Technology

The Nature of Dust

(by VisibleDust & Quantiam Technologies)

There are many myths floating around the Internet about what is the safest and best method to clean your digital camera's sensor. At VisibleDust, we invest heavily in scientific research to help you save time and money making an informed decision based on fact, not on opinion.

Suprisingly, even the methods recommended by camera manufacturer's have serious drawbacks. Did you know that most digital camera cleaning centers only clean the sensor and never address any critical dust issues in other areas of your camera?

Read through the revealing article below to discover:

why cleaning only your sensor and ignoring other internal parts of your digital camera can easily lead to more challenging dust problems
why the patented lifting effect inherent in only the Sensor Brush™ is crucial to safe sensor cleaning and therefore essential rather than simply swiping or brushing-off your sensor
what is the real nature of that "dust" spot you see on your sensor

What makes VisibleDust a different company...

At VisibleDust we use a scientific approach to remove dust and stains from the surface of your digital camera’s sensor. It involves in-depth research and analysis on the safety and long-term use of our products. This makes us a different company than those who simply use home-made tools or over-the-counter products without any safety evaluations or scientific knowledge.

For example, you can buy many cheap imitations or over-the-counter nylon or paint brushes for a fraction of the price if you have no concern with the long-term effect or any safety issues. Consider carefully that these brushes are made for a different purpose such as painting which only requires a sweeping effect. As you read below, you will see that the sweeping effect by itself can be very risky compared to the patented lifting effect of the Sensor Brush™.

What are those spots we see on the sensor?

To understand how to properly remove dust or spots from your sensor, we first need to know what they are and where they come from. The spots that are usually seen on the sensor are either wet or dry and where they come from is either an internal or external source.

Wet spots are either water based or oil based. An example of a water-based spot would be rain drops whereas an oil-based spot would be camera lubricant. There are other examples such as cough particles and saliva which are protein and fatty-based solutions that fall on the sensor. This happens during conversation or heavy breathing when the sensor is exposed.

Dry "spots" are simply dust particles which are made up of various materials.

"Dust" can be classified under one of 4 categories:

A) Silicon or Quartz based » high degree of hardness - most scratches are the result of these particles (ex: glass & sand)

B) Metallic » softer in nature - not as hard as silicon

C) Fiber » usually made from synthetic materials that make up the fabric of our clothing - quite harmless but annoying (ex: pants, shirt, etc.)

D) Organic & Man-Made » organic can be internal such as oil lubricant or external such as pollen, dead skin cells - man-made internal examples include foam or fabric used within camera chamber - also quite harmless but annoying

What is the "Myth" about sensor dust?

Most people assume that most digital cameras come with dust already on the sensor. That is a fact based on their real life experience. However, most of the dust is dislodged from within the camera during transportation and changes in air pressure.

Even if you never remove your lens, you are still likely to experience this dust effect. This is due to the fact that dust has internal sources as well as external. So ignoring the internal sources of the dust will not help to solve the problem. In most new cameras the internal sources may be more important than external.

Observation of various dust and fiber particles

The pictures below are taken from various internal parts of the chamber and the surface of the lens from Canon camera and Canon lens. They illustrate that in this particular case Canon uses a soft fabric like Velcro to cover the chamber area in order for the dust to anchor itself to it. This helps greatly with long fibers that have many contact points, but smaller fibers or particles with less number of contact points will come off more readily with camera shake eventually falling off on the sensor.

Fiber attached to foam pad (for mirror):

Dust fiber inside chamber area (from cloth):

This preventive method from Canon works great until it reaches maximum capacity. Imagine slowly filling a glass of water. The glass works fine in holding the water until it is full. After that, where does the water go? Over the edge, of course! Same priniciple applies in this case. Once the fabric is saturated, all other dust or fiber particles will simply fall off onto the sensor. However, removing the particles through regular cleaning will increase the probability of your sensor being clean by preventing particles from falling off the chamber walls. It will make these so called anchoring places more effective as future dust traps.

Using the 8mm chamber cleaning brush and Chamber Clean™ solution will greatly enhance the removal of these particles. It is highly recommended not to use the same brush as the one used on the sensor to clean the chamber and lenses to minimize the risk of smear and contamination.

