Cleanliness is important, particularly with photography. What use is the most beautiful motive, the most expensive lens or the most sophisticated settings on your camera, when a fingerprint or a dust monster ruins everything. Luckily some resourceful minds develop appliances to help us fight dust and dirt on digital camera sensors, lenses and monitors. Those selected for this article neither contain detrimental substances nor do they need force to clean, thus preventing more serious damage.

Lenspen.

 

The Canadian manufacturer, selling his products through their Web site directly, advertises: ‚A necessity, Not an Accessory!’ Seems like a mouthful, doesn't’t it? Tools and substances to keep delicate surfaces clean have been around for quite some time, from old-fashioned lens paper to space-age micro fibre cloth. And don’t forget chamois. All designed to carefully and softly clean lens glass.

It is actually chamois we find at the tip of the patented Lenspen. It is impregnated with a special formula carbon dust to take off any fatty substances from the lens. When you do not use the Lenspen the tip goes inside a protective cap containing a small reservoir of this special cleaning formula. Completing it is a retractable fine brush for dusting off lose debris.

On Lenspen’s Web site photos compare the different cleaning effects of lens paper, traditional cloth and the Lenspen – quite impressive differences. Do we believe the claims? To a certain degree, yes; microscopic test I leave to specialised laboratories. My own comparisons – fingerprint on a skylight filter, cleaning with lens paper, micro fibre cloth and Lenspen, checking against dark background – support the manufacturers claims. A special warning against micro fibre cloths, instead of lifting the fat from the glass they only distribute it evenly, thus making one wonder why photos turn out to be on the soft side.

Another important aspect is handling, how does the Lenspen work in real life? It is an easy carry-on item, protected by itself like an actual pen. It is not only more thorough than other solution but more comfortable to use, easily accessing every bit of the front lens. The company offers several sizes of the Lenspen, in addition various tip shapes are available to accommodate different applications; you can even get a special cleaner for TFT monitor.

This is a highly recommended product: the Lenspen.

[By the way, you can get a much smaller Sensorpen, too, which works the same as the big brother only with a much smaller and differently shaped tip.]

Sensor Brush

 

Getting a good photo needs more than just a clean lens, the recording area needs to be spotless, too. With digital imaging that means the filter covering the actual sensor chip has to be cleaned from time to time. There are several concepts, a range of techniques and even more gadgets available.

In the best of cases your DSLR has a cleaning feature built in; another safe option is to let your camera be serviced by the manufacturer regularly. If you want to save money, need to be in charge of suddenly appearing dust spots in the field, you have to take charge yourself. You can choose between wet cleaning and dry cleaning. The first is more demanding since too much cleaning lotion or the wrong amount of pressure will result in very expensive damage to your camera.

Of course, the dry method is not fool proof either, damaging the sensor, the mirror ort he shutter is always a possibility. With already baked in dirt it is not as effective as the wet method.

Well known among photographers when it come to dry cleaning is the Sensor Brush, developed and manufactured by the Canadian company VisibleDust. At first look it seems to be just a simple nylon fibre brush. The fibres are electrically charged to take up any particles from the sensor filter’s surface. Very simple.

Thinking of saving money by making your own brush, getting a cheap cosmetics brush, clean it thoroughly from any residue? You will find instructions to do just that all over the Net. I am not quite sure how sensible it is to shell out several thousands in EURO or Dollar for a dSLR – and then be a miser on the sensor Brush. Anything going wrong with making your own and you are left with a still dirty sensor after cleaning, in the best of cases. Worst case scenario: you scratch the sensor’s filter and have to send the camera in to get it replaced.

Aside from the Sensor Brush – for which you find a plethora of technical information on VisibleDust’s Web site – you only need canned air, which is used to dislodge debris from the fibres and charge them at the same time. For sensor cleaning you simply blow the canned air through the fibres - do not use your mouth, only gets moisture onto the brush -, switch up the mirror and open the shutter following your camera manufacturer’s instructions for sensor cleaning, carefully swipe over the sensor with the Sensor Brush (don’t use pressure). Take the brush out, ready the camera for shooting, give the brush fibres a short blast. Finished.

Depending on your camera’s sensor size VisibleDust offers various brush sizes; you can also go fort he Arctic Butterfly, a battery driven Sensor Brush for he road; looks cooler, too.

Highly recommended, the Sensor Brush belongs into the bag of every dSLR owner.

Hoodwipes

 

Some time back I presented the Hoodman Flip-Up, one of the camera monitor protection covers making HoodmanUSA a household name. But the company does not specialise in protective covers only. Since we are talking clean photos, here is an exceptionally good cleaning system from HoodmanUSA: Hoodwipes.

It is a 2-phase system using one wet and one dry cloth to clean the typical flat computer monitor of dust, fatty or sticking dirt – no fingerprints or smear any more. Should not be such a big deal. As my tests with products on the German market show, it unfortunately is. As with lens surfaces micro fibre cloth does not work at all on TFTs. I tried several brands of cleaning cloths – dry, wet, both – available at specialised office supply shops. Neither simple cloths nor 2-phase systems looking similar like Hoodwipes cleaned properly; they left fingerprints, droplets of dried up sticky fluids (tiny tea droplets), and added smear to the monitor. Often enough the wet cloths are impregnated with alcohol-based fluids, which will quickly evaporate. Alas, the plastic front of a TFT is easily damaged by alcohol, dissolving components like flexibilisers.

Hoodwipes, on the other hand, use a special, solvent-free fluid on a very soft, woven fabric. It cleans exceptionally thoroughly without damaging the TFT – you can actually see and feel the difference to traditional alcohol-based rags. Another advantage of Hoodwipes, you can easily use it on a warm (just switched off) monitor.

While Lenspen and Sensor Brush are available in German photographic shops [e.g. Calumet], I have not been able to find a German supplier of Hoodwipes. Like many American manufacturers HoodmanUSA sells their products over their Web site. The downside is high shipping costs, customs and VAT; the already non-bargain Hoodwipes (compared to the inefficient office supply thingies) end up at a rather high price. In my opinion they are worth it, every cent – at least if you have a good TFT and want to see your pictures in all their beauty.

Very highly recommended.