CCD Holiday nightmare (day one)

Jono Slack · Jun 1, 2003

Hi There

I've just been on a small island for the past week - I found some dust on my CCD on the first day - no cleaning kit, but I did have the mains adaptor - so I bought some 'photographic' air from the local photo shop (small and limited), let it settle for a day and had a puff at the CCD - Horror of Horrors, it coughed, and sprayed a gobbet of propellant right on to the CCD.

aaaaahhhh!

In desperation I got hold of a cheapo 'camera cleaining' kit, and a couple of pentax microfibre cloths - with a piece of very clean stiff card as a 'swab' and a very small drop of the fluid which came with the camera cleaning kit (rather a weak methanol solution). I went to work.

It required care and patience, and, of course, the microfibre cloths are NOT lint free - but after about an hour I had all the propellant off, and was left only with a couple of very small pieces of dust - which I decided to live with.

I wouldn't necessarily recommend this approach, but it certainly did work, and allowed me to carry on taking photographs for the rest of the week.

Kind Regards
--
Jono Slack
http://www.slack.co.uk

Yves P. · Jun 1, 2003

Just kidding ... I am not touching this CCD ever again ... Nikon will do it for me. I will only be ultra careful with changing lenses from now on ...

Jono Slack said:
Hi There
I've just been on a small island for the past week - I found some
dust on my CCD on the first day - no cleaning kit, but I did have
the mains adaptor - so I bought some 'photographic' air from the
local photo shop (small and limited), let it settle for a day and
had a puff at the CCD - Horror of Horrors, it coughed, and sprayed
a gobbet of propellant right on to the CCD.

aaaaahhhh!

In desperation I got hold of a cheapo 'camera cleaining' kit, and a
couple of pentax microfibre cloths - with a piece of very clean
stiff card as a 'swab' and a very small drop of the fluid which
came with the camera cleaning kit (rather a weak methanol
solution). I went to work.

It required care and patience, and, of course, the microfibre
cloths are NOT lint free - but after about an hour I had all the
propellant off, and was left only with a couple of very small
pieces of dust - which I decided to live with.

I wouldn't necessarily recommend this approach, but it certainly
did work, and allowed me to carry on taking photographs for the
rest of the week.

Kind Regards
--
Jono Slack
http://www.slack.co.uk

--
Yves P.

http://www.pbase.com/kafrifelle
and
http://www.pbase.com/yves_p

Jono Slack · Jun 2, 2003

Hi Yves
Probably crazy - but very careful not to do anything scratchy!

the only time Nikon cleaned my CCD it came back with a couple of big bits of booger on it!.

Did something nasty happen to your CCD?

kind regards
jono

Yves P. said:
Jono Slack said:

Hi There
I've just been on a small island for the past week - I found some
dust on my CCD on the first day - no cleaning kit, but I did have
the mains adaptor - so I bought some 'photographic' air from the
local photo shop (small and limited), let it settle for a day and
had a puff at the CCD - Horror of Horrors, it coughed, and sprayed
a gobbet of propellant right on to the CCD.

aaaaahhhh!

In desperation I got hold of a cheapo 'camera cleaining' kit, and a
couple of pentax microfibre cloths - with a piece of very clean
stiff card as a 'swab' and a very small drop of the fluid which
came with the camera cleaning kit (rather a weak methanol
solution). I went to work.

It required care and patience, and, of course, the microfibre
cloths are NOT lint free - but after about an hour I had all the
propellant off, and was left only with a couple of very small
pieces of dust - which I decided to live with.

I wouldn't necessarily recommend this approach, but it certainly
did work, and allowed me to carry on taking photographs for the
rest of the week.

Kind Regards
--
Jono Slack
http://www.slack.co.uk

Click to expand...

--
Yves P.

http://www.pbase.com/kafrifelle
and
http://www.pbase.com/yves_p

--
Jono Slack
http://www.slack.co.uk

DavidMillier · Jun 2, 2003

Crazy Man...

I have one blob of something on my D100 CCD. It's right in the middle and looks like a translucent out of focus question mark. It only shows if it in a light area (like sky) and it only takes a few seconds to clone out, so I'm leaving it as it is!

Jono Slack said:
Hi There
I've just been on a small island for the past week - I found some
dust on my CCD on the first day - no cleaning kit, but I did have
the mains adaptor - so I bought some 'photographic' air from the
local photo shop (small and limited), let it settle for a day and
had a puff at the CCD - Horror of Horrors, it coughed, and sprayed
a gobbet of propellant right on to the CCD.

aaaaahhhh!

