Swore blower nozzles were all the same till a job in Austin

Had a dusty old Nikon F2 come in last week. Customer said shutter was sticking. I always just use canned air. But a buddy from the local camera club handed me a rubber blower. Said it was a Giottos. I laughed. Tried it on a mirror box full of grit. Thing worked way better than my cheap puffer. No moisture issues. Now I'm a convert. Anybody else swear by a specific cleaning tool?

3 comments

3 Comments

tarabell16d agoRising Star

Funny enough, I actually watched that same Chicago tech's video last week. He did a slow-motion comparison and you could see the cheap blowers sputtering air out the sides while the Giottos shot a clean jet straight ahead. I never thought about the rubber thickness making a difference but it makes sense when you think about how a thicker rubber band snaps back harder than a thin one. He also mentioned that the little rubber fins on the nozzle of the good ones help direct the air instead of just blasting everywhere. Kinda blew my mind that something so simple has that much engineering in it.

seth_singh2016d ago

You ever notice how the cheapest version of a tool usually works okay until you actually need it to work great? I had the same thing happen with a basic screwdriver set from a hardware store that stripped every other screw, then I bought a Wera set and felt like an idiot for all the swearing I did before. The Giottos blower is one of those things where the rubber feels heavier and the air comes out in a focused stream instead of a weak puff. Same with car detailing stuff too - a cheap microfiber cloth can scratch your paint but a good one just glides. Sometimes you gotta spend the extra ten bucks to save yourself twenty minutes of frustration.

hollyl2516d ago

Watched a repair video from this old-school camera tech in Chicago who said the same thing. He tested a bunch of blowers by aiming them at a piece of dust on a mirror and the Giottos was the only one that didn't just scatter it. Apparently the cheap ones let air leak out the back so you lose pressure. The rubber on the good ones is thicker so it snaps back faster and gives a stronger burst. Never knew there was that much difference in a damn squeeze bulb but now I get it.