I brought my brand new Nikon D40 down to the Florida panhandle in early June. While on beautiful Seagrove Beach, I, as a novice, made the mistake of changing lenses on the beach. The result was an instant speck of dust on the sensor. My dealer, having recognized that this was a recent purchase, replaced the entire body for me. You learn from your mistakes.

Since, I have been very conservative in my lens swapping, making sure I do it indoors only, in a clean environment, with the body bayonette opening down. I usually open it up, and blast a few puffs in with my blower every few weeks. I only have 2 lenses, an 18-55, and a 55-200. Since buying the D40 Mother’s Day weekend, I have taken over 11,000 pictures. But I do own a bottle of Eclipse, and Sensor Swabs. I do have to add, this podcast was the best explaination on sensor cleaning, and debunking of popular Internet mythologies I have yet to hear.

But, like everything, where there is cash to be made, and “FUD” to be found…..a whole cottage industry springs up.

You and I must have listened to different podcasts. There was a few minutes of entirely appropriate thanks to sponsors at the start of the show followed by a long discussion about products used to clean DSLR sensors. In the context of such a discussion you have to talk about suppliers of those products. This hardly qualifies as “just commercial crap”.

http://www.photosol.com/cameras_bymfg.html

There was also an interesting related thread on dpreview here:

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1032&message=23903765

As you said, sensor cleaning is, and will continue to be, a controversial subject. Maybe one of these days the camera makers will come up with a definitive solution…

Thanks again,
Norman

“The Digital Photography Show #57: How to Clean Your DSLR’s Sensor (25Mb, 71 mins)”

No show - just commercial.
Got better things to do.

Arthur: You are right on. After we posted this show, we got a very strong reaction from people who had some different opinions on the topic. But I think the methods Chris from Penn Camera laid out were conservative and sensible for most people. And they should be enough to get your sensor clean, too.

Ryan, neither of us knows much about Pentax, but we’ll try to find someone who does. Thanks for the idea.

I discovered your show only last week and have been listening to your previous shows during my hour long commute to work and back every day. I am up to show 18 now, and love it.

forgive me if you already covered this topic between shows 19 and 56, in which case I will discover it in the next week or so, but I was wondering if you could do a review of the new Pentak K10D.

I am a recent convert to digital and want to upgrade my old Pentax Z-20 slr to a DSLR. On paper it looks like an amazing camera, with built in vibration control, a sensor cleaner and what sounds very appealing to me backwards compatibility with just about every Pentax lens ever made (with the added bonus of them now becoming VR lenses)

I would love to hear what a dedicated Cannon and Nikon man thinks about it?

Keep up the good work and keep spreading the love…

Arthur

Maybe using it for stubborn pieces every so often and then using a rocket blower or brush on a more regular basis would be a good idea,

Julian that is a cool result you illustrated!

As for the sensor-film — a substance akin to thin honey and can take up to 3 hours to dry to pick off dust — not for me!

http://creativesuitepodcast.com/index.php?post_id=229849

Thanks for the great show this week…I still can’t get myself to clean my sensor.

Laurel
Gainesville, Florida

What I would like to comment on is the use of Eclipse fluid. Chris Butcher did mention that methanol (MEOH) is component in this fluid.

As someone who worked at a petrochemical plant for 22 years where methanol was produced. Advise your listeners that if they use this product to follow the safety instructions on the container, and NOT to get the product on or in them. Say by putting a paint brush in your mouth and sucking the bristles to bring them to a point.

Methanol is poisonous and can seriously damage your eyesight.

See link to Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS)
http://www.sciencelab.com/xMSDS-Alcohol_denatured_with_IPA_and_MeOH-9922820

Keep up the great shows
Allan

If you have already downloaded the wrong episode in iTunes, there are two ways for you to fix it.

1. Go to the blog, download the show manually, then open it in itunes.

2. Delete your Digi Photo subscription in itunes and then re-subscribe by clicking on the itunes button on the blog. (itpc://digiphoto.thepodcastnetwork.com/feed/)

Again, many apologies for the hassle! Technical glitch.

http://www.julianfoley.co.uk/sensornightmare.jpg

Have fun,

Julian

There seems to be a glitch on iTunes with episode 57. When I downloaded it was actually episode 56.

Still loving all your shows.

Cheers from New Zealand.

Mike Hollman