In desperation I got hold of a cheapo 'camera cleaining' kit, and a
couple of pentax microfibre cloths - with a piece of very clean
stiff card as a 'swab' and a very small drop of the fluid which
came with the camera cleaning kit (rather a weak methanol
solution). I went to work.

It required care and patience, and, of course, the microfibre
cloths are NOT lint free - but after about an hour I had all the
propellant off, and was left only with a couple of very small
pieces of dust - which I decided to live with.

I wouldn't necessarily recommend this approach, but it certainly
did work, and allowed me to carry on taking photographs for the
rest of the week.

Kind Regards
--
Jono Slack
http://www.slack.co.uk

pukeazoid · Jun 2, 2003

after having the fourth time dust on my ccd i dared to blow it away myself...

i was damn careful with the can, i tried it on glass and checked if anything liquid came out, i made sure it is suitable for things like that. bla bla

booom! i got a nice cloudy thing on my ccd...

result:
i sent it to nikon again...

i had to wait 2 weeks, but it was free thank god....

i never ever gonna touch that thing again... never !

Jono Slack · Jun 2, 2003

Hi Dave

Well - cloning one thing isn't too much problem, but a big smear? I don't think so!

But maybe I'm not so crazy - they were new cloths, and thoroughly checked for anything gritty first - the solution was obviously methanol based and nothing nasty, so as long as I was careful not to scratch anything it seemed woth the try, and it worked!

I've become a little less scared of all this stuff over time, it seems a simple procedure, and after years of cleaning glasses and lenses without scratching them, or taking off the multicoating I've got braver (not too brave I hope).

kind regards
jono slack

DMillier said:
I have one blob of something on my D100 CCD. It's right in the
middle and looks like a translucent out of focus question mark. It
only shows if it in a light area (like sky) and it only takes a few
seconds to clone out, so I'm leaving it as it is!

Jono Slack said:

Hi There
I've just been on a small island for the past week - I found some
dust on my CCD on the first day - no cleaning kit, but I did have
the mains adaptor - so I bought some 'photographic' air from the
local photo shop (small and limited), let it settle for a day and
had a puff at the CCD - Horror of Horrors, it coughed, and sprayed
a gobbet of propellant right on to the CCD.

aaaaahhhh!

In desperation I got hold of a cheapo 'camera cleaining' kit, and a
couple of pentax microfibre cloths - with a piece of very clean
stiff card as a 'swab' and a very small drop of the fluid which
came with the camera cleaning kit (rather a weak methanol
solution). I went to work.

It required care and patience, and, of course, the microfibre
cloths are NOT lint free - but after about an hour I had all the
propellant off, and was left only with a couple of very small
pieces of dust - which I decided to live with.

I wouldn't necessarily recommend this approach, but it certainly
did work, and allowed me to carry on taking photographs for the
rest of the week.

Kind Regards
--
Jono Slack
http://www.slack.co.uk

Click to expand...

--
Jono Slack
http://www.slack.co.uk

Jono Slack · Jun 2, 2003

Hi there

I don't think the propellant actually does any harm, but it sure does make a mess, and it doesn't come off all that easily.

but sending it back to Nikon with 5 days of Island shooting up ahead didn't seem like a good option!

kind regards
jono slack

pukeazoid said:
after having the fourth time dust on my ccd i dared to blow it away
myself...

i was damn careful with the can, i tried it on glass and checked if
anything liquid came out, i made sure it is suitable for things
like that. bla bla

booom! i got a nice cloudy thing on my ccd...

result:
i sent it to nikon again...

i had to wait 2 weeks, but it was free thank god....

i never ever gonna touch that thing again... never !

--
Jono Slack
http://www.slack.co.uk

AdWiser88638 · Jun 2, 2003

Hello Jono

Isn't much easier to have a small emergency cleaning kit with you? I mean I saw photographers struggling with heavy tripods on vulcanos, fighting the wind with some big reflective pannels, carrying huuge backpacks under the burning sun... Some pec-pads, a wendy knife and a small brown glass bottle of methanol can't be worse than that

I am lookin' forward to see those (I bet) beautiful island shots.
--
regards,
AdWiser

Jacques Pontbriand · Jun 2, 2003

Jono Slack said:
Hi There
I've just been on a small island for the past week - I found some
dust on my CCD on the first day - no cleaning kit, but I did have
the mains adaptor - so I bought some 'photographic' air from the
local photo shop (small and limited), let it settle for a day and
had a puff at the CCD - Horror of Horrors, it coughed, and sprayed
a gobbet of propellant right on to the CCD.

aaaaahhhh!

