Ok, after using my Lenspen I was ready for the really scary one: the Sensor Klear CCD cleaning pen. Did I buy both at the same time ? Yes. Without knowing if the Lenspen would work ? Yup. That’s because 7 Day Shop were having a sale and the Sensor Klear itself was less than the cost of the P&P for the order…

Ok, so I’m about to put something that’s cheaper than the stamps and envelopes for the whole order onto the most delicate portion of my DSLR, and not only expect no damage to result, but expect it to clean as well as a cleaning system costing 15 times as much ? Well, when it’s put like that it all seems rather far fetched doesn’t it ?

The system is identical to the bigger Lenspen, but with a much smaller triangular head that is totally flat, rather than concave, and the sponge in the end cap is rather longer although that’s the end of the physical differences. To be fair, I also bought a Kenro Hurricane dual valve blower at the same time as the pens (so it’s only 7 times cheaper than the brushes), as the recommended cleaning instructions suggest not using the Sensor Klear brush on the CCD but to reserve that for the chamber and mirror.

Using the blower first didn’t really change the dirt on my sensor: I had previously tried an Arctic Butterfly a couple of weeks ago (thanks Ben), and whilst it had removed at least half of the dirt, the remaining portion had merely been redistributed so I was looking at a wet cleaner to get the last of the marks off. The first pass of the pen managed to create a smudge in the very centre of the image area that ran for half the height of the screen… Not a good start. Back to the blower, and another pass with the pen didn’t make any difference.

After that, I paused for a while, and in doing so put the lid back on the pen. In hindsight, I think it’s important to put the cap back (with a quarter turn) much more frequently when cleaning the sensor compared with a lens or filter, and to keep the head as flat as possible relative to the sensor. The third pass did the trick, and after a final blow to make sure the last of the particles were removed I had a nicely clean image at f/32. There are still a couple of spots, but they’re pale grey rather than black at f/32, and given that I normally shoot no lower than f/16 I’m happy with that level of cleaning: I’d rather do some retouch (and batch apply it to a whole day of images) than risk scratching anything.

So is the current CCD cleaning ethos wrong ? Well, I have no idea: I’ve only used the pen three times, and have not taken anything except test shots in order to prove that the dust spots have been reduced. I am, however, beginning to think that the ‘delicate and easily damaged’ line is pretty much the same as the warning about re-flashing BIOS images: if you’re careful then there’s no need for excessive panic, and having read of some of the things people have been using (off the shelf makeup brushes; cotton buds; etc.) then this pen is really rather tame.

I may also end up with a wet cleaning kit at some stage – the instructions for the pen do say that stubborn marks may require that, as degrees of delicacy aside, scrubbing with anything at a stubborn spot will cause permanent damage, but for the moment I’ll happily use this pen and have no problems at all if I need to discard it 6 or even 3 months from now.

Snake oil^[1]. That’s what I had in mind for this product, and to be honest I’d been fooled by the name into thinking that there was something inside that scribbled over the lens/filter and this somehow made it clean.

Not even close.

Yes, it’s cheap, and in the world of Cameras and Hi-Fi the unspoken rule is that if it hurts to buy it, it’s got to be better than anything that costs less – having seen first hand ‘Best Quality Mains Cables’ being sold at stupid prices by people who have zero knowledge of power supply design I’m cured of the Hi-Fi price/sound lie, but sensor and lens cleaning are still worrisome to me: I want them both clean, but don’t have a working knowledge of what materials are used and how tough they really are.

A few more facts and less marketing wouldn’t hurt the manufacturers website either: the tip of the pen is a slightly concave velvet looking cushion of fabric – the different sizes of Lenspen are purely down to what your target device is. The standard Lenspen is fine for 49mm+ lenses (my smallest SLR lens is 49mm, but it also works ok on my PowerShot G3), but simply won’t get to touch the lens on mobile phones as it’s a larger diameter than their lenses.

The pad has a fine coating of small black particles (carbon ?) that are replenished each time the cap is put back on the pen from a sponge inside the lid itself. You can tell when the pad is ‘full’ as it takes on a dusky non-reflective appearance, and after use it compacts the powder and starts to look slightly more shiny. Think of the nap on any soft furry fabric being brushed up or brushed flat and that’s the look this has. The pop-up brush can be used both before the cleaning tip to dislodge large bits of fluff, and afterwards to shift any powder that’s dropped off.

Once I received the pen, I was still unsure how it would work, so started using it on cheap old filters and moved onto my glasses before going for my best lenses. It did the job. Very quickly, and with no fuss, although it is important to check how much is left on the tip if it starts squeaking on the lens – it often means that the power needs to be re-coated.

So how does it do the job ? I’m not sure, but it does seem like the power behaves as a sort of easy to manage talc that simply absorbs grease from the glass, and does a very good job of holding onto it. The lack of any need to tap off the much after a clean does concern me, but at the sort of price that 7 Day Shop charge, it’s no worse than buying cleaning fluid for spectacles.

I’ve now cleaned five lenses, two filters and three pairs of spectacles and am very impressed at both the ease of use and the quality of the clean, although I can’t comment yet on how long the device will last but I’m sold on the concept, and will take a look at the CCD cleaner these people produce. Again it’s ‘too cheap to be true’, but should I really hold that against it ?

^[1] Actually, this is more accurate than might be imagined, as whilst the image of a wild-west grifter is brought to mind by the phrase, it turns out that the original idea and usage is actual and beneficial: it was just the imported copies that were pretty much useless.