Note:
A PecPad is a 4"X4" non-abrasive swatch of material designed for use on critical optical surfaces without scratching when used with Eclipse. It is ultra soft, lint-free and 99.999% free of contaminates. This is what will actually touch your sensor when you swab, so please remember this description as you read this page.

This is my method of making a swab using a SensorSwipe and PecPads. The finished PecPad resembles the side of a gift-wrapped box. If you are very handy or mechanically inclined, you may be able to make a swab similar to the SensorSwipe. However, for those of you who do not have the time to search for a workable implement, or just don't wish to carve a small spatula, or if you live in a country where it's impossible to find any spatulas whatsoever, you can now have your own ready-to-use SensorSwipe. Just navigate to the pages that follow this tutorial.

Much is made over "clean-room assembly" of other pre-made swabs. What happens when you take it out of it's wrapping? Right, it's now been exposed to air and everything in the air - it's no longer "clean room". PecPads are manufactured and packaged under the highest of standards. I keep my PecPads in the package they came in and, using tweezers, I only take out ONE at a time. Handling them carefully, I have NEVER introduced more particles onto the sensor; in other words, everytime I swab, there are LESS dust specks then before. Again, this is a personal preference, if "clean-room" is important to you, I wholeheartedly recommend PSI's Sensor Swabs. In my experience, however, just using common sense in all aspects of this task will give you a clean, sanitary and "contaminant-free" swab to work with!


I must address the obvious, which is the need to have a CLEAN and STILL work area for this task.
NO frisbee, NO dogs, NO cats, NO rug-rats, NO jet engines, NO dandruff, and OF COURSE -
NO powdery contraband allowed! OK?

IMPORTANT NOTE:
You MUST try to do all of your sensor swabbing in a completely still and quiet room. There should be no drafts of any kind, even from a heater or air conditioner. The amount of airborne dust, dirt and miscellaneous particles in the ambient air is unbelievable, to say the least. So to achieve a workable, sanitary environment, you have to go the extra yard here, even to the point of "obsessive compulsive" behavior.
Also, DO NOT TOUCH the wiping area of the PecPad because the oils from your skin are easily transferred to the sensor. If you are totally new to this procedure, I recommend using powder-free latex gloves to work with the PecPad, at least in the beginning. They are extremely cheap and can be found in any pharmacy. When wearing them, you'll be able to touch any part of the pad, even the area that will contact the sensor, without worrying about contamination. They will also give you more freedom to wrap the PecPad tightly around the swab.

OK, LET'S GET STARTED

Holding the SensorSwipe in my right hand and the PecPad in my left hand, I begin wrapping the PecPad around the SensorSwipe by positioning the 'Swipe approximately 1/3 of the way in from the left or right edge of the PecPad (see frame #2). Try experimenting with this placement and you should see that somewhere off-center is most advantageous. Using this positioning all but eliminates the "bunching up" of the PecPad material, thereby making it very contoured and streamlined.

Next, I start to gently tug at the pad (see frame #3) in the direction of the black arrow (as I do this, I am resting the handle of the SensorSwipe against my abdomen, keeping the pad snug around the wiping end by carefully pulling it towards me).
*THIS NEXT STEP IS THE KEY TO WRAPPING THE PECPAD TIGHTLY*
I "tuck" the folded-over flap by holding it with my left thumb (where I have placed the orange button) as I bring the other corner of the pad across the swab as shown in frame #4. I continue to snug up the pad until it is finally wrapped around the swab, shown in frame #5, where I secure and tighten it with a 2" to 2½" piece of scotch tape, wrapped in a very slight "barber-pole" direction, starting at about 1" below the very tip. This length of tape will wrap around the 'Swipe one time, overlapping and adhering to itself. To remove the used pad, I use a razor, scissors or an X-Acto knife to cut the tape, then I just peel the pad away from the 'Swipe.
QUICK TIP: Practice with a 4" X 4" (10 cm. X 10 cm.) piece of paper on a butter knife.
DO THE BEST YOU CAN AT FIRST. Getting the PecPad perfect on your SensorSwipe may take some practice, so don't obsess on it too much in the beginning. The idea is to have it snug at the tip - using additional pieces of tape to help you accomplish this is fine.
NOTE: Here in the U.S., you can get 1" X 3" permanent white labels made by Z-International. I've started using them to secure my PecPad to the 'Swipe instead of scotch tape - they just happen to be the perfect size for this job. You can find them at any Staples, WalMart or online office supply store.

*This method of wrapping the PecPad will work ONLY with a chiseled tip; the angled folds allow it to take the exact shape of the SensorSwipe's A-tip. There is NO benefit from using this method with a blunt tipped swab.
From here you hook up the AC-adapter and lock up the mirror. Next put 2 drops of Eclipse (maximum) onto the wiping edge and you're good to go. I've placed two arrows in frame #6 to show where to place the 2 drops of Eclipse. Before you know it, you'll only need one drop, placed right in the middle of the same two arrows.


The BIGGEST risk you will take self-swabbing is if specks of dirt or debris somehow enter the CCD or CMOS chamber, or are on your swab. When you remove the lens, your first thoughts may be that tons of dust particles will invade the chamber. When changing lenses in the field, this is certainly applicable, so your speed IS important. However, once you get a handle on the swabbing basics, you'll probably take from 10 to 25 seconds to swab and then return the lens. Going as fast as you can is NOT necessary to get a dust-free sensor, so please don't make that a goal. If your controlled work area is as clean and still as possible, your airborne dust should be MINIMAL, so you will have much more leeway in swabbing slowly and methodically. A gifted surgeon is incredibly steady and precise with every movement of his instruments, and that's not a bad image to keep in mind.
Handle your PecPad-wrapped swab like it's sterile. After I've carefully removed the PecPad from it's wrapping and covered the SensorSwipe, I lay it on the side of the tape dispenser; this allows the tip to sort of "float" untouched in the air until I'm ready to apply the Eclipse. Again, the wiping area of the PecPad MUST NOT TOUCH ANYTHING on it's way to wipe your sensor.
If you handle the PecPad exactly the way I've just described, the possibility of damaging your sensor is extremely remote.