In desperation I got hold of a cheapo 'camera cleaining' kit, and a
couple of pentax microfibre cloths - with a piece of very clean
stiff card as a 'swab' and a very small drop of the fluid which
came with the camera cleaning kit (rather a weak methanol
solution). I went to work.

It required care and patience, and, of course, the microfibre
cloths are NOT lint free - but after about an hour I had all the
propellant off, and was left only with a couple of very small
pieces of dust - which I decided to live with.

I wouldn't necessarily recommend this approach, but it certainly
did work, and allowed me to carry on taking photographs for the
rest of the week.

Kind Regards
--
Jono Slack
http://www.slack.co.uk

--

The pressurized air cans.......is like playing Russian roulette......one day it will spray in liquid form and it is called disaster! Glad you came up with plan "B" and it worked out for you! :> ) Best regards to you Jono!
Jacques

http://www.geocities.com/cam2000.geo/
My web site

Yves P. · Jun 2, 2003

The only time I tried, it came out worste than it was a first ...

It took me an hour to fix the mess ...

Jono Slack said:
the only time Nikon cleaned my CCD it came back with a couple of
big bits of booger on it!.

Did something nasty happen to your CCD?

kind regards
jono

Yves P. said:

Jono Slack said:

Hi There
I've just been on a small island for the past week - I found some
dust on my CCD on the first day - no cleaning kit, but I did have
the mains adaptor - so I bought some 'photographic' air from the
local photo shop (small and limited), let it settle for a day and
had a puff at the CCD - Horror of Horrors, it coughed, and sprayed
a gobbet of propellant right on to the CCD.

aaaaahhhh!

In desperation I got hold of a cheapo 'camera cleaining' kit, and a
couple of pentax microfibre cloths - with a piece of very clean
stiff card as a 'swab' and a very small drop of the fluid which
came with the camera cleaning kit (rather a weak methanol
solution). I went to work.

It required care and patience, and, of course, the microfibre
cloths are NOT lint free - but after about an hour I had all the
propellant off, and was left only with a couple of very small
pieces of dust - which I decided to live with.

I wouldn't necessarily recommend this approach, but it certainly
did work, and allowed me to carry on taking photographs for the
rest of the week.

Kind Regards
--
Jono Slack
http://www.slack.co.uk

Click to expand...

--
Yves P.

http://www.pbase.com/kafrifelle
and
http://www.pbase.com/yves_p

Click to expand...

--
Jono Slack
http://www.slack.co.uk

--
Yves P.

http://www.pbase.com/kafrifelle
and
http://www.pbase.com/yves_p

Wingspar · Jun 2, 2003

Would someone be good enough to explain what the CCD is, and where is it located, and what it looks like. A photo off the CCD would be great. My D-100 is on back order, and I’ve been reading all these posts about dust on the CCD, and wondering just what it is, and what it looks like, and what it’s function is. I went thru the review here on dpreview, and could find nothing on the CCD. I wonder why, since it seems to be a very important and vulnerable part of the D
--
Gary
Will Fly for Food

Jacques Pontbriand · Jun 2, 2003

Wingspar said:
Would someone be good enough to explain what the CCD is, and where
is it located, and what it looks like. A photo off the CCD would
be great. My D-100 is on back order, and I’ve been reading all
these posts about dust on the CCD, and wondering just what it is,
and what it looks like, and what it’s function is. I went thru the
review here on dpreview, and could find nothing on the CCD. I
wonder why, since it seems to be a very important and vulnerable
part of the D
--
Gary
Will Fly for Food

--

CCD is a charged-couple device.......it is the sensor that your image will be formed on.......see this link for a complete story on ccd......
http://www.sony-digitalcamera.com/howwork.html
Jacques

http://www.geocities.com/cam2000.geo/
My web site

Wingspar · Jun 2, 2003

Jacques Pontbriand said:
--

CCD is a charged-couple device.......it is the sensor that your
image will be formed on.......see this link for a complete story on
ccd......
http://www.sony-digitalcamera.com/howwork.html
Jacques

http://www.geocities.com/cam2000.geo/
My web site

Thanks for that link. Still curious as to what the CCD looks like, but it sounds like it is located where I thought it would be. Under the mirror. I have to wonder how people get dust in there? It doesn’t seem like changing lenses should open the CCD to exposure, unless people changes lenses with the mirror in the locked up position?
--
Gary
Will Fly for Food

Thom Hogan · Jun 2, 2003

Wingspar said:
Thanks for that link. Still curious as to what the CCD looks like,
but it sounds like it is located where I thought it would be.
Under the mirror.

