Delkin Sensor Swabs

I recently went digital and one of the things I was most excited about was the thought that I wouldn't have to clone out dust spots anymore, oh how wrong I was! It turns out DSLR's have dust problems on the sensors and while several manufacturers have cleaning systems built into the cameras they don't really work that well, although some are better than others.

I first bought a Canon 400D which does have a sensor cleaner but after taking a test shot to check for dust I saw it not only came from the factory with dust on it but that the cleaning system made almost no difference whatsoever, even after several cleans.

After getting frustrated with the small grip I traded it for a Canon 30D which has no sensor cleaner and also came with free dust! After reading many forums I realised that I would have to put up with a small amount of dust that usually isn't visible at larger apertures and that I would need to invest in some sort of cleaning system.

My local shop only had the Delkin Digital Duster sensor swab refilss for £29.99 which comes with fluid and 14 swabs and is similar in price to the Eclipse ones. I also bought a rocket blower. The rocket blower certainly blew away one large piece of dust and the sensor looked clean to my eyes but a test shot revelaed it was still very dirty so I tried out the swabs and this is what happened.

These are the results from using the Delkin Digital Duster sensor swabs. The shots were taken against the sky with focus set to infinity and the aperture on F36, they where then contrast enchanced by +80 in Photoshop.

You can probably only just see the difference in these small pictures but the after shot is significantly cleaner. To be fair, even beforehand it was very dificult to notice any dust in standard photos as most photos are NOT contrast enchanced or taken at F36, but I did have to do the odd bit of cloning so this will definitely make things easier. The only negative is that the swabs were too wide to fit into the D30 sensor hole and required a firm push and slight tilt to get in which made me VERY nervous! Overall though I highly rcommend these swabs.