So, what you have to ask yourself is do you feel lucky enough to use tape, a stick, thing grabbers or vacuum wands to clean your sensor, only to develope a more urgent need to swab with methanol? The ONLY thing that has ever touched my CCD is a methanol-moistened PecPad on a SensorSwipe, the ONLY time-tested perfectly safe materials.
First-hand experience IS the best teacher, but if a 100% dust-free sensor is your goal, why would you expend the time and money, and take the unnecessary risks that these tools introduce, only to remove SOME of the dust particles?
Sensor swabbing is the cleaning method of choice for thousands of digi-photogs because we're not interested in going from 20 specks down to 12; we're VERY interested in going from 20 down to ZERO. If your attitude is - "Who cares if my images have spots in them, no big deal.", then, BY ALL MEANS, use a blower, tape, the healing brush, RPGs, WMDs or the kitchen sink. If this applies to you, please read the next page to see the actual process of sensor swabbing; it just might change your opinion.

If you are selling or plan on selling your photographs, you will encounter a whole different threshold for dust-spot tolerance. Those of you already at this point know that the competition is unbelievably fierce and that there is no room for technical errors of any kind, especially dust-bunnies. This also applies to those of you who have the HIGHEST of standards when it comes to achieving image-integrity, even though you may not be a professional.

NOTE:
The main thrust of this tutorial is that sensor swabbing requires you to wrap a well designed swab with a PecPad, put a drop of methanol on it and wipe a small surface that is similar to glass. THAT'S IT! I promise you that once you've swabbed your sensor a number times, you'll never look at these alternative methods and tools as being "easier" than swabbing! Please trust me on this. Also, I hope you will see a pattern in the guest comments, one that has the newbie-swabber actually feeling a bit "embarassed" when it finally dawns on him how easy this really is.

The swab making method shown above allows the corners to be very crisp which helps in cleaning the outer edges of the recessed CCD filter. You will very rapidly find out how small an opening a D-SLR is when you begin swabbing - it will probably take some time getting used to maneuvering the swab in the chamber.

DON'T GET DISCOURAGED!
YOU ARE NOT TOTALLY INEPT!

This is really a simple procedure, but you'll have to keep swabbing to learn how much pressure to apply and how to get all the dust in one "double-swipe".


Let's roll!


IMPORTANT NOTE:
If you continue researching the materials used in sensor swabbing, you'll probably encounter the manufacturer's web-site where it is stated: "PecPads are not recommended for sensor cleaning, but (pre-made) SensorSwabs are." The reason behind this is that Kodak sponsored the development and approved the "clean room" assembly of the SensorSwabs. The PecPad does have a slightly more abrasive texture when viewed under a microscope, but, at the same time, the lithium niobate anti-aliasing filter has a glass-hardness rating of 5 on a scale of 1 to 10. The manufacturer is just being very cautious here because no camera company has taken it upon themselves to test whether PecPads and Eclipse may damage a CCD or CMOS when used with a swab and method such as mine. More significantly, there is no guarantee that the general public will follow specific guidelines such as the ones I am presenting here. Again, digital photographers have been using PecPads and Eclipse for years with NO image degradation whatsoever. Don't you think that if this cleaning method was damaging the sensor in any way, shape or form, we'd have gone out of business a long time ago? The numbers of SensorSwipes and PecPads we have sold in 5 years and the virtual absence of complaints about these tools proves to us that this is actually one of the safest methods you can choose to clean your sensor. There are a whole host of Canon 1Ds shooters who use PecPads and Eclipse in their $8,000 cameras, so the fear, uncertainty and dread that you may read about on this topic is a state of mind for "weenies" only. Sensor cleaning demands a certain level of common sense, no matter what tools you use, and if you are lacking that, then you'd be well-advised to send the camera to the manufacturer for maintenance.

OUR GUARANTEE:

The "Copperhill" method uses PecPads, whereas the traditional method uses Sensor Swabs. If you can prove to us through a reputable 3rd party that the PecPad material was the sole cause of any damage to your AA-filter, we will have it replaced at our expense.


Throughout this tutorial, I address how crucial it is to take on a whole different mind-set in handling and caring for a digital-SLR as compared to a film-SLR. When someone tells me in an e-mail that he's left a fingerprint on his sensor (yes, I said fingerprint), I emphatically urge him to either sell or incinerate his D-SLR immediately! But right before giving him this piece of advice, I'll make it a point to mosey on down into the woods, with the sound and smell of pine needles all around me; I'll encounter a tranquil moss-covered rock, surrounded by sun-dappled ferns, gently dancing with the soft breeze; I'll assume the lotus position; I'll take about 10 deep, slow cleansing breaths, and then I'll let loose a



BLOOD-CURDLING SCREAM! ! ! !

(Do NOT touch your sensor.)

NEXT: The Dirty Deed




Source in Australia and New Zealand - The whole line of CopperHill D-SLR cleaning products is now available here: http://www.qualitycamera.com.au/index.php?cPath=33&osCsid=76c4a5d527ce80474d8cc6c3d33698c1 .