Actually, it's behind a curtain behind the mirror, exactly where film would be in a 35mm SLR camera. "Under the mirror" is actually another mirror and a whole host of electronic sensors (AF, spot metering, TTL).

Wingspar said:
I have to wonder how people get dust in there?
It doesn’t seem like changing lenses should open the CCD to
exposure, unless people changes lenses with the mirror in the
locked up position?

Dust gets everywhere. It's pernicious. Despite triple bagging my F5 when not in use, dust got into its SEALED prism on one trip. And don't forget that zooming, mirror flips, and other mechanical aspects of the camera are pumping air currents around inside the camera. Once dust gets inside the camera--which it will--it eventually shows up on the sensor. Add humidity changes and you can get that dust "welded" to the filter over the CCD.

--
Thom Hogan
author, Nikon Field Guide & Nikon Flash Guide
author, Complete Guides to the Nikon D100, D1, D1h, & D1x and Fujifilm S2
http://www.bythom.com

Scott A. Flaherty · Jun 2, 2003

I don't think your allowed to take menthanol on the plane with you when traveling. I believe for the same reasons stores won't ship it that way.

I usually give my camera a good cleaning (Eclipse/Spatula/PecPads) before going on a trip. While on the trip I use a bulb blower (NO CANNED AIR).

AdWiser said:
Hello Jono

Isn't much easier to have a small emergency cleaning kit with you?
I mean I saw photographers struggling with heavy tripods on
vulcanos, fighting the wind with some big reflective pannels,
carrying huuge backpacks under the burning sun... Some pec-pads, a
wendy knife and a small brown glass bottle of methanol can't be
worse than that
I am lookin' forward to see those (I bet) beautiful island shots.
--
regards,
AdWiser

--
Scott A. Flaherty
----------------------------------
http://www.clanoflaherty.com
----------------------------------

'No man, however great, is known to everybody and no man, however solitary, is known to nobody.'
Thomas Moore (1779-1852)

Jono Slack · Jun 2, 2003

HI There
how the devil are you?

You have to give me credit for taking the power supply at least

Actually, I've recently got in to a sort of routine of giving it a good blow about every fortnight or so, and then a good clean every 6 weeks or so - works fine for me. I gave it a proper clean before I went, so I didn't think I'd need to do more than the blow out.

but then there was that damn propellant!

kind regards
jono slack

AdWiser said:
Hello Jono

Isn't much easier to have a small emergency cleaning kit with you?
I mean I saw photographers struggling with heavy tripods on
vulcanos, fighting the wind with some big reflective pannels,
carrying huuge backpacks under the burning sun... Some pec-pads, a
wendy knife and a small brown glass bottle of methanol can't be
worse than that
I am lookin' forward to see those (I bet) beautiful island shots.
--
regards,
AdWiser

--
Jono Slack
http://www.slack.co.uk

Jono Slack · Jun 2, 2003

Hi Scott

I think you may be right about that - and I'd done just what you said . . . . . except I fell for the damned canned air!

Still, we live and learn - and anyway, I escaped!

kind regards
jono slack

Scott A. Flaherty said:
I usually give my camera a good cleaning (Eclipse/Spatula/PecPads)
before going on a trip. While on the trip I use a bulb blower (NO
CANNED AIR).

AdWiser said:

Hello Jono

Isn't much easier to have a small emergency cleaning kit with you?
I mean I saw photographers struggling with heavy tripods on
vulcanos, fighting the wind with some big reflective pannels,
carrying huuge backpacks under the burning sun... Some pec-pads, a
wendy knife and a small brown glass bottle of methanol can't be
worse than that
I am lookin' forward to see those (I bet) beautiful island shots.
--
regards,
AdWiser

Click to expand...

--
Scott A. Flaherty
----------------------------------
http://www.clanoflaherty.com
----------------------------------
'No man, however great, is known to everybody and no man, however
solitary, is known to nobody.'
Thomas Moore (1779-1852)

--
Jono Slack
http://www.slack.co.uk

Jono Slack · Jun 2, 2003

Hi Thom

Glad you turned up - your page on CCD cleaning gave me the confidence to learn how to do it properly (and to be brave enough to do it improperly as well).

Kind Regards
jono slack

Thom Hogan said:
Wingspar said:

Thanks for that link. Still curious as to what the CCD looks like,
but it sounds like it is located where I thought it would be.
Under the mirror.

