Cleaning

[Speedway]

What a difference a major clean makes;
I have been having focus issues for a while, all my shots were soft and I was starting to think the 7D was dying as it didn't matter which lens I used. Being an aged pensioner on a limited income a new camera was out of the question for a while' so after my annual Xmas trip to Melbourne I decided to give everything a thorough clean. So selecting the bathroom as the most dust free room in the house I proceeded starting with all my lenses and a couple of boxes of good lens wipes and a couple of cans of air duster, I started. First job was to wipe down each lens externally then clean the contacts with an eraser, then the outer lenses were given a good clean using lots of fresh lens wipes. I then turned to the camera firstly cleaning the exterior with the canned air and a good quality 20mm paint brush which had been washed in pure methanol then blown dry with canned air, the electrical contacts were then given a clean with contact cleaning fluid used sparingly I then concentrated on the sensor giving this a very wet clean using sensor cleaning fluid finishing off with sensor wipes, air and finally a static charged dry sensor brush. As it was a hot day everything dried quickly so I fitted my 17-50 F2.8 sigma and went out for a few test shots, the results are attached.

1 Before Clean
IMG_5995ap.jpg

2 After
IMG_6675ap.jpg

[John King]

Great result, Keith.

A couple of points:

1) don't use an eraser to clean contacts. They have a very thin gold layer which can be damaged. Wipe with a clean, lint free cloth that's barely moistened with isopropyl alcohol (expensive) or methylated spirits (cheap as), then wipe with a second dry lint free cloth.

2) I always use high quality filters on all but two of my lenses. I've never damaged a front element yet when cleaning a filter ...

3) carefully exercise the body pins to ensure they are moving freely.

Just some thoughts.

[rexboggs5]

I was told by someone to not use canned air as a wee bit of water may condense out of it, and you don't want to be blasting water into your camera. Thoughts?

Cheers, Rex