Clean Digital Camera Lens with a Vacuum Cleaner

Revision as of 23:13, 8 January 2016 by Kipkis (Kipkis | contribs) (importing article from wikihow)

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Sometimes dust enters the inside of the lens of digital cameras and results in black spots visible on the display and on pictures. This trick involves getting rid of them with a vacuum cleaner, when all else has failed and the costs of cleaning the inside of the lens are prohibitive compared to the cost of buying a new camera.

Steps

  1. Roll up the Use Saran Wrap, forming a thin sausage and leaving a section unrolled.
  2. Wrap the plastic wrap around the opening so that the sausage is on the opening of the vacuum hose.
  3. Turn on your camera and schedule auto off time, if enabled, on a long time, or disable it so the camera won't shut off (and cover the lens) during the operation.
  4. Connect the vacuum hose and camera so that the camera completely plugs the opening. The plastic wrap will help create an airtight seal.
  5. Turn on the vacuum cleaner at the lowest power and wait a few seconds. Make sure that the appliance is perfectly joining the opening.
  6. Turn off the vacuum and pull it off of the camera. Take a few test shots and see if it worked! If it did not, try again with the vacuum on a higher setting.

Tips

  • Another way is to find a plastic vitamin bottle that will fit on your vacuum nozzle and cut out the bottom of the bottle with a box cutter to make a tight fitting attachment. You can also use a DATAVAC blower to shoot in the battery compartment and the place where the flash pops up while using the vacuum cleaner over the lens. Avoid using canned air, as there's a risk of chemicals getting inside the camera.

Warnings

  • This is a last resort method! It cleans the inside of a lens, not the outside. It may well break your camera.
  • Spots inside your lens may be flecks of the matte black paint that is used to limit internal light reflection. If that paint has started to come off -- usually this is on account of the camera hitting something hard -- then any further forceful action may shake loose more paint, making your camera completely unusable.

Things You'll Need

  • Camera
  • Plastic wrap (cling film)
  • Vacuum cleaner with hose with no accessories attached.

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Sources and Citations