Click to expand...

Actually, it's behind a curtain behind the mirror, exactly where
film would be in a 35mm SLR camera. "Under the mirror" is actually
another mirror and a whole host of electronic sensors (AF, spot
metering, TTL).

Thom Hogan said:

I have to wonder how people get dust in there?
It doesn’t seem like changing lenses should open the CCD to
exposure, unless people changes lenses with the mirror in the
locked up position?

Click to expand...

Dust gets everywhere. It's pernicious. Despite triple bagging my F5
when not in use, dust got into its SEALED prism on one trip. And
don't forget that zooming, mirror flips, and other mechanical
aspects of the camera are pumping air currents around inside the
camera. Once dust gets inside the camera--which it will--it
eventually shows up on the sensor. Add humidity changes and you can
get that dust "welded" to the filter over the CCD.

--
Thom Hogan
author, Nikon Field Guide & Nikon Flash Guide
author, Complete Guides to the Nikon D100, D1, D1h, & D1x and
Fujifilm S2
http://www.bythom.com

--
Jono Slack
http://www.slack.co.uk

Jono Slack · Jun 2, 2003

Hi Jacques

I hope you're well, haven't seen you around much lately.

I'm not sure whether I was brave of foolish, but at least I escaped.

At home I have a half empty can of air which sits in the same place all the time - never moves - I take the camera to the air, and it usually seems to be okay.

Thanks for saving me from making a fool of myself explaining a CCD badly!

kind regards
jono slack

Jacques Pontbriand said:
Jono Slack said:

Hi There
I've just been on a small island for the past week - I found some
dust on my CCD on the first day - no cleaning kit, but I did have
the mains adaptor - so I bought some 'photographic' air from the
local photo shop (small and limited), let it settle for a day and
had a puff at the CCD - Horror of Horrors, it coughed, and sprayed
a gobbet of propellant right on to the CCD.

aaaaahhhh!

In desperation I got hold of a cheapo 'camera cleaining' kit, and a
couple of pentax microfibre cloths - with a piece of very clean
stiff card as a 'swab' and a very small drop of the fluid which
came with the camera cleaning kit (rather a weak methanol
solution). I went to work.

It required care and patience, and, of course, the microfibre
cloths are NOT lint free - but after about an hour I had all the
propellant off, and was left only with a couple of very small
pieces of dust - which I decided to live with.

I wouldn't necessarily recommend this approach, but it certainly
did work, and allowed me to carry on taking photographs for the
rest of the week.

Kind Regards
--
Jono Slack
http://www.slack.co.uk

Click to expand...

--
The pressurized air cans.......is like playing Russian
roulette......one day it will spray in liquid form and it is called
disaster! Glad you came up with plan "B" and it worked out for you!
:> ) Best regards to you Jono!
Jacques

http://www.geocities.com/cam2000.geo/
My web site

--
Jono Slack
http://www.slack.co.uk

Wingspar · Jun 2, 2003

Thom Hogan said:
Wingspar said:

Thanks for that link. Still curious as to what the CCD looks like,
but it sounds like it is located where I thought it would be.
Under the mirror.

Click to expand...

Actually, it's behind a curtain behind the mirror, exactly where
film would be in a 35mm SLR camera. "Under the mirror" is actually
another mirror and a whole host of electronic sensors (AF, spot
metering, TTL).

I can see why cleaning this should not be performed by some of us. I probably fit that catagory.

Thom Hogan said:
Thom Hogan said:

I have to wonder how people get dust in there?
It doesn’t seem like changing lenses should open the CCD to
exposure, unless people changes lenses with the mirror in the
locked up position?

Click to expand...

Dust gets everywhere. It's pernicious. Despite triple bagging my F5
when not in use, dust got into its SEALED prism on one trip. And
don't forget that zooming, mirror flips, and other mechanical
aspects of the camera are pumping air currents around inside the
camera. Once dust gets inside the camera--which it will--it
eventually shows up on the sensor. Add humidity changes and you can
get that dust "welded" to the filter over the CCD.

Well explained. Sounds like periodical air blowing (not necessarilary aerosol can) between lens changes in a dust free environment would be a good idea, if possible.

A filter over the CCD? What does this filter do?

Thom Hogan said:
--
Thom Hogan
author, Nikon Field Guide & Nikon Flash Guide
author, Complete Guides to the Nikon D100, D1, D1h, & D1x and
Fujifilm S2
http://www.bythom.com

--
Gary
Will Fly for Food

CCD Holiday nightmare (day one)

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