Visible Dust Sensor Brush Review

• Review

by Bryan Carnathan

If I do not have a satisfactorily clean sensor after using the Rocket Air Blower, I usually move on to a sensor swab, but the Visible Dust Sensor Brush is another very good choice. The sensor brush is more capable of cleaning than the air blower alone, but it still presents a relatively low risk of damage to the sensor - IF you keep the brush clean.

Visible Dust recommends statically charging the bristles - with compressed air for the model I have. I simply use a series of quick bursts of air across the bristles from my air blower - this seems to sufficiently clean and somewhat charge the brush, but I'm sure compressed air would work even better. Visible Dust makes many variations of their sensor brush including some with battery-powered spinners (Arctic Butterfly) for cleaning/charging the brush. Just like when using the air blower, I hold the camera angled lens mount-downward for the brush cleaning - taking advantage of gravity. Good lighting aids in this operation.

Start at one side of the sensor and smoothly progress to the other side - being careful to not get the brush against any other part of the camera. I clean/charge the brush after each pass and make 6 or 8 passes per cleaning attempt. I follow up the brush cleaning with some bursts of air from the air blower.

Brushes are very useful tools for cleaning cameras and lenses, but a sensor brush should be reserved for use on the sensor only. It is critical that this brush stays very clean. Store the brush clean in a protective case/bag.

The biggest downside to a sensor brush is that sometimes the brush picks up some oil from the sensor camber and smears it across the sensor. At that point, a wet cleaning method using a sensor swab is going to be needed.

I am currently using a Visible Dust Sensor Brush but I think some of the other sensor brushes would work well also.

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