Cleaning Innards?

[Pot Bellied Fool]

Hi All

I've got an Olympus e300. There seems to be a hair trapped in there somewhere that the self-cleaning won't get rid of. (it's still there if you change lenses).

Also, attempts to use an old fashioned blower/brush from a 35mm SLR hasn't helped - and indeed has left more fluff deposited on the little perspex screen that sits at right angles off to the side (that I think feeds the viewfinder?)

Any recommended products to clean the innards? I've heard good things about these but haven't really got that much cash to spare!

Thanks - Dunc.

[tim-b]

I use one of these which might be more powerful than your old blower, if that doesn't work I (carefully!) use these with Eclipse fluid and have a good success rate (sometimes you have to do it twice to get all the dust/fluff). It is pretty expensive at about £3 per swab (not re-usable) but better than sending to a shop/manufacturer who will probably do the same thing but charge 10x more. Just read the instructions carefully because if you f* it up it could be expensive!

[SamHH]

Couple of basic questions first:

Is the hair showing on the photos, not just in the viewfinder?

Are you exposing the sensor (or rather the filter that sits in front if it) when you tried blowing? I.e. mirror up, shutter open?

If the answer is yes to both of those things, then I can recommend the Arctic Butterfly you linked to. Whether it's any better than a plain brush I'm not sure, but it does the job.

[Pot Bellied Fool]

SamHH said:

Couple of basic questions first:

Is the hair showing on the photos, not just in the viewfinder?

Are you exposing the sensor (or rather the filter that sits in front if it) when you tried blowing? I.e. mirror up, shutter open?

If the answer is yes to both of those things, then I can recommend the Arctic Butterfly you linked to. Whether it's any better than a plain brush I'm not sure, but it does the job.

Hi Sam

Two issues I think.

There's some fluff that only shows up in the viewfinder & I can see this deposited on the perspex screen off to the side. Is it ok to clean this with a cotton bud & alcohol?

I've not tried exposing the sensor yet. The E300 has a vibrating sensor at switch in to get rid of dust (& this seems to work quite well) but there must be a hair in there somewhere, it doesn't appear in the viewfinder but does on shots (regardless of lens)

Are those rocket puffers mentioned in the previous post ok for blowing with the sensor exposed?

[Nick M]

Pot Bellied Fool said:

There's some fluff that only shows up in the viewfinder & I can see this deposited on the perspex screen off to the side. Is it ok to clean this with a cotton bud & alcohol?

The blower may shift this, but otherwise a lint-free swab (like a sensor cleaning one) would be better. With a cotton but you risk adding *more* fluff

Pot Bellied Fool said:

I've not tried exposing the sensor yet....but there must be a hair in there somewhere, it doesn't appear in the viewfinder but does on shots (regardless of lens)

Are those rocket puffers mentioned in the previous post ok for blowing with the sensor exposed?

Generally yes, especially with something big like fluff.

But you need to get the mirror out of the way to expose the filter over the sensor (you won't actually expose the sensor itself unless the filter has been removed).

[SamHH]

You need to expose the sensor whatever method you use otherwise it's completely covered over by the shutter. The camera probably has a sensor clean mode in the menu, otherwise you can use bulb mode to keep the shutter open.

I'd try blowing it away first, and if that doesn't work, either a brush or a swab.

[CVP]

If you have hairs / spots on the final image then you have dust / hairs on the filter in front of the sensor. The only way to get rid of these is to expose that so you can get to it.

There are generally two ways to do this
1. read the manual and see if your camera has a "mirror lock up for cleaning mode", or
2. set to manual and set a really long exposure, say 30 seconds or so.

The advantage of the first method over the second is that is deactivates the sensor itself so you do not generally drag more dust in there, plus you don;t mentally have to copunt down to the time the mirror will come clanging down.

I have the Arctic Butterfly and it does work well for picking up bits of dust on the filter in front of the sensor.

My process goes
1. Take lens off & clean both front and rear elements of the lens
2. Activate cleaning mode and trip shutter so mirrir flips up and out of the way
3. Turn on brush to create static charge
4. Brush both ways lightly across the filter in front of the sensor
5. Examine for dust / spots
6. If none, turn camera off and replace lens
7. if still some, try the bursh again or go to wet cleaning method. I use the disposable pre-moistened pads, wipe across the sensor, turn over and wipe back again (one sweep each way, once each side of the sensor). It is a bit more expensive to get the pre-moistened ones but they come individually wrapped and are much easier to manage out in the field as you ahve less kit to carry.
8. Check for spots & dust & if you still have a stubborn one then one more go with wet clean.
9. Turn camera off and let mirro flip down and replace the lens

if the camera does not have the cleaning mode (or battery is too depleted to activate this mode - thanks Nikon) I do the same thing setting a long exposure in manual mode. Note this means you ahve to count down in your head how long you have left before the mirror flips back down. Make sure you have removed anythign from the camera by the tiem this happens as otherwise you could damage the mirror mechanism.

It sounds quite difficult but honestly after you have done it a couple of times it is really easy and takes only a couple of minutes to do everything.

Chris