaning cloth (definitely lint free), gently wiping with my small finger.

Eventually I’ll get a new focusing screen, no so much due to any damage to my current screen (there isn’t any), but to try a different screen out and to get the special tool to be able to remove the old screen and clean it. And, as before, due to the proper use of the air blower and the sensor cleaning machinery in my camera body, the sensor came out of this ordeal as clean as before.

Now, at this point, you might think I am down on the Spudz cloths. That’s not the case, as I continue to like them a lot ... for brushing off the front of my lenses and filters. They are microfiber material, good for not scratching stuff, but since they’re not washed before manufacturing to clean the lint out, you shouldn’t use it anywhere that very small residual fibers are going to be a problem.

For anything inside a camera body, I’ll be sticking to high quality (read: pricey) cleaning cloths designed for cameras. And I’m also going to live with schmutz in my viewfinder, until I’m back at home, or in a hotel room with plenty of space to use the proper tools to clean things up. And, if all else fails, I’ll just eat the $100 to send my camera body down to Canon service in Irvine to have them do a proper disassembly and cleaning.

Peace out. - DB

Freedom from the tyranny of the neck strap...

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 11:04:54 -0700

Who decided that neck straps for cameras were cool? I suppose that, the more expensive (read: heavy) your camera is, the greater the need for something to keep you from dropping it on the ground. Of course, once you put a decent lens on an SLR, it becomes awfully heavy to leave around your neck, not to mention always seeming to bang into anything of significant size in your general vicinity.

Very quickly after picking up my Rebel XT, I ordered the canon hand strap, only to realize once it arrived, that it required the battery grip to provide the second anchor point for the strap. (I did end up getting the battery grip, but that’s another story) Some months later, I stumbled on several references to product called the Camdapter. In brief, it’s a plate that you mount to the base of your camera that gives you additional anchor points for straps. With this, you can put a strap on either side of the camera body, and/or even put a neck strap on one side, with a hand strap on the other.

Of course, the potential downside is losing your lens-centered mounting point that one would normally use for a tripod quick release plate. Jim has addressed this though, by offering several different models of the Camdapter, a number of which are compatible with common quick release mounts. Jim also sells a line of very nicely constructed straps, usable with the Camdapter, or existing strap attachment points on your gear.

I bought one of the top grain leather ProStraps, along with a Manfrotto style plate (compatible with the RC2 mounts on my tripods) for my 40D. After the US Postal Service took a week to drop it off at my door, I eagerly removed my standard issue Canon strap, attached the plate to the base of my 40D, and threaded the strap onto the mount points. It took a few minutes to get the strap properly adjusted, and the webbing properly threaded through the plastic slip lock. (note: read the large color-printed instructions in the package first, instead of the small card that comes in the bag with the strap)

Once I had the strap set at a comfortable adjustment, the difference was amazing. It makes it much easier to “casually” hold my 40D, even with my heaviest lens attached. Since I’ve moved to using a sling style backpack (LowePro Slingshot 200) for carrying my gear, I have another solution for keeping my gear on my person, but out of my hands.

Having used this configuration this past weekend while taking some snaps of the Golden Gate Bridge, I am more than sold, and am picking up a strap to use with my Rebel XTi (and it’s battery grip).

Stumbling TowardS Creativity

How NOT To Clean Your Mirror/Prism/Sensor

Freedom from the tyranny of the neck strap...