C200: cleaning c200 sensor question

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echo44

Member
I am leaving tomorrow for a remote shoot. I just noticed visible dust on the sensor.
Anyone have any recommendations for cleaning last minute and more throughly later on?
Is it ok to use compressed air vs squeeze bulb. That would be my last minute emergency option.
Also can anyone suggest long term options

Thanks
 
Don't use canned air for sure. Don't use an air compressor as the output isn't pure or hepafiltered either. You can safely use a squeeze bulb like a Giottos bulb but you will probably find that the particulate will not be dislodged that easily. What you should have is an LED loupe to view the dust and somethinbg like an Arctic Butterly to safely remove the particulate. I've had one for years and it works great and is quick and easy, I've even used it on shoots.
 
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echo44 said:
Is it ok to use compressed air vs squeeze bulb. That would be my last minute emergency option.
Click to expand...

I have been using compressed air most of my life for everything (OCD in this regard), so I naturally continued to do so with cameras and lenses.

It's been about 10 years now since I have been using it with them, and people have have been telling me not to use it like that for 10 years.

Until it damages something, I will keep on using it as it works the best for me, personally. Everything else I've tried either spreads particles around, adds new ones (dust, loose bristles), or causes scratches (most likely user error).

I usually spray the air on my hand first to push out any "wet air" if the can has been shaken at all, and then continue spraying my sensors or lenses, camera buttons, etc. I also make sure I tape the straw to the nozzle so it doesn't come flying off (which happens sometimes if you don't and could go plunging straight into the surface you're pointing it).

Nevertheless, maybe I have been lucky all of this time so take it for what it's worth.
 
We clean the sensor on almost every camera that returns to our rental shop and the Arctic Butterfly is an amazing tool. Also, several manufacturers have instructions for proper sensor maintenance (we found the instructions for ARRI recently and although they seemed dumb, following their steps actually gave us great results).

One note to curb concern- almost every sensor has a protective layer of glass held tightly against it with a screw, not adhesive. This is usually easy to replace (on the C200, I think it's like 2 screws?) and not overly expensive. If you see a scratch and fear it's on your sensor, it's likely a relatively cheap repair with just the sensor glass needing to be swapped out. Also make sure you don't have any internal NDs engaged!
 
The glass in front of the sensor is the OLPF, optical low-pass filter. Most if not all cine/video cameras will have it. The exception might be some offerings from Black magic. You're cleaning the filter, not the sensor itself. The Arctic Butterfly will work fine for this. I sent my F55 to a Sony service center for cleaning as dust got in behind the OLPF. No way I was going to touch a $15K sensor.
 
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