Misadventures in Sensor Cleaning

Several weeks ago I bought a sensor cleaning kit from Green Clean USA. The kit sat on the shelf until a few days ago when the sensor on the Pentax istD got so dirty that I had to do something. The spots in the photo are each little pieces of dirt on the sensor.

The Green Clean Process has three steps. First, any loose dust is removed with a sterile vacuum pickup powered by a can of compressed air. This is followed by a swipe of a wet wipe, then a swipe with a dry wipe.

I'm not sure the vac did much to clean the sensor, but it did a pretty good job on the dust that had worked it's way between the prism and the focusing screen. Most of the dust on the sensor wasn't loose. It seemed firmly stuck to the surface. The Green Clean folks start with this step so that dry particles don't scratch the sensor in the subsequent cleaning steps.

A couple of swipes with the wet and dry wipes removed the crud. I'm not endorsing the Green Clean system. It worked well enough, but it's a bit expensive. After buying the kit, I stumbled across this site with information on several different cleaning methods. Read the information and make your own choice.

If you're not comfortable doing it yourself, most camera stores will clean your sensor for a reasonable fee.

gs

Snow on New Year's Eve

We received the first snow of the season on New Year's Eve. There wasn't a lot, but it was combined with freezing rain and wind. Travel was possible, but difficult.

I don't know the story behind the fellow on the bicycle. The temperature was about 20 degrees and the winds were still quite high. Definitely not Bicycle weather.

Click here to see a few more snapshots.

Pentax K10D - early results

Pentax has released a pair of Single Lens Reflex cameras with an upgraded version of the Shake Reduction feature introduced in their point & shoot line of cameras.

The K10D, a full-featured, weather sealed, 10MP, SLR hit the stores in the USA just before Thanksgiving. You'll find examples and discussion in all of the regular places.

The shot included here was hand-held at 1/8th second. Normally, I'd not be able to take a steady shot at any speed less than 1/30th second. This is a very significant improvement.

Unlike it's competitors, Canon and Nikon, Pentax chose to build the SR feature into the body. This makes it immediately useful with most any lens compatible with the K-mount.

The K10D has been an instant hit. The initial deliveries were sold out within a couple of days.

Here's a gallery of sample shots from the K10D.

-gs-

Always Prepare the Surface Before Painting

The secret to a good paint job is good preparation of the surface. At least, that's what they always tell us.

Evidently the pros take a few shortcuts. The fellow that painted the lines on the street must not have noticed the dead pigeon.

-gs-

The Pentax A10 in Florida

I had to spend a few days in Florida last week. The weather was generally nice, but cool and windy. One unusual evening brought severe storms and a tornado.

A conference occupied most of my time, but I managed to get a few shots with the Pentax A10. The more I use this little camera the more I like it. It's a great pocket camera.

I was particularly happy with the shake reduction and low light performance. Those features helped me take photos like this one taken in a reception held in an aircraft museum. Flash would have been useless. The place is a huge old hangar. Not much light to work with.

Click here to view the gallery. Nothing artistic here, just travel snapshots, but that is this camera's place in life.

-gs-

Football

My Grandson Alex is playing football in the local recreational league. The weather for the first game was great so there was a pretty good turnout.

Here are a few photos from the game.

-gs-

Woodman Tower 9-11 Memorial

During the week of September 11, 2006 the owners of the Woodman Tower in Omaha, Nebraska created a memorial to those lost in the destruction of the World Trade Center.

Flags were displayed on the East and West Faces of the building and spotlights projected twin beams into the sky.

The display ended mid-week when high winds tore the West facing flag. The remaining flag was quickly removed to avoid further damage.

Here are a few photos taken early in the week.

-gs-