Hic! Found a new way to clean the CCD

[Wichita Wayne]

Last wedding I got the long dreaded dark spot on some reception pictures. Took a picture of a blank wall and sure enough the CCD was dirty. Too much lens changing on the run I guess. Anyway, I needed to clean the thing. So I called the local photo shop and asked what they offered. He sold me the swabs but he didn't have any cleaning fluid or bulb blowers. I bought the swabs at wholesale, because he was too embarrassed to charge me the retail price. Off I went to try to find the other supplies. I had to pick up a prescription at a local drug store so I decided to use a new ear syringe for a blower and pick up a small bottle of methanol for the cleaning liquid. This might even save some money. The drug store had the syringe just fine but no methanol. I decided to try a hardware store on the way home for the methanol. All they had was gasoline dryer that said it contained methanol, too risky. It might contain some other additives that would stick to or damage the filter. I resigned myself to using isopropyl alcohol and headed home. On the way I passed a hobby shop and thought they might be able to help. All they had was nitro-methane, which would probably work but I was nit willing to take the chance with this stuff either. The clerk called a friend at a speed shop and they had methanol, but only in big barrels for use at the race track. So I gave up on finding methanol and headed home. Then it hit me as I passed a liquor store. What about ethanol! It is only one carbon atom away from methanol (remember in chemistry class: methel-1, ethel-2, propel-3, and butel-4) so I went in and bought a pint of Everclear. Went straight home and followed Thom Hogan's instructions for cleaning my CCD. It seemed to work fine. No more dark spot on my pictures. And after that I needed a shot of something so the Everclear worked fine for that too. Hic! Has anybody else used ethanol for cleaning the CCD or do you know of a reason not to. Hic!

[sandman]

Hi Wayne
I've used isopropyl alcohol for years to clean the heads on my video and audio players, so i thought that when i had to first clean my C.C.D. it would be fine, cleaned it as per manual ,then went 100 miles to shot a small town and cathedral.

Either i'd used too much, or forgot to polish it off , either way when i processed the shots,.. disaster... all my pics (over 100) had moisture droplets on the top half. i've enclosed one, look at the sky.
Well i spent ages ,cloning out and replacing skys,but it's not the same.

So i bought the eclipse fluid and swabs , i reckon if you can afford the S2 and lenses ,the fluids a drop in the oceon,(a joke!! get it).

How do you use the large swabs?, do you cut them up and put them on the empty handles or what?. at the moment i've still got the complete kit , i've only used 3, in three months(too much lense swapping)
Any way ,your method may be be fine, just take care that's all.

Happy shooting
Sandman

[Wichita Wayne]

I guessed that Isopropyl would leave spots and wanted to avoid it. And not using the Eclipse fluid was primarily because nobody in town had received their shipments from the company, and I needed the camera for a wedding this weekend. I believe that the Eclipse fluid is just methanol that they say is special. Probably a water extracting filtration process but that is just a guess. Anyway the ethanol (Everclear) seemed to work great, and NO, I really did not drink any.

I will try to post a picture I took at yesterdays wedding. It is free of water marks and the big dark spot that was present after the previous weeks wedding.

[sandman]

Wayne
Thats a great pic, i still can't believe i was stupid enough. 1 to put on too much fluid and 2 not to do a test afterwards, i do now.luckily it was a day out and not a wedding that got ruined.

Not into chemistry so i'll bow to your knowledge about spirits (both kinds).

I've a post in ''lenses'' regarding macro's, i know you've got a 60mm, maybe you'll help me out with some advice.

Happy shooting
Sandman

[Lab Rat]

Wayne

Good choice. If those dust specs are driving you to drink, give the first belt to the S2.

FYI

rubbing alcohol...140 Proof (70% alcohol 30% water)

methanol..........170 Proof or higher (85% alcohol 15% other, may have additives to help keep water from seperating.)

nitromethane......Carcinogenic!!! (Harmful if swallowed, inhaled or absorbed through skin.)

Everclear.........190 Proof (95% alcohol 5% water)

Only way it gets any better is to buy anhydrous alcohol from a lab supply company. I think the Everclear in a bind is a great idea.

Ken

[RacerX]

Thanks for the info Wayne. I haven't had my camera long enough to start to worry about cleaning the CCD. But I sure in the hell been reading allot about the do's and don't. I'll keep you posted about trying your system of cleaning.

Also .. . *****'n picture ! As we say here in SoCal. My older brother is getting married this October 2003, and I'm thinking of taking pictures for fun with my S2. Thanks again for the info and cool picture.

RacerX

[sandman]

Hi racer
I know what you're saying BUT.... don't just take them for fun, try to imagine your getting paid, and take the best pics you can , all the time, after awhile you'll relax and feel you can experiment more with different settings, weddings are a great learning curve.
But it's also your brothers wedding so take them before you get drunk, or lay the bridesmaid . most of all enjoy it, and make sure you've got some great pics to look back on.

p.s.
never did get an update on your foot

[RacerX]

Thanks for asking. It's doing great! The right side is where I had the work done 4 weeks ago. Doing much better now.

[DiscoPimp]

i thought the swabs were expensive enough (85 euro) so i went to the pharmacist and bought some pure ethanol ...

worked great to get the dust of and the stains stupid me put on with pressurized air cleaner ...

was a bit streaky at first but got rid of them with another swab (damn, two down, 10 more to go ... :mad: )

the ethanol cost 1.59 euro and i got enough to clean at least 5 billion ccd's, ...

now that i've seen the swabs, i reccomend everyone to make them rather than buy them.

[Wichita Wayne]

They make the swabs in a clean room and individually package them. This way the swab is less likely to introduce new contamination into the camera. I think that the cost is pretty low so far. Two swabs for 8 months of camera use. However, before I buy new swabs I might try to make my own out of a kitchen spatula and clean lens tissue type wipes. I saw that somewhere on the net and it looked like a good idea.

[Tom Nolle]

The spatula with Pec Pads works fine (with Everclear, too). The key is to be sure that you get a small jar spatula and trim it carefully so the spatula plus pad will fit down to the CCD. Sears makes a kind of plier/shear with razor-type replaceable blades that cuts the spatula pretty easily, and you can trim it to be sure you don't detatch the handle but do take off enough for it to fit down inside the camera.

Tom

[Andre]

Originally posted by RacerX
Thanks for asking. See attached pic. It's doing great! The right side is where I had the work done 4 weeks ago and the left side is where I had it done last year by a quack of a doctor. You can see the difference. (Hopefully I don't affend anyone, sorry!)

Racer, you really should put a copyright banner across your image - someone's going to claim this one as their own work.
:)