More observations...

Detailed nature of various dust particles

The following images show how the various components of dust are made. By knowing these components one can determine how to eliminate these sources using scientific methods.

A) Silicon or Quartz sample:

Man made components are easily recognizable due to the fact that they are mostly synthetic in nature. For example this rod shaped particle indicates that it is made of silicon that probably forms the composite material used to strengthen the body. These materials are often used to reduce the weight of the camera by adding to the strength needed without using heavier metallic components. This material is composed primarily of silicon with a high degree of hardness. When it falls on the sensor, anything that squeezes this onto the sensor will result in a scratch.

Sample taken from roof of camera

Usually metals are softer in nature than silicon and quartz. In the following pictures one can see the different elements that make up the nature of these dust particles which are composite materials from the within the body of the camera that come off and fall on the sensor. Those that have silicon compositions are more dangerous in causing scratches as they have a high degree of hardness.

These sources could originate from the chips coming off the silicon oxide part of the sensor or mirror, electronic components or the composite that makes up the body structures of the camera, sand with quartz components and other unknown sources. In order to be safe it is highly recommended to use the sensor brush prior to a wet cleaning.	Sample taken from chamber area of camera
Note: 1. Au and Pd signals were from Au/Pd thin film, which was used to improve electronic conductivity of the sample.

Why it is important to clean all the parts, not just the sensor

The following images show how the various components of dust are made. By knowing these components one can determine how to eliminate these sources using scientific methods. The samples are taken from the body of the camera and under the metallic O-ring that attaches the lens to the body.

B) Metallic sample:

Sensor Brush™ used to clean the camera body

Optical Image 10×	Optical Image 50×

Secondary Electron Image 100×	Secondary Electron Image 500×

In the following images we can clearly see how the different components such as Si (silicon), Cr, Ni, and Fe are the fabric of this particular dust. The interesting point is that the silicon which is usually the most damaging component due to its hardness is embedded within the core of dust. The other components such as Cr, Ni are coming from the steel that probably originates from the metallic O-ring that attaches the lens to the body. It is not surprising that due to mechanical friction some metallic crumbs are generated that eventually land on the sensor.

Secondary Electron Image 1,000×



Note: 1. Au and Pd signals were from Au/Pd thin film, which was used to improve electronic conductivity of the sample. 2. Cu and Zn signals were from sample holder, which is made of bronze.

In the following picture which is magnified at 400× and 1000×, one can see how the two particles are hugging the fibers of the Sensor Brush™ filaments in opposite direction. This patented lifting effect due to the charges on the surface can clearly demonstrate the superiority of the Sensor Brush™ as a cleaning tool for removing the dust. Since dust "jumps up" to the fibers, they never have a chance to be dragged across the sensor, which is what would normally happen from a simple sweeping or brushing-off effect.


Secondary Electron Image 400×

Secondary Electron Image 1,000×	Secondary Electron Image 1,000×

C) Fiber sample:

Note: 1. Au and Pd signals were from Au/Pd thin film, which was used to
improve electronic conductivity of the sample.

D _1) Organic sample:

Note: 1. Au and Pd signals were from Au/Pd thin film, which was used to improve electronic conductivity of the sample. 2. Cu and Zn signals were from sample holder, which is made of bronze.

D_2) Man-made sample:

Note: 1. Au and Pd signals were from Au/Pd thin film, which was used to improve electronic conductivity of the sample.2. Cu and Zn signals were from sample holder, which is made of bronze.

Conclusion:

Using a different Sensor Brush™ (8mm for example) other than the one used on the sensor will eliminate the risk of smear or contamination of the sensor as seen in these pictures.

These pictures show us that removing these particles from the camera body and chamber area greatly enhances our safety issue therefore preventing dust fall off onto the sensor. This also shows that cleaning the sensor alone is not an effective method.

Remarkably, we are the only company that has a system that eliminates dust from areas other than the sensor! (For more information about Chamber Clean™ and the 8 mm Sensor Brush™ visit our sensor cleaning product page.)