Pros: This is your best choice for keeping the sensor of your DSLR free of dust.
Cons: Other than price, the brush has a habit of falling off potentially damaging the sensor.
The Bottom Line: If you are unable or unwilling to have your camera professionally serviced, this is your best alternative. With care, you will have great results.
ncphototrekker's Full Review: Visible Dust Arctic Butterfly Brite 724 Kit
If you are a DSLR shooter (which is a growing segment of the photography world), you will eventually come upon an important choice. At some time, even if you don't change lenses, you will find that there is a speck of dust that has found its way onto your sensor. Unless you want to buy another camera, or edit out the speck in every picture, you only have two real choices here. The first choice is to take the camera in to have it cleaned. The second is to clean it yourself.
Up until recently, there have been lots of camera shops around where you could drop your camera off to have it cleaned and serviced. These stores have been getting fewer and fewer over the years because they can't afford to stay open since most of the cameras purchased are done over the internet. This has provided some of the best deals out there, but has also killed the independent store owner...that same store that would keep your camera functioning at its peak.
I have always read that camera servicing should be done by a professional because of the delicate parts inside. I have kept this in mind as I have switched the lenses on my Canon 40D over the last couple of years. I've done it swiftly, and protected it from dust the best I could. However, being a landscape photographer, this was not always possible. I hoped that I could avoid getting dust on my sensor, and that any that I did get would be shaken off with the sensor cleaning feature.
Recently though, I found that I had a speck of dust in the upper right of the frame. It would only show up when the image was a solid color...much like the sky that always seemed to be in the upper portion of the frame...bummer!! I purchased a hand held blower to try and dislodge the dust to no avail. I tried to find a camera shop nearby that could clean it for me. That didn't work out either...our last one folded a few months ago leaving us with none in the immediate area. I thought about sending the camera to Canon for a servicing, but I'm sure that would be expensive, and I would be without my camera for way too long.
That left me with one choice...to clean it myself. I did some research on the different types of cleaners available. It appeared that there were two main types: dry and wet. Dry cleaning involved a brush, while a wet clean involved a swab. Dry cleaning was recommended for most cases of dust. However, if that dust had ever become wet, or if any oils had found their way to the sensor, a wet cleaning was needed.
I could not see the dust on my sensor so I assumed that I would only need a dry cleaning. From the reviews I read it looked like the Visible Dust Arctic Butterfly was the best out there. I found it at B&H Photo and ordered it, hoping that the actual use of it wouldn't be too difficult.
When it arrived, I was impressed at the packaging. It was in a nice cardboard container which is suitable for long term storage. Inside there is a molded leather case which contains the plastic case. There is a lot of packaging here, and I assume this is where some of the price comes from (over $100).
The Butterfly is housed inside the plastic case in a molded cutout. You will need to provide your own AAA batteries to make it work. When I opened mine up for the first time the brush was not attached. I thought that it was broken, but the instructions say it is removable for cleaning. I was able to stick it back on very easily.
The instructions are decent, and easy to follow. Prior to use, you are supposed to spin the brush for about five seconds, three different times. This does two things...first it cleans the brush, and it also gives it the static charge which helps to lift the dust and debris from the sensor. After you have completed the preliminary spins, you are ready to clean the sensor.
You will need to follow your camera's instructions for manual sensor cleaning, but in all cases you will cause the mirror to pop up exposing the sensor. Don't touch! Take the Butterfly, and flip the power switch to the opposite direction that you used for spinning the brush and this will turn on a LED light. This light, will illuminate your working area around the sensor very well. Make sure that the brush is not spinning (and make sure it is firmly attached to the motor unit), and gently swipe it across the sensor one time. After the swipe, spin the brush for about five to ten seconds to clean the bristles. You can repeat the process going in the opposite direction if you like. However many times you swipe the sensor, be sure and spin the brush afterwards.
At this point, you are done with the dry clean process. Flip the mirror back down and turn off your camera. Either put your lens back on, or put the body cap back on. You are all done. The whole process should only take a few minutes, and the results are great. The speck of dust that has been driving me nuts for a while now is gone. There is nothing at all interfering with my images now.
The Good...
This product makes something that should be very difficult quite simple. The packaging is great for keeping this brush safe since it will be stored most of the time. One of the standouts on this product is the LED light. It is a perfect addition to this tool and allows you to do the delicate work with precision. The brush is perfect for a cropped frame camera, but will likely take two swipes for a full framer.
The Bad...
This is expensive considering you are getting a fine bristled brush. However, when you are looking at doing your own maintenance on a piece of equipment that could cost anywhere from $500-$2400 then the investment becomes a little easier to deal with. This is not a use once and toss affair. If you take care of it, this one tool will last through many camera bodies.
The Ugly...
Here is my biggest gripe about this product, and what keeps it from scoring a five star review. Actually, this is such a big deal to me that it warrants dropping this product down to a three star recipient. This major design flaw has been mentioned already in this review, but I saved the gory details for now. Remember how the brush had come loose during shipping? Well, it was easy enough to stick back on. I was able to spin the brush the requisite three times with no issues, but after the third time I pointed the brush down in preparation to clean the sensor. The brush simply fell off!! Had I been over the sensor, I imagine I would be purchasing a new camera or paying a lot of money to fix the newly damaged sensor.
Here is a warning that is not mentioned in any of the literature on this product. Please check to see that the brush is firmly mounted before you get anywhere near your camera. I would check before each and every swipe. I was fortunate, the brush fell to the carpet, but it could have just as easily landed square on my imaging sensor. This may just be a defect in my Butterfly, but looking at the design, this could be a problem with any of them.
Final Thoughts...
If you are like me, and located in an area that doesn't have an actual camera store (Wal Mart and Best Buy don't count), you will eventually find yourself in need of a sensor cleaning. You can ship your body off to the manufacturer, or you can make a small investment and do it yourself in the comfort of your own home. After using the Butterfly one time, I am a lot less concerned about changing lenses. I am still careful, but it isn't viewed as a catastrophe if some dust gets into the sensor area.
As long as you are very careful with this product, it works just as advertised, and with great results. If the brush was secured a little better then this would be a five star product all the way. I would still recommend the Arctic Butterfly 724 to anyone with a DSLR. Even if you have never removed the kit lens, you still stand the chance of getting some dust in there. Should you buy the Butterfly when you purchase your camera? Nah, I would wait until you actually need it. That is unless you will suffer downtime from the dust.
You will only have to purchase this product once, and then you are set for any number of cameras. The brush is cleanable, and should last a lifetime as long as you are careful with it. The LED light should have a nice long life as LED's are known for their durability.
With this product, you will probably never need a service visit for your camera...at least not for a cleaning.
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