Visible Dust EZ Sensor Cleaning Kit 4x VSWAB Series

I had used Visible Dust sensor cleaning products some nearly 10 years back with my old Canon EOS350. I thought this problem had been "solved." I can't remember cleaning the EOS 40D or 60D. Or my Pentax K5. Yet here we are back at the beginning with a blizzard of bits all over the sensor in my Panasonic GX9. Seems they have given up the fight. However the swabs themselves work very well and in the dozen or so times I have done this it seems to work out. The only odd thing with this m4/3 kit is that you sweep up and down, not side to side. So no need to panic when you see that 20mm wide spec. It is correct. So far I have only used the orange ones. The green ones are supposed to be more super. The orange ones work fine for camera sensors. The green ones seem to be the ultra high spec ones. If you wanted to clean the Hubble telescope I guess the green ones would be the things. But the orange ones are "good enough." Usually I haven't bothered with using brushes. It's either blow-squeezy thing, or straight to the swabs. Pity. I hadn't needed to do this for years. Funny old world.

My camera had reached the stage when using the camera's own image sensor "shaker" was not removing some stubborn dust spots. After much reading on the Internet I picked this product to try. I was very pleased with how easy it was to do a "wet" clean of the sensor with this kit.The kit includes a small bottle of cleaning fluid and the bottle has a special lipped top. Simply tilt the bottle so the fluid is near the lip and touch one side of the swab to the lip of the bottle which soaks up fluid to about half way across the swab, switch sides of the swab and repeat and you have a wet swab that has no issues with getting over wet. An over wet swab can cause streaking on the sensor.The kit has only four swabs and they will run out before the fluid is empty. Dropped one star as the number of swabs is a bit mean, six would have been more appropriate. Luckily you can get extra swabs, search for Ultra MXD-100 and you will find them on Amazon.The swab size naming is a bit confusing, 1.0x refers to full frame sensor size camera such as those from Canon, Nikon and Sony. If in any doubt check the sensor size chart on the visible dust website.The kit comes with VDust Plus fluid which is one of three cleaning fluids VDust make. The other two fluids are Sensor Clean and Smear Away. VDust Plus is the middle of the road fluid designed to clean away water based stains and most oil stains. Sensor Clean fluid is for light dust and water based stains whilst Smear Away is for more stubborn stains. The VDust Plus fluid in this kit fits in the middle and should be sufficient unless you have a serious oil based stain.The Vdust web site states that all three fluids are safe on ITO and non ITO coated sensors.Overall a good kit for wet cleaning your camera sensor, only dropped one star as the kit only includes four swabs.

Well, like many other people I was a little nervous about cleaning the sensor myself but it was easy and successful. I had 2 small marks showing on pictures. I have a Nikon D7000. One application removed them and test shots of clear blue sky showed clear with no smudges.The reason for 4 stars is that the instructions are rudimentary. However, if you go to the visible dust website they have detail and videos which are really helpful. It is a little tricky and you only need to touch the solution to each corner of the swab which then soaks up the small amount of the solution required and makes sure the swab is evenly soaked. Do not pour the solution on to the swab!Key tip - make sure you thoroughly clean the mirror chamber before you use the mirror up facility to then expose the sensor. This helps avoid getting more muck on your sensor before and particularly after the clean.Given that it worked I think the value is fine... it costs about £45 for one professional clean for example. Do not be tempted to reuse the swab. The solution is enough for 4 cleans.This product with Vdust Plus solution says it will deal with aqueous and maybe slightly oily spots (Orange swabs). There is another version of this pack with Vdust Smear Away solution which says it will deal with oily spots (Green swabs). The Vdust site says first use the Vdust plus and then if that does not work use the Vdust Smear away. I did buy the smear away too but as the plus worked I have not used it.

Initially the 4 swabs looked poor quality and wrapped in plastic rather than vacuum sealed. I took one out and blew a strand of lint away with a blower. The tiny bottle of fluid was not that easy to open. I touched the 2 corners of the swab to the bottle and tilted it slightly. The fluid soaked into the swab but I've no idea how much I put on. Before cleaning, my Canon 700D must have had over a dozen spots at F22 against a plain sky - one was really bad. After 2 wipes of the swab only 2 tiny spots remained only visible at F22 and the really bad one had gone completely! There was a bit of lint left on the sensor though but the blower soon got rid of it. No streaks from the fluid at all were on the sensor. I was happy with this and decided not to 'risk' another swab. So it worked! Maybe good value after all?

Up to needing this product, I had no knowledge that I might ever even have to clean the sensor on my camera. However, after finding marks on my photos in the same place for some time I was prompted to investigate and it appears that you do indeed need to clean your sensor!A bit more investigation threw up the Visible Dust products as the ones to use, so I took the plunge. After a bit of trepidation over the process of cleaning the sensor, the process proved to be quite easy, helped by the videos on the Visible Dust website, and I now have no marks on my photos and, presumably, a clean sensor.The product was quite expensive for what you get - the vial of cleaning solution is very small, but since you are only supposed to use a couple of drops, I am sure it will probably last me the remaining swabs at the very least. For all those not sure whether to take the plunge and clean the sensor yourself rather than pay considerably more for a camera shop to do it for you, I am glad I decided to 'go it alone' using this kit