Picked up a cleaning job for a studio in Austin and saw a MASSIVE difference after 3 hours with a sensor swab

I went to clean this used camera that had spots all over the images. The owner said it was just dust, but when I looked at the sensor under a loupe, there was this sticky residue from some old cleaning solution. I used a fresh swap with just a little methanol and worked from left to right in one pass. After 3 passes total the sensor was spotless and the test shots looked crystal clear. Has anyone else run into residue problems from people using the wrong cleaning fluid?

3 comments

3 Comments

michael6699d ago

I used to think any cleaning fluid would do the job as long as you were careful. But a few years back I had a camera that left these weird streaks after what I thought was a proper cleaning. Took it to a shop and they said the previous owner had used some cheap eyeglass cleaner or something. It left a film that attracted more dust than before. So now I only use the methanol based swabs and keep it simple.

robins838d agoTop Commenter

Ah man, I feel you on that. I actually had a similar scare with my old Sony A7 a couple years back. I used a random lens cleaning spray from a big box store and it left this weird haze that no amount of dry wiping would fix. Took me three rounds of proper sensor swabs to get it back to normal. It's wild how a little cheap cleaner can mess things up so bad. I'm totally with you on sticking to the methanol swabs now, it's just not worth the risk. Better to spend a few extra bucks than wreck a kit lens or something.

sandra_bennett596d ago

Oh man, that 'attracted more dust' part hit home. I had the same issue with a cheap spray on my Nikon and it was like a dust magnet for weeks. Switching to those methanol swabs was the best thing I ever did for my gear.