Which sensor cleaner??

[BillyGarrett]

I was wondering what is the best cleaner to use for cleaning the image sensor? What are you using?

[Dennis_Vied]

I use a Sensor Brush for the loose stuff, and PecPads, Eclipse, and the spatula for more recalcitrant stuff.

[BillyGarrett]

Dennis,
I to use the sensor brush, however my local supplier of pecpads doesn't carry them any more. So now I am looking for them elsewhere and also what others are using. Thanks for your reply Dennis.

billy

[DierkHaasis]

In general I use a SensorBrush [now the Arctic Butterfly, much more convenient]. If wet cleaning is needed - for those sticky residues - I use 99.9% ethanol [isopropanol will work, too], a plastic or wooden spatula wrapped with a lent-free lens cleaning paper. Don't get the paper too wet, leave a little room when wrapping the paper on the spatula.

Last week I saw a Nikon technician clean the sensor array filters of my cameras. He used the same kind of lens cleaning paper, wrapped around a small pair of tweezers, wet with a clear alcohol. He also set the cameras just to bulb and released the shutter ...

[Walter_Kimmel]

I'm a Canon shooter (D60 for 3 years, followed by a 1DMkII).

I use a large bulb blower first, and then a cut down rubber spatula covered by Pec Pads moistened with Eclipse Fluid, and have had excellent results for the past 5 or 6 years.

I have had bad results with the Sensor Clean brushes. For some reason, my 1DMkII has some kind of lubricant in the shutter/mirror box area that contaminates the brush, leaving nasty streaks on the sensor.

But my spatula works just fine.

[Noel_Carboni]

In all the many tens (hundreds?) of thousands of photos I've taken with dSLRs, I have only ever blown off the sensor with canned air. No dirt has persisted past a carefully directed oblique blast of the stuff with the shutter held open.

Now, I'm not sure why others might find their sensor gunks up with stuff that has to be washed off, but I've just not seen it. I change lenses a lot, sometimes shoot in dusty environments (one memorable set was on horseback), and live in a pretty humid environment (south Florida).

-Noel

[MichaelMoenning]

I use the Arctic Butterfly by Visible Dust. I've gone away from wet cleaning unless absolutely necessary, then I use Eclipse fluid and Sensor Swabs.