Another cleaning and caring thread a7iii

[bill777]

I know there ate tons of threads on this subject, but when it comes to sensor cleaning as everyone around here I don't want to take chances.

I thought about having my dog lick the sensor to get rid of any dust but I found out it's probably not a good idea :-D

I also bought a cheap cleaning kit only to end up throwing it in the bin since the blower broke after a couple uses and I never used the brushes because I do not trust the material they are made from. Since I want to do it the right way I pretend to compile info on the best techniques and supplies to take good care of my equipment .

Sensor Cleaning

Official one:

sony sensor cleaning

Videos on the subject:

Tony & Chelsea

How to clean A7iii sensor

Sensor cleaning 2019

Info on the subject:

Philip Bloom sony sensor cleaning

Don Smith cleaning mirrorless system

Lens rentals guide do cleaning up the sensor

Brian Smith sensor cleaning

The method I will use

1º

I bought a Giottos GTAA1900 Rocket Air Blower. I think this one we all can agree it will be the first line of defense agains dust. I will keep it with me all the time and will do regular cleaning of lenses and sensor. £13.65 on amazon.

2º-

For the second step we can all do it kind of differently.

I believe before going to wet wipe we can try to brush some dust out. For that I saw some people recommended the Arctic Butterfly® 724S. I believe it's a great brush but it's kind of expensive and not really easy to find en Europe.

Any of you guys have some other recommendation for a brush that is safe to use on the sensor? I could just go and buy some cleaning brush at the photography shop but I don't want to risk damaging the sensor. Most of them are hard and the material is not good for sensor cleaning and I know Sony sensors tend to be picky.

3º- In this step I think the sensor swabs with some liquid fluid would be the best bet.

I see the aero clipse mentioned everywhere and seems like a proper cleaning fluid for the a7. Do you know of any other brand I could use on the a7 iii sensor?

What do you think about this kit? Any of you guys use it? I can see it's not designed for mirrorless specifically. The reason I mention this kit is because of price. The individual swabs seem like the cheapest here in Europe. VSGO Full frame

Another kit looking nice is the Photosol SensorSwab Ultra Swab Type 2 Survival Kit . It is designed for aps-s but I think it would be ok in a full frame.



In conclusion I want to buy a good brush and then find swabs and fluid that are good quality for nice price. If I buy the aero clipse I think it would go a long way but I still need to find good swabs.

 

[Mike -]

Air blowers do a great job of..."moving" the garbage around, rather than positively... "removing" it..!

Ol Tony/Chelsea have a video, they made a trip to the...Sony factory. What does the "Sony" factory do...they vacuum the garbage out. That's the only SURE way of removing all of the loose trash. NOT...just blowing it around and HOPING...that it finds its way OUT...of the camera body..!

If a swabbing is needed, fine, but still a second vacuuming is required.

This may be a little expensive for some, there may be cheaper vacuums on the market. I put a piece of 1/4"od. silicone tubing into the small nozzle vacuum attachment. This not only provides a very soft tube, a small tube, a tube that will not build static electricity, and also helps control the "amount" of vacuum to an acceptable level.

This is what I use, McMaster Carr -

Static Control Plug-In Hand-Held Vacuum Cleaners for Dry Pickup, 1 qt.120V AC99.865% @ 5 microns6 1/2"7 1/2"12 1/4"0.55.51 1/4"2 1/2-610__16" Lg. Extension Wand
Crevice Tool
Crevice Tool Brush
Plastic Case
Round Dust Brush, 9808T25

Mike

 

[splashy]

I use the same blower and gellsticks for years now with different camera's, works always and good.

Camera's with 5 axis stabilizers should be ON when using cellsticks, probably also with other cleaning systems.

 

[LenRivers]

My advice after many many years. Don’t go looking for trouble. The sensor generally speaking does not need to be maintained. Only clean if needed and with the least amount of Intervention ie a blower brush never compressed air. Point camera to the ground when doing this

if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.

I have never ever ever used anything to clean a sensor. I used a blower brush to move the dust. I use the cameras built in cleaning system to do this at power on and off

 

[Higgins2002]

My advice after many many years. Don’t go looking for trouble. The sensor generally speaking does not need to be maintained. Only clean if needed and with the least amount of Intervention ie a blower brush never compressed air. Point camera to the ground when doing this

if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.

I have never ever ever used anything to clean a sensor. I used a blower brush to move the dust. I use the cameras built in cleaning system to do this at power on and off

For dust a blower works fine.

But for grease from shuttermechanism don't go away without wet cleaning.

I had about 10 000 shots before I had to do a wet clean on my A7III.

It's not a big deal... just put the body in cleaning mode and the camera locks the sensor and be gentle when using the swabs.

