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The sensor cleaning debate - alcohol vs. dry method after a job in Louisville
I had a Nikon D750 come through my shop last month from a wedding shooter in Louisville. The sensor was caked with something sticky, and I hit it with 99% IPA like usual. It left streaks that took three passes to fix. Now I'm wondering if a dry cleaning method with a carbon stick would have been easier that first time. Anyone else switch methods after a bad experience, or am I overthinking this?
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the_james3d ago
Oh man you are absolutely overthinking this. 99% IPA is the PRO standard for a reason and that one time it left streaks is probably because whatever was on that sensor wasn't just dust it was some kind of sugary vape residue or soda splash. A dry carbon stick would have just smeared that sticky mess around even worse and you would have been scrubbing for an hour. Wet cleaning dissolves the junk so you can wick it away instead of pushing it into the corners. Plus those dry sticks cost like 40 bucks and you have to replace the tip every time. IPA is what ten cents a swab? Not worth switching your whole workflow over one bad batch of wedding gunk.
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OH man, that's actually a REALLY good point nobody's bringing up. But I think the real wild card here is what that "sticky" stuff even was. If it was something organic like pollen or tree sap from shooting outdoors in the spring, 99% IPA should have melted it no problem. But if it was something from a venue like hairspray or cooking oil from a reception hall, that's a whole different chemical ballgame. Alcohol evaporates fast which is why it sometimes pushes sticky stuff around instead of dissolving it fully. A tiny drop of mild dish soap mixed with distilled water for the first pass would have handled that better than any dry stick or straight IPA.
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