Product Review: Arctic Butterfly 724 (Brite)/Sensor Loupe Combo from VisbleDust

You have your fancy DSLR camera with all of your fancy lenses and everything is working fine until all of a sudden one day your images have spots on them. You get your lens cleaner and cloth but the spots are still there. What happened? It is dust on the sensor. You can generally tell that it is from the sensor because the spots appear on every picture in the same place no matter what lens you are using. An easy test is to set your f-stop to f/22 and shoot at a blue sky. If it is the sensor, you will see the spots.

How did that happen? Well, every time you change lenses you are open to the possibility that dust can be sucked in to the opening even in the most controlled situation. If you are outdoors, the odds are increased dramatically.

Now that you have dust on your sensor, what can you do? You really have two options. One, you can send your camera out to be cleaned. This can cost anywhere from $50 to $125 dollars depending on the type of camera you have and where you live. You not only have to figure the cost, but it can also take as long as two weeks or more to get your camera back. For a professional, that is just not an option.

The other option is to do it yourself. Isn't that dangerous? Sure, if you are not careful and don't use the right tools. But so is driving to work if you are not paying attention to a certain set of rules. The key is to have the right tools and learn the correct steps. Also keep in mind that you are not really cleaning the sensor, but rather the low pass filter that covers the sensor.

VisibleDust has a complete set of the right tools. Their new Arctic Butterfly 724 (Brite) Sensor Loupe Combo along with their Sensor Cleaning Swabs, Hurricane Blower, and Sensor Clean gives you everything you need to safely clean your camera. While I will look at the some of the steps and tools for cleaning your sensor, this is by no means complete. In fact, for a better understanding and before attempting to clean your camera go to SensorCleaning.com for more in-depth information. Primarily, I am going to look at two of these tools that come together as a combo — The Arctic Butterfly 724 (Brite) and the Sensor Loupe.

Article Author: T. Michael Testi

T. Michael Testi is software developer, a writer, and a photographer. He also blogs at PhotographyTodayNet and at All This and Everything Else.

Visit T. Michael Testi's author page — T. Michael Testi's Blog