No Rocket blowers here !

I've done the impossible according to some experts. Though I DID see a Sony factory video, that pushed this idea forward. They vacuum the inside of their bodies !

I "vacuumed" the inside of my Canon, SL1 camera body. Matter of fact, after several cleanings, I spent a total of about 45 minutes with a 1/4" silicone tube inside the sensor/shutter/mirror box, pulling vacuum. I wanted there to be no doubt that I spent a fair amount of time cleaning my camera.

Things a blower "CANNOT" do.

1. "Pull" bad stuff out of small cracks, slots, holes etc., and KNOW that the junk is gone. Not just moved to a different location..!
2. There are slots in the sides, top and bottom of the box, above the mirror that allow the mirror to be controlled by linkages, and other stuff going on. A blower CANNOT, positively, "remove" junk from inside of those slots and mirror linkage.
3. There are other holes (inside this mirror box) (Canon SL1), that a blower CANNOT remove junk from inside those holes. Don't know what they are for.
4. I did something that initially I was trying not to do...I ran the silicone tube over the lens control pins, touching more than one pin at a time. The camera was "on" so the mirror would stay up. I also shut the camera off so I could vacuum above the mirror, and touched more than one pin at a time.

Between some of the cleanings and obviously the last cleaning, I took a bunch of pictures, both color and black and white, and looked for any possible problems. Spots, focus problems, banding, shading (cat hair!)...anything that was not in the photos before my...cleaning started. All is well, focus, colors, sharpness, speed, etc., etc.

While the Hepa filtered, internally grounded vacuum that I bought is not a $20.00 vacuum...(about $130.00), it is a POSITIVE method for cleaning a camera body. It also pulls junk from between the buttons and the body plastic, from those days at the beach, or on a windy day in the mountains, very nicely.  Another thing a blower can't do, pull junk out of the speaker/microphone holes...I did that to.

I'm going to put a Nikon D5200 thru the same test.

Anyone tried "blowing" the junk from the inside of your car..?

Any questions..?

Mike

I used to clean Pre Press computer workstations and mainframe computer systems vacuuming never worked it wouldn't free all the dust and other muck stuck to surfaces but a combination of both blowing which freed a lot of the stuck on dust and then a vacuum (ps the vacuums had both suck & blown cost about $1k) did the job found the same problem with photocopiers vacuum would only do a very poor job but blowing got them much cleaner

Kevin

You shouldn't really vacuum microphones and speakers since they use membranes that might be damaged with the difference in pressure. Just keep this in mind!