I bought this product after finding multiple spots on my photos.
The best way to test if you have dust on your camera's sensor is to set your f-value very high such as f-22 and take picture of the sky or a bright piece of paper. Dust usually only appears in your photos at smaller apertures. You should be able to see most blotches clearly if you do the test right.
Anyway, this thing did the job perfectly. I know how sensitive camera sensors are, and am a little hesitant about using the "wet" method. And besides, this is much cheaper. All you do is go into a dust free room (bathroom worked for me), take off your lens, set your camera to mirror lock-up mode, stick the little red tube into the lens bay, and give it a few blows. Wait about 5 seconds after each blow to allow the dust to fall out. Just make sure you do this is a room free of moisture. Then you just pop the lens back on and take another test shot.
It also works great for taking dust off your lenses, off of your camera, out of your computer keyboard, or really anything.
The only cons I can think of are that it is too big to fit in my camera bag, and that it is loud. But it is still well worth the money, and five stars. Giottos AA1900 Rocket Air Blaster Large (Black)
I had originally bought another brand of blower to clean my digital camera, but after using it once I ended up introducing more dirt and/or rubber bits than I care to remember. Long story short I don't use that for my camera anymore and it took me a long time to get all of that crud out of my camera. But then I decided to give another brand a try since so many people seemed to be able to use blower bulbs without any problems. When I got my new blower my sensor was already fairly clean, but after using it it was a little cleaner. You will still sometimes have those stuck on particles (I use sterile pec pads and eclipse solution to get rid of those with pretty good results, but do this at your own risk since it voids most camera manufacturers warranties.) I also keep my blower in the original packaging to keep it as clean as possible, I guess I am a little gun shy after my first experience.
Every picture of mine that included larger portions of the sky would have these stubborn spores on it. Pretty infuriating, especially when you got the shot just like you wanted it. Yes, you can always remove those on Photoshop (or cheaper yet, The Gimp); but isn't it cool when you look at a picture and say: "that is it, nothing to do on it!" ??
And it wasn't just the sky. Any off-white but light plain colored background would suffer visibly from the acursed specks.
With this blower, greatly priced (pity that Adorama doesn't have free shipping though), I put my camera on the tripod, pointed it down, squirted three or four times - and gone are the specs!!!
Great buy for DSLR owners.
This blower is large, well made, and puts out a strong air stream (though not as strong as canned air). It works well for cleaning dust and debris from just about any optical surface, as described by other reviewers. However, I have read the technical details, product description, and/or some reviews that tend to 'exaggerate' its features, such as:
AIR ONLY ENTERS THE BULB THROUGH THE REAR VALVE: ~THIS IS FALSE!~ When I hold this up to my ear I can hear some air whistling INTO the nozzle. (No, don't blow air into your ear!) I removed the nozzle and found there is no valve on the front end of the bulb or in the nozzle. The 'technical details' state the valve prevents back-flow from the nozzle. That is crap, some air DOES get sucked into the nozzle, so dust can be sucked into the nozzle, to be blown back out onto your sensor. Even if dust was not sucked into the nozzle, it can be sucked into the bulb through the rear valve.
THE AIR IS FILTERED: ~THIS IS FALSE!~ There is no filter at the inlet valve, or anywhere else. Even if there was, it wouldn't do much good since air also enters through the nozzle. The statement in the 'product description' that it "has an air valve to prevent it from breathing in dust" is not only misleading, it is a LIE! Air valves won't prevent dust from entering with the air, only filters can do that, and there are no filters on this product! (And Giottos does NOT state the air is filtered.)
NOZZLE IS REMOVEABLE: ~THIS IS TRUE!~ But it is difficult to remove and very difficult to re-attach. It doesn't seem as if was actually 'designed' to be removeable, and removing/re-attaching it is not something I would want to do on a regular basis. I don't see why this is listed as a feature.
GOOD FOR CLEANING COMPUTER KEYBOARDS, FAN VENTS: ~MY OPINION: BORDERLINE!~ To me, the air flow is borderline for this, this blower will get the loose dust off, but canned air works better overall. You may find the air flow is adequate for those tasks.
What is it made of? The 'product description' states this is made of silica gel (huh? isn't that the little package put in to absorb moisture?), but the packaging states 'natural rubber'. In fact, the package states: "White spots or lines appearing after a period of use is normal for natural rubber". Not a big deal, but since that claim is confusing , I thought I would comment.
It is a good blower, but it is a little over-priced for what it does, and it does not deserve some of the hype it is getting.
I just wanted to set the record straight. - Cleaner - Lens Cleaner - Photography Accessories - Lens Accessory'
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