VisibleDust - Arctic Butterly Brushes - Sensor Cleaning?

[rasterdogs]

Looking for current /experiences with Arctic Butterly.

Are there other/better alternatives?

-rasterdogs

[Paul2660]

Which camera?  I only ask since I have not had to clean any Canon now for over 2 years.  Not even needed to blow off the sensor.  This is with a 5d MKII, 1D MKiv,  many thousands of exposures and lens changes.  Whatever Canon designed was very good.  What has always amazed me is how well the corners do, as with the older 1ds MKI and MKII, corners were a total mess and always needed a wet clean many times after each days shooting.  The change with the newer cameras from Canon is really impressive.

With Nikon I have found that the D800 series does a good job but I have had a couple of issues that needed to be blown off.  I still use the older Arctic butterfly solutions from over 2 years ago.  So I can state that they work fine, and I would always lead with them vs. a wet cleaning.  For a wet cleaning I am still using the eclipse solution and "sensor swab" brand swabs. 

I saw that they just recently came out with a solution for the mirror less cameras.  I am considering it for the Nex7 which seems to have a bit more issues with dust, at least mine does. 

Paul Caldwell

[Rhossydd]

I find the brushes dreadful at doing the job and appallingly over priced. I don't think they ever took off more than they put on, so if you want to buy some to find out for yourself I've a set sitting idle here.

Having tried most available methods, I've found keeping the worst off with a hurricane blower to be a good routine answer and for anything particularly stubborn a sensor pen works very well.

However my 5Dii has only once needed the attention of the sensor pen in 4 years of, less than careful, use, so self cleaning sensors are the best solution.

[rasterdogs]

Which camera?  I only ask since I have not had to clean any Canon now for over 2 years.  Not even needed to blow off the sensor.  This is with a 5d MKII, 1D MKiv,  many thousands of exposures and lens changes.  Whatever Canon designed was very good.  What has always amazed me is how well the corners do, as with the older 1ds MKI and MKII, corners were a total mess and always needed a wet clean many times after each days shooting.  The change with the newer cameras from Canon is really impressive.

With Nikon I have found that the D800 series does a good job but I have had a couple of issues that needed to be blown off.  I still use the older Arctic butterfly solutions from over 2 years ago.  So I can state that they work fine, and I would always lead with them vs. a wet cleaning.  For a wet cleaning I am still using the eclipse solution and "sensor swab" brand swabs. 

I saw that they just recently came out with a solution for the mirror less cameras.  I am considering it for the Nex7 which seems to have a bit more issues with dust, at least mine does. 

Paul Caldwell

I'm using an X-pro1, have used the camera extensively since April 2012.   No troubles thus far but I know that eventually I'll need 'countermeasures'.   
-rasterdogs

[David Sutton]

It's probably one of those devices that where the user experience should always be suffixed with "YMMV".
I've used mine about half a dozen times and it works fine. Notably a year ago in the Antarctic where the 5D2 picked up an amazing amount of dust. One cleaning with the Arctic Butterfly removed the lot. You have to be careful not to let it touch any part of the of the interior that may have a lubricant.
David

[ErikKaffehr]

Hi,

I use Artic Butterfly and I use it a lot, perhaps once a month when not shooting much but on a holiday trip perhaps twice a week. Works perfectly for me, but I never had a need of wet cleaning.

I used it since 2006 and on six different cameras. Works well, as far as I can see.

Best regards
Erik

Looking for current /experiences with Arctic Butterly.

Are there other/better alternatives?

-rasterdogs

[francois]

I'm using the original model. It works very well but with my 1Ds3, I have to be careful about smearing lubricant (as David wrote above).

[Josh-H]

It's probably one of those devices that where the user experience should always be suffixed with "YMMV".
I've used mine about half a dozen times and it works fine. Notably a year ago in the Antarctic where the 5D2 picked up an amazing amount of dust. One cleaning with the Arctic Butterfly removed the lot. You have to be careful not to let it touch any part of the of the interior that may have a lubricant.
David

I'll echo those sentiments - works fine for me as well.

[stever]

haven't used mine in a few years - 5D2, 7D, and 5D3 have execellent sensor cleaning, and the 5D3 seemed pretty free of poduction gunk that gets deposited on the first 1000 images or so (which requires wet cleaning)

i've found that with the newer cameras, that if sensor cleaning won't get rid of it a spot, the butterfly won't either, and it needs wet cleaning

2 arctic butterflies for sale cheap

[Ben Rubinstein]

I used one with a 10D and 1Ds till I got a 5D. That camera is a dust magnet but also the brush would spread lubricant all over the sensor so I gave up on it. Now very happy with the Sensor Pen with included blower and loupe. Gets most everything off with the blower then the pen for trouble spots.

[250swb]

Great brushes that work really well. Of course you shouldn't use them if you have oil on the sensor, that needs wet cleaning. But oil usually settles down early on in a cameras life, so an Arctic Butterfly is ideal for regular cleaning of dry dust. The big BIG advantage over a blower brush is that the AB lifts the dust out of the camera, a blower blows it about inside the camera, very little dust actually making it out to freedom.

Steve

[markmullen]

I didn't have terribly successful results with my Arctic Butterfly. With the 5D3 I haven't had to clean the sensor apart from the inbuilt cleaning, with the 1Ds2 I use a combination of rocket blower and green visible dust swabs and vdust formula.