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Epic Sensor Cleaning

Phil Bates

Phil Bates

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While I am waiting for my Epic-X I was wondering how much of an issue sensor cleaning is with the Epic-M? Have dust spots spoiled any of your shots? Do you check or clean the sensor every time you change lenses or mounts?

Thanks,
Phil
 
I have an arctic butterfly (although it needs to be cut down to fit the Epic's sensor perfectly) for cleaning. The sensor, generally, doesn't need much cleaning.
Typically it doesn't get much exposure to the elements as lens changes are fast and there is always the port cap when the cam is not in use...
 
Dust is not typically a big deal unless shooting stopped down to f16 or more, as the OLPF is sufficiently spaced from the sensor plane... still its easy enough to clean carefully, just as you would a DSLR.
 
Thanks guys. I would imagine that as the different mounts become available and are easily switched, keeping the sensor clean could be more of an issue.

Phil
 
Cleaning just if really necassary. You can use air (but not compressed one!!), cotton sticks (clean ones) or
the arctic butterfly.

@ Billy: I also have the arctic butterfly, why you need to cut it down?
I has to be used on sensor with "motor" off, so no need to cut it.

Gerhard
 
Would love a video of how you guys do it with the arctic butterfly!! I it's asking a lot, but I'm scared of fing it up..

Also, what's the best way to check your sensor? With my 5D I take a picture of the sky or something stopped at around a 22 and you can see every spec..
 
Wow, each lens?
Click to expand...

I am paranoid. :) I had it happen once on the RED ONE. I eventually saw it in the EVF and blew it out. I ended up using Photoshops Content Aware Fill to fix the footage. Since it was sky, it worked well. Both times I was outdoors when it occured.
 
If you shoot fairly wide aperature, like T4 or wider you usually won't see minor dust shadows. Its when you have wide glass and don't use much ND and stop down to T16 or more that you are gonna start seeing dark spots. Usually they show up in skies and other solid color areas. Reds aren't nearly as tricky as DSLRs because of the filter which keeps dust from forming directly on the sensor.
 
The metal just outside of the OLPF seems to be painted red. The red paint flakes off, and it flakes off even more while swabbing the OLPF. It just seems like an attempt to make the camera more aesthetically pleasing w/ the red paint on the metal just outside of the OLPF but that "hip" design addition will cause you a little extra work when it comes to cleaning because of peeling paint. I'm sure there are naysayers reading what I just wrote but give it a a good couple months of shooting on a specific Epic and you'll notice what I just mentioned too. Outside of keeping an eye on that...whatever your process for normally cleaning an OLPF/ sensor should be fine. I use a wand w/ a pec pad + a few drops of eclipse, and I check for debris w/ a sensor scope but there are a few decent ways to do it.

Phil Bates said:
While I am waiting for my Epic-X I was wondering how much of an issue sensor cleaning is with the Epic-M? Have dust spots spoiled any of your shots? Do you check or clean the sensor every time you change lenses or mounts?

Thanks,
Phil
Click to expand...
 
Brian Robbins said:
The metal just outside of the OLPF seems to be painted red. The red paint flakes off, and it flakes off even more while swabbing the OLPF. It just seems like an attempt to make the camera more aesthetically pleasing w/ the red paint on the metal just outside of the OLPF but that "hip" design addition will cause you a little extra work when it comes to cleaning because of peeling paint. I'm sure there are naysayers reading what I just wrote but give it a a good couple months of shooting on a specific Epic and you'll notice what I just mentioned too. Outside of keeping an eye on that...whatever your process for normally cleaning an OLPF/ sensor should be fine. I use a wand w/ a pec pad + a few drops of eclipse, and I check for debris w/ a sensor scope but there are a few decent ways to do it.
Click to expand...

I hope you reported that to RED. There's always room for improvement...
 
Joshua Dixon said:
I have only made a habit of checking for spec on the sensor on occasion and of course hopefully I would notice it in a shot. But I would like to see the deal on the arctic butterfly as well.
Click to expand...

Spin it for a few seconds to remove dust and build up a static charge. Brush sensor.
 
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