Firstly I must say what a great group this is. I always enjoy reading the advice, articles and updates on wetpixel. So thanks!
To the point. I have just got a new ikelite 8 inch dome for my 20D housing to really immerse my self in my WA passion. I have a question about what others do to get rid of dust inside their ports. I have very good quality lens cloths which I use on my L glass canon lenses, but they still seem to leave behind fluff and dust (when i try an clean my dome port)! Maybe I am just a bit to pedantic.
So what do my fellow wetpixel-ers do to get a nice dust free dome (inside that is)?
Look forward to you comments suggestions
Cheers Dave
west oz
Hi Dave and welcome to Wetpixel.
To clean out my acrylic ports, I start with a blast of air from a scuba tank. Just do it carefully. Next, you can use a lens or other lint free non-abrasive cloth to VERY gently wipe the inside. If there is any salt or oils in there you are screwed as you will make smears. Then you need to use a cleaning solution.
Whatever you don, don't scratch the inside of your dome. Acrylic is very easy to scratch and scratches on the inside will degrade your photos.
Cheers
James
Dave,
I get the vacuum cleaner out, attach the smallest nozzle, then carefully move it around inside the dome.
It seems to get most of the irritating fluff out. Compressed air just seems to move it around without getting rid of it.
It's not the sort of kit you might have to hand on location though!
Trev
Just to add - whilst I've got the cleaner out, might as well give the inside of the housing a vacuum too.
Get one of these.
I even use it to clean any specs that get on my Nikon D70 Sensor.
Dave, I have used lemon pledge on the inside and outside of my acrylic domes and my resin grads for a few years now and it works great. No problem with yellowing or color cast. I spray it on a soft 100% cotton T-shirt apply it and then gently polish it off completely. It makes them nice, clear, shiny and dust free. No problem with changing the optical characteristics of the dome. Some folks use pledge on aircraft canopies where you might worry about photochemical problems but it seems to hold up. Alternatively ivory bar soap and warm water with a clean T-shirt to gently dry everything works perfect to get the dust out. Another thing is that I wash my hands to remove all oil before I put them inside the dome. I would really like to have Wagsy's deal to blow off the seals of my kit after I take it out of the rinse tank. Good hunting. vr Andy
Whatever you don, don't scratch the inside of your dome. Acrylic is very easy to scratch and scratches on the inside will degrade your photos.
Cheers
James
So... the next question (which I unfortunately need answered) is it possible to remove fine scratches from the inside of an acrylic Ikelite port put there by cleaning?
Eek - I don't know anyone who has done a scratch removal/polish on the inside of a port. I guess it's possible but I haven't tried it.
James
I've removed scratches from the inside of a port before... I used the mesh kit, and used my fingers on the different grain sandpapers.. see the sticky thread on using the mesh kit. I didn't have to start with the coarsest sandpaper because the scratches weren't too deep, but they were showing up in bright photos. after I used the mesh kit they didn't appear in the photos any more.
