1.0x Sensor Cleaning Kit (Smear Away Solution and 4 Green Swabs)

REVIEW OF THE 1.0 SIZE FULL-FRAME EZ SENSOR CLEANING KIT ('SMEAR AWAY')Ostensibly, this EZ Sensor Cleaning Kit looks to be a relatively cost-effective way of removing those tenacious spots and stains from your camera's sensor. Here are my thoughts and suggestions:• This particular EZ Kit comprises 4 Green VSWABs and a small glass vial containing 1.15ml of Smear Away cleaning solution. The amount of cleaning solution provided is sufficient for the supplied number of swabs...but these will all disappear surprisingly quickly, and then you will of course find yourself in the position of needing to replenish supplies of both.• As well as this EZ Sensor Cleaning Kit, you are going to need some additional items of equipment to effect a thorough clean. Firstly, a suitable magnifier or loupe (ideally, an illuminated version) to enable you to quickly and easily inspect the surface of your sensor. Secondly, a decent filtered air blower (I can personally vouch for the  JJC CL-DF1 Professional Dust-free Air Blower for Removing Dirt and Dusts on Camera Lens, LCD, Sensor Keyboard Laptop etc. (Yellow) ). Lastly, a comfortable face mask. Why a face mask...? At the risk of being indelicate, many of the more stubborn stains on your sensor (and on a mirrorless camera, especially) will not be mechanical lubricants but bodily secretions (perspiration, mucus, but particularly saliva.) So using a face mask when cleaning your sensor is a sensible precaution if you don't want to risk re-contaminating what you're trying to clean!• If you are attempting this procedure on a mirrorless camera with IBIS (such as the Sony A7 or A9 series), it's essential that you engage the camera's sensor cleaning mode before you begin: the imaging layer of the sensor will not be live, but the stabilising mechanism's delicate micro coil drive motors will lock the sensor in position - providing a fixed working surface for easier cleaning and preventing possible damage to the IBIS system. (But remember to turn the camera OFF before you attach a lens!)• The cleaning procedure that works for me (and which I therefore recommend) is as follows: 1) After donning the face mask, carefully examine the sensor surface using an appropriate magnifier/loupe, then apply a filtered air blower to remove as much of the dry surface dust and debris as you can manage 2) Unwrap the VSWAB without touching the material of the cleaning head itself. (Although the VSWAB will have been prepared and packaged in a Clean Room, it's a good idea to use a filtered air blower to dislodge any loose fibres that may still be present - but do this well away from your camera's sensor!) 3) Unplug the vial of Smear Away cleaning fluid. Insert one corner of the green VSWAB into the opening and slowly tilt the vial upwards until you start to see the white swab material saturate to the halfway point (this is easy to establish as the material will noticeably darken in colour.) Return the vial to the vertical, swap the corner of the VSWAB, and repeat the process until the whole of the swab is adequately moistened (This process becomes more difficult to judge when you get to the last VSWAB, because you do then have to tilt the vial almost horizontally for it to dispense.) Wait a few more seconds for any excess fluid to evaporate, then sweep the VSWAB across the sensor horizontally - in a single pass - using a gentle guiding pressure. If you need to go again, turn the VSWAB over (to its clean side) and repeat the cleaning application IN THE SAME DIRECTION. 4) Inspect the sensor and repeat the process, as necessary• Smear Away is designed to impart both an anti-fogging and an anti-static coating on the sensor - but however much you try to avoid it, it's likely that the solution will leave a few slight streaks on the sensor as it evaporates. If you want to remove these as well, chances are you will probably need to resort to something like the company's Visible Dust Plus cleaning solution...In summary:It's easy to see the attraction of these all-in-one EZ Sensor Cleaning kits: a (comparatively) modest outlay buys you a sufficient supply of swabs and cleaning solution to enable you to restore a dusty or grubby camera sensor to pristine condition. Problem is, you only really get enough swabs and solution for a couple of good cleaning sessions. So whereas I'm sure that some people will regard these EZ Sensor Cleaning kits as a helpful convenience (and they are), they don't really justify themselves in terms of value for money when you sit down and do the maths. Although being initially much more expensive to buy, acquiring the swabs and cleaning solution separately - in larger quantities - makes much more sense, financially speaking. That said, the combination of these Green VSWABs and accompanying Visible Dust Smear Away solution is certainly capable of cleaning your camera's sensor very effectively, and this EZ Sensor Cleaning Kit must therefore earn my recommendation.

I bought these sensor swabs to clean the filthy sensor on a Canon EOS 5D Classic. Cleaning the sensor was a simple matter of locking up the mirror, applying cleaning solution to the swab by dipping each corner into the mouth of the bottle (as directed on the label), and then drawing the swab across the sensor.The cleaning fluid evaporated off very quickly leaving no streaks, and the stubborn blobs that an air blower could not shift were moved easily. Some minor spots remained, which I did not see with the naked eye (I have no loupe), however they are small and very faint and probably won't require removing in post. All the large and highly visible debris was removed.I have attached customer images to this product to show dirt before and after cleaning.The package contains four swabs with a 1ml bottle of sensor cleaning solution (tiny yes, but more than enough). This pack is for cleaning sensors which are NOT greasy (e.g. contaminated with oil droplets from the shutter mechanism, or the dreaded accidental fingerprint). If your sensor is greasy, you need the  Smear Away  version of this product.Also note this is the 1.0x version (24mm swabs) which is for full frame sensors. The version for cropped sensors is the  1.6x Sensor Cleaning Kit  (16mm swabs).This product made the job quick, easy, and I have to say... non-scary. Definitely one to consider if you need to clean your sensor. The only downside is the exorbitant price.

These were a God send to me, I had tried a puffa, I had tried the in camera sensor clean,I had tried cleaning the mirror etc the only thing I hadn't tried was directly wiping the sensor because I was scared to! I looked around on the Internet to see what could be done and it all boiled down to either send my camera away for a sensor clean or give these a go! I was going away on holiday shortly so didn't really want to send it away but I may have to if these didn't work! My camera had a common fault where some oil spots appeared on the sensor due to it being flicked off the shutter so I opted for this solution as its what was recommended to clean oils etc. When they arrived I read the instructions carefully over and over to make sure I got it right. I turned my camera on and put the mirror in the up position and steadied my hands and nerves! I added a drop or two of the solution to one side of the swab and very gently wiped it over my sensor, then with the reverse side of the swap I went back the other way to dry any solution. Left it for a few minutes to allow any moisture to escape and then put the lens back on and went outside to do the out of focus sky test! To my disbelief there were streaks all over the shot!!!!!!!!!! Oh no! Sooo I took the lens back off and repeated what I had done before but without the solutuion and bingo! It worked! So my advice would be only use ONE drop of solution and maybe instead of going back over the sensor with the back side of the same swab use a new dry one! I haven't needed to clean it again to try it this way yet so can't comment on the best out of the 2! Good thing is, it did exactly what it was mean to do which was get rid of the oil spots so that why it's a big thumbs up and 5*'s