 

[JpGomez]

My advice after many many years. Don’t go looking for trouble. The sensor generally speaking does not need to be maintained. Only clean if needed and with the least amount of Intervention ie a blower brush never compressed air. Point camera to the ground when doing this

if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.

I have never ever ever used anything to clean a sensor. I used a blower brush to move the dust. I use the cameras built in cleaning system to do this at power on and off

I seldom clean my sensors too. Maybe due to reason I shoot mostly wide open and with occasional f5.6 and rare f8 - F11 tops.

Once in a while, I puff a few using a blower.. that's about it.

 

[LenRivers]

My advice after many many years. Don’t go looking for trouble. The sensor generally speaking does not need to be maintained. Only clean if needed and with the least amount of Intervention ie a blower brush never compressed air. Point camera to the ground when doing this

if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.

I have never ever ever used anything to clean a sensor. I used a blower brush to move the dust. I use the cameras built in cleaning system to do this at power on and off

I seldom clean my sensors too. Maybe due to reason I shoot mostly wide open and with occasional f5.6 and rare f8 - F11 tops.

Once in a while, I puff a few using a blower.. that's about it.

My point is preventive maintenance is never necessary. If you introduce things that do not need to be introduced it opens a bag of worms. I learned this lesson when I shot with my film camera. A bristle came off and I could not get it out from a blower brush.

It has nothing to do with what aperture you use. The 3 times I got dust on the sensor I was able to get the spec off easily.

At the same time I usually don't keep cameras more than 2 or 3 years anyway. I never go with that expectation. As an aside with the new Canon body at $1300, now the rest have something to work with.

 

[PWPhotography]

I bought a Giottos GTAA1900 Rocket Air Blower. I think this one we all can agree it will be the first line of defense agains dust. I will keep it with me all the time and will do regular cleaning of lenses and sensor. £13.65 on amazon.

Yes it is annoying of this issue in certain scenarios such as in my recent Iceland trip. It's very windy there that guaranteed will suck in dusts even in big size of dust when swapping lenses as I experienced. It's reflected in photos even at F/8 and it's hard and time consuming to clean in PP. Now I need to carry such blower in pocket for such trips. Will blow on site before I attaching the lens B after taking off the lens A. Really hope future Sony models will also implement the auto sensor shutter closure after powering off the camera as implemented in Canon EOS R. When I return hotels or home I clean sensors with VisibleDust Arctic Butterfly 724 sensor brush that works very well, and usually I don't need to apply another step further with Sensor Gel Stick. I think I don't need a wet cleaning ever after with these two tools.

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https://www.flickr.com/photos/55485085@N04/albums

 

[JpGomez]

My advice after many many years. Don’t go looking for trouble. The sensor generally speaking does not need to be maintained. Only clean if needed and with the least amount of Intervention ie a blower brush never compressed air. Point camera to the ground when doing this

if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.

I have never ever ever used anything to clean a sensor. I used a blower brush to move the dust. I use the cameras built in cleaning system to do this at power on and off

I seldom clean my sensors too. Maybe due to reason I shoot mostly wide open and with occasional f5.6 and rare f8 - F11 tops.

Once in a while, I puff a few using a blower.. that's about it.

My point is preventive maintenance is never necessary. If you introduce things that do not need to be introduced it opens a bag of worms. I learned this lesson when I shot with my film camera. A bristle came off and I could not get it out from a blower brush.

It has nothing to do with what aperture you use. The 3 times I got dust on the sensor I was able to get the spec off easily.

At the same time I usually don't keep cameras more than 2 or 3 years anyway. I never go with that expectation. As an aside with the new Canon body at $1300, now the rest have something to work with.

For myself it does, shooting high apertures make dust marks more prominent to show on my images. And tells me I need to use the blower.

 

[Jefenator]

After a year my sensor dust was getting out of hand. There was one micro-hair that really stuck out and dozens of smaller specks that I'd have to filter out in Photoshop whenever I had a smooth background. The blower was ineffective.

A quick session with this gel stick product and all is right as rain - haven't had to retouch out a single dust spot yet, this year. I definitely regret not acquiring this months sooner:

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www.amazon.com

Run the cleaning cycle on the camera, follow all instructions carefully and I highly recommend a good strong light source and some stereo magnifiers so you can really see what you're doing. I got the wet cleaning kit just in case but didn't wind up needing it.

HTH

BTW blowers can be OK to reduce buildup with a hit during lens changes. (Kind of like brushing your teeth between dentist visits.) Brace the camera, use both hands, be very careful to make sure the tip never bumps into the sensor. If it does make contact it can leave a permanent smudge that will be visible in photos - don't ask me how I know.

 

[JRP64]

I never had a problem using a blower, for I use a thing called gravity when I use it. ;-)

Though using a vacuum would be better I guess; however, myself I would be a little leery. Knowing my luck I would damage the sensor.

I personally don't clean my camera's sensor unless it's really noticeable.