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Ionizer to help remove sensor
dust

With a few years of accumulated experience, cleaning the sensor (or rather the Anti-Aliasing
[AA] filter in front of it) does not seem as dangerous as everybody believed… The only
reported incidents I have heard of, seem to be scratches linked to rubbing on a hard mineral dust
speck.

For about three years, I have been using a "contact free" ionization and blowing technique on
my Canon EOS 20D. The idea is to generate a flow of positive and negative ions leading to an
exchange of electrons with dust and AA filter, giving them back a neutral charge. With no more
electrostatic charge, they will stop sticking to each other and blowed air will easily remove all
dust.

Nevertheless, twice this was insufficient (after photo sessions in seaspray)… And I had to
gently rub with my finger wrapped with some 3M/ScotchBrite flat fibers microfiber tissue as
suggested in the "Chasseur d'Images" french magazine.

Now that my Canon EOS 5D Mark II has an anti-static AA filter, I only clean lenses, filters, and
the viewfinder screen using this technique inherited from VLSI integrated circuits production
clean rooms to protect highly sensitive devices (examples).

As I cannot justify an expensive Kinetronics ionizer like the one used by Alain BRIOT on his
Canon EOS 1DsMkII (search for "dust cleaning" in this article), what I propose here is to build
one based on a cheap piezzo-electric gas-lighter! If you are not a DIY person, then the MILTY
Zerostat3 will do the trick if you use it as indicated below.

First, I would like to thank Iago on the "Chasseur d'Images" forum for sharing the idea, then
Antoine (8 years old in 2005) for taking the pictures with his PowerShot A75, and finally
Jean-Marie COELHO "ESD Consulting" (who is also a Nikon D200 owner) for his further
knowledgeable advice and these slides on cleaning DSLR sensors with ionization. They are in
french, but full of self explanatory diagrams.

Gas-Lighter Adaptation
A brand new piezzo-electric gas-lighter.

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Ionizer to help remove sensor dust (Fovea) http://www.fovegraphy.com/Content.php?lang=E&page=Ionizer

With the help of a screwdriver…

Remove the metal head.

Delicately separate the body from the lever, paying attention

to the center cable position.

Remove the grounding cable that's used to generate sparks.

Remove the central electrode as it is not sharp enough to

ionize air, we will replace it with a pin.

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Ionizer to help remove sensor dust (Fovea) http://www.fovegraphy.com/Content.php?lang=E&page=Ionizer

With a soldering iron, flux the central cable.

Also flux the pin.

Solder together the central cable and the pin (pointing

outside).

Cut the back of the pin for better further positionning.

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Ionizer to help remove sensor dust (Fovea) http://www.fovegraphy.com/Content.php?lang=E&page=Ionizer

Replace the center cable as before.

Put as much distance as possible between the central cable

and the other metallic parts to avoid unwanted internal
sparks.

On my sample, a notch needs to be positionned at the back of

the gas-lighter body before closing.

Close the gas-lighter body.

A large tape will bind the system.

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Ionizer to help remove sensor dust (Fovea) http://www.fovegraphy.com/Content.php?lang=E&page=Ionizer

Finally, Jean-Marie COELHO "ESD Consulting", advised me

to add a short plastic widening out tube to create an "ion
gun" effect.

I used a whiteboard marker cap that I drilled and glued on the

gas-lighter extremity. I cut it to adequate size and only kept
its conical insides.

Et voilà, we will now call it "continuous flow ionizer", as

without the ground electrode and when the lever is activated
bothways about twice per second, positive and negative ions
(depending on activation direction) will be generated at the
pin point and ejected towards the target.

Approching the pin from your ear, you will hear air
ionisation, this will enable you to adjust lever activation
strength. If you depress it too strongly, voltage will raise high
enough to generate an internal spark, which is harmless but
not the desired result.

Testing the Ionizer

A piece of tape positionned at a table border is
electrostatically charged.

If you move your finger near the tape, it will stick to it.

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Ionizer to help remove sensor dust (Fovea) http://www.fovegraphy.com/Content.php?lang=E&page=Ionizer

Directing your ionizer towards the tape at approximately

15 cm (6 inches) and actionning the lever for a short while,
ionized air will discharge the tape. Mine still works at a
distance of 40 cm (16 inches).

If you move your finger near the tape, it will not stick any
more.

Using the Ionizer

To test your sensor, take a picture of a homogeneous surface
(white surface or blue sky for instance), closing the aperture
to f/22 or more. A dust particle is visible on this 100% crop.

In a clean draft free area, with well charged batteries, camera

on a tripod, sensor towards the earth, and in sensor cleaning
mode, direct your ionizer towards your sensor at
approximately 15 cm (6 inches), actionning the lever as
indicated above while simultaneously blowing to remove
neutralized dust particles.

It is now clean... and furthermore discharged; dust specks are

not attracted any more for some time and especially while
replacing your lens!

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Ionizer to help remove sensor dust (Fovea) http://www.fovegraphy.com/Content.php?lang=E&page=Ionizer

I avoid as much as possible touching my sensor (or rather the

AA filter). Nevertheless, when some spot needs some
rubbing, I gently use some 3M/ScotchBrite flat fibers
microfiber tissue as suggested in the "Chasseur d'Images"
french magazine. Only use your finger pulp to get a precise
feel of the pressure on the filter.

Do not forget to ionize/blow before (to remove any potential

scratch prone mineral dust speck), and after (to discharge the
filter that has just been charged by rubbing and attracts dust).

If you have big fingers or long nails, traditional methods like

Sensor Swab are recommended :-)

This system is also very useful to remove dust from my old

Kodachrome slides, as ICE dust removal software doesn't
work with those slides on my Nikon Coolscan IV scanner…
But don't hesitate to use it for any other kind of dust removal:
lenses, screens, glasses, etc.

Purely formal disclaimer: you are using this information at your own risk.
I disclaim all responsabilites for any damage or injury, either personnal or material,
resulting from the use of the information contained on this page.

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