A7R II Initial Impressions/Issues

[Jamooche]

Jamil,

How do you use this thing?  The B&H page says "Use with DSLRs with Cleaning Systems" which may (depending on brand and model) employ vibration and eV charging to get charged (or uncharged) contaminants off of the sensor.  So how does this Artic Butterfly work with those systems?  Does it charge the blown air (probably like what the Zeeion thing does based on its name) to help move the contaminant?    (And why on Earth do these posts take out my spaces between sentences?)

Hi Tom.  The switch on the Arctic Butterfly has three positions:  OFF - LED LIGHT ON - and SPINNING.  When you flip it to spinning mode, the brush head spins around ridiculously fast.  You do this for a few seconds and it charges the bristles so that they pick up dust particles.  You then brush the sensor lightly.  I do one pass and then spin the brush again to remove the dust particles and re-charge the bristles.  This process is similar to what you do with canned air on a regular sensor brush to charge the bristles.  Here is their page with more info:

 

http://www.visibledust.com/instructions.php?pid=3

 

The "Use with Cleaning System" I think means for you to activate the DSLR or A7II RII sensor vibration cleaning system first to dislodge dust and then use the brush as a 2nd cleaning step. 

 

And yes, the removal of spaces is weird.  

[FDP]

@Singingsnapper, nice shot! I was actually considering the 645Z for some time but was driven away by the so-so video, the size, and the fact that all my MF lenses are pretty lousy compared to my 35mm kit. Glad someone made a new sensor-cleaning thread, as this seems to have morphed into that

[Singingsnapper]

@Singingsnapper, nice shot! I was actually considering the 645Z for some time but was driven away by the so-so video, the size, and the fact that all my MF lenses are pretty lousy compared to my 35mm kit. Glad someone made a new sensor-cleaning thread, as this seems to have morphed into that

 

Thanks have been shooting with both cameras this evening on the local beach.  The newest lenses for the 645Z are extremely good, but also very heavy and expensive.  My damaged 28 - 45 is an outstanding lens (it fell out of my bag at the end of a day's shooting in West Wales and landed heavily on the front corner - no damaged glass part of the mechanism is damaged) but it's a tank.  I need to see about getting it fixed, because I could live with that lens on the camera all the time.  £4k lens mind, but razor sharp and a useable 82mm filter thread.  

[alastc]

There are instructions for sensor cleaning in the help manual. It says to go into a special mode with a fully charged battery, so it must either vibrate it or hold it still whilst cleaning. I suggest checking that first!

[FDP]

@alastc, the problem some of us are having is that the auto-clean function (it vibrates) + a blower does not remove dust. It would be very nice if Sony had a detailed procedure for proper sensor cleaning (e.g. with swabs, if that is safe for the IBIS system). Coming from digital cinema we have to clean sensors all the time, even in the field. I can't imagine having to return a body to Sony every time the sensor gets dust on it, that would render a body almost useless for practical field use.

[slothead]

Hi Tom.  The switch on the Arctic Butterfly has three positions:  OFF - LED LIGHT ON - and SPINNING.  When you flip it to spinning mode, the brush head spins around ridiculously fast.  You do this for a few seconds and it charges the bristles so that they pick up dust particles.  You then brush the sensor lightly.  I do one pass and then spin the brush again to remove the dust particles and re-charge the bristles.  This process is similar to what you do with canned air on a regular sensor brush to charge the bristles.  Here is their page with more info:

 

http://www.visibledust.com/instructions.php?pid=3

 

The "Use with Cleaning System" I think means for you to activate the DSLR or A7II RII sensor vibration cleaning system first to dislodge dust and then use the brush as a 2nd cleaning step. 

 

And yes, the removal of spaces is weird.  

 

Thanks Jamil! That was exactly what I needed! Now to go buy some stuff!