[jatrax]

Urban myth and not true. Like I said, it makes people crazy when I say I use canned gas, an it's because people buy into this sort of tripe.

I can attest from personal experience that moisture can result from using canned air if you are not careful. That has not stopped me from using it but I would never recommend to someone else to use it on the sensor. As long as you use short puffs and keep the can upright you are fine. Miss-use it by blowing too long or tipping the can over and you can get moisture or liquid to come out. I have used canned air at work on computer parts for many years and still consider them dangerous if not used carefully.

[Paleo Pete]

The trick with canned air is to make sure you first do a short squirt OUTSIDE THE CAMERA...for one or two seconds. It will get moisture from (probably) inside the can at first, or maybe it's some of the propellant. Every time I do mine I can see it. That first squirt includes a fine mist. After that, as already noted, use short puffs, 2 or 3 seconds, and it should work fine. I do mine all the time, works great as long as I eliminate that first puff of mist. I forgot once and had to do a complete cleaning with Kimwipes and so forth...it had at least 40 spots everywhere...I guess I got lucky, I did a test shot immediately and found it and cleaned it within a few minutes, no apparent damage since it still gets great pictures.

[GibbyTheMole]

Urban myth and not true.

I've personally seen liquid come out of the canned air several times. It's certainly not a myth. It mostly occurs if the can has been shaken prior to spraying though. Personally, I wouldn't want to risk it.

Here's how I clean the sensor. Takes only a minute, it's cheap & it's safe.

If you have a particularly stubborn spot, you can use a SensorClear sensor pen on the sensor first, then clean with the method above to get rid of the particles left by the sensor pen. Easy.

The lollipop cleaner can someimes leave residue on the sensor, by the way. I don't use mine.

Cheers,
Bobbo :-)

[kh1234567890]

Easy to fix, you need the little gummy stick that pentax make. It's mentioned in your manual:
Pentax O-ICK1 Image Sensor Cleaning Kit

Pentax O-ICK1 Image Sensor Cleaning Kit 39357

Not cheap, but cheaper than ruining your camera with some other method or sending it off for cleaning. Can be reused many many times, so should last you several cameras.

The Pentax stick is evil. Had one sitting about for about a year. When I came to use it, it did not look right so I tried it first on a clean UV filter and it was leaving gummy lumps everywhere. Obviously the orange sticky compound had perished, gone off or whatever.

[tweet25]

The Pentax stick is evil. Had one sitting about for about a year. When I came to use it, it did not look right so I tried it first on a clean UV filter and it was leaving gummy lumps everywhere. Obviously the orange sticky compound had perished, gone off or whatever.

thank you for the warning... I was wondering as it is next to impossible to find. LOL @ EVIL LOL

[picdude]

Digital Survival KIT - Sensor Swab Type 2 (w/Eclipse)
I used this and had no problem I thought it was cheap and still have 4 left

[Clavius]

Urban myth and not true. Like I said, it makes people crazy when I say I use canned gas, an it's because people buy into this sort of tripe.

Same here, nothing beats the strength of the canned gas airstream. I use it with great success. And yes, irritating others with it is an added bonus.

But if used wrongly, propellant or condensation will spit at the sensor. It's just that there are some people out there who just don't know how to use it. They're just to ignorant or lazy to try it out on something else first, to learn how it behaves.

This goes for the popular rocket-blower too. I've seen horror-threads in which people curse the blower because they scratched the sensor with the nozzle! They're just beyond stupid.

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Last edited by Clavius; 08-06-2012 at 01:01 AM.