cleaning CCD

[bill garofalo]

Made my first attempt to clean CCD. Followed manual instructions
and when I removed lens and lookked straight into the camera I see what I think is the CCD, but is it? Much too large. Almost full frame. Now I look in and down and there in a small recess is???
Is that the chip? I quickly blew a few birst of air from a rubber bulb and claosed up the camera. Not a job for me.:(

[lightwrangler]

search on this site regarding cleaning the chip, there have been a number of postings on this topic and I think your questions would be answered easier that way.

[Topngu]

That CHIP...they call CCD cost over $1000 US

[EverStaR]

I have cleaned mine a few times, its easy if you have the proper cleaning supplys and follow the instructions.

Only one mod I make now, a little more fluid and I wait about 10 seconds before i do my second pass so that the fluid has a chance to break up the gunk a little more so the second pass with the other side of the swab gets it all.

Cleaning can also be very rewarding. Also, if you shoot outdoors a lot like I do, you'll go broke sending it in all the time for cleaning.

Hope this instills some confidence!

[bill garofalo]

Thank you EverStar,
The problem was I did not know what the CCD looked like. I could not believe it was so large. I actually thought it was that small depression directly below the CCD.
SO! The second time around, although I could see no spots, and see no spots on my prints, I made a few very light passes with a new Q tip each time. That is it. Closed the camera and went to my shoot.
By the way I just got the Tokina 24 200 AlF Zoom. A little heavy but a great sharp lens.
BG

[ballroom_boy]

hi there

Are you really using a Q tip to clean your CCD? Or were you refering to the Sensor Swab?

Just curious...

Roel

[EverStaR]

Its a Swab!, My mind was somewhere else! I do not advocate the use of Q-tips for cleaning CCD's.

Take care!
Mark

[jknights]

I use Qtips for CCD cleaning with no problem. However I prewash them in methanol to remove any stray fibres. It only takes a few seconds at the time of cleaning and it is much cheaper.

I have also moved over to use methanol rather than iso-propyl alcohol.

Here is my process that I use for bith the S2 and my Nikon D1X

[Sneakyracer]

Is it safe to use rolled up lint free lens cleaning tissue at the end of a qtip to clean the ccd. Using lesn cleaning fluis of course since using a dry tissue will most certainly result in scratches.

I looked at the $49.99 sensor swabs and the seem to use that type of tissue at the tip.

Ok, i searched a bit and Pec-Pads seems to be the only safe tissue to use, its the magic stuff now lets see if the super duper local photo store has them in the store :rolleyes: If not ill have to order some over the net. "Dustbunnies" in my fuji are starting to become too numerous to ignore.

[Adrian Batty]

I use pec pads, with three drops of eclipse wrapped around a plastic icecream spoon. It's just the right size and shape with the pec pad wrapped around.

It really is an easy process, just make sure you clean your camera and lenses before you do a swipe it makes life easier.

Adrian.