Mamiya ZD: CCD Leaning

[MichaelEzra]

Please share your experiences with CCD cleaning on mamiya ZD camera.
What is the best method/product?

I am also curious if anyone was successful in dry cleaning the ZD. It seems that some Canon cameras, for example, have excessive oil on the shutter which may be sprincled onto the sensor, yet not visible until dragged during the dry cleaning.  Is there a similar problem with the ZD? (need to clean the sensor, yet am afraid to mess it up).

Thanks,

[Frank Doorhof]

Hi,
I remove the IR CUTFILTER and use PecPads with a sensorswab.
The only problem is that there are no Medium Format swabs so I use a fullframe one and use two swipes.

The IR cutfilter can be cleaned with a good microfiber cloth used for cleaning lenses as far as I know.
Just be VERY careful for finger prints.

My ZD back came with 21MP of dust
Now it's clean with I think one dustblob which I will remove soon.

[stefan marquardt]

my zd sensor was terribly dirty when I got it. I cleaned the sensor with a normal artist brush (I have a nice collection in all sizes). I did not experience any smearing of oil... from the machanics onto the sensor.
since then the sensor stayed quite clean and now I only have to remove the filter and brush durst/dirt of it  and use a blower on the sensor.
you learn to differenciate between dust on the sensor and dust on the filter. dust on the sensor directly looks much sharper.

I find, the zd is better to keep clean than the 5d.


stefan

[MichaelEzra]

Frank & Stefan, Thank you for the info!

[ivan muller]

Hi

I use visible dust products. go to their website. they were quite helpfull in determining which products would be suitable for the zd. I had to send them detail pics of the ccd etc

I got the heavy duty brush that fits a full frame 35mm. Works fantastically well and one or two wipes after spinning each time, did the job.I use it on both the ir cut filter and the ccd. I pull out the irfilter via the supplied casette and them push it out again. Quite easy to clean. I find that I only need to clean my camera every 3/4 months, although on very dusty assignments, I photographed a road building project 2weeks ago, I had to clean immediatly afterwards. I have bought the liquid cleaner from visible dust but have not had occasion to use it.

Thanks Ivan

[MichaelEzra]

Attached is an enhanced image from my ZD after numerous cleanings of IR filter. There are lots of particles out there... I did not see almost any improvement after brushing with $100 Arctic Butterfly 724... I guess the next step is wet cleaning... The RAW file of this shot is here: http://www.timelessme.com/temp/MMFC1361.rar

[Frank Doorhof]

Hi,
You should check at f22 for a good overview of the dust on f5.6 almost everything is gone.

With wetcleaning I got the sensor of the ZD back 99,9% clean. (100% is impossible)