I wonder if there would be enough room to fit a cleaning pen in there at the right orientation?
Also, the cleaning pad on the pen accumulates just as much junk as a microfiber cloth would.
This looks like a really fun project and may eventually be a really cool thing to complete with my son once he’s is old enough as he is about to turn 2.
no, because the pen has two ends. one has a soft brush for clearing away any easily removable dirt, while the other side finishes cleaning any tough spots or specs (which should be reasonably rare). the reason to avoid using dirty microfiber cloths i mention mostly because it’s easy to miss getting a crumb inside that scratches your lens when you go to wipe. obviously i don’t yet have a glowforge, but they make at least one model that’s only 2 or 3 inches. i keep one in my pocket if i go out to shoot.
When I first saw the title to this thread I thought it was going to be about Papyrus and Comic Sans again–haha.
1 Like
I could go back and change the font. The story on the back of the “page” is in Book Antiqua. Comic Parchment (Comic Sans + Papyrus) might make a good old DaVinci-ish looking font too 
1 Like
There are?! I don’t think I got any.
Oh. 
2 Likes
I think @cynd11 may have meant because the title includes ‘Dispatches from the font’ instead of ‘Dispatches from the front’ 
3 Likes
No it doesn’t. 
Sheesh, unbelievable how you can read something and your brain sees what it’s supposed to be and not what it is. Thanks for the heads-up, fixed it.
1 Like
So my take-away here is that if I use a camel-hair brush first (I have the kind with the air bulb behind it), then a microfiber cloth that isn’t used for any other purpose, it should be comparable to a lens pen.
A photo enthusiast? I tried your profile website but it doesn’t seem to be operational yet.
1 Like
haha. i never really had a photo site, it was just a tumblr i posted things to for a while. i’m working on other projects at the moment.
and no, lens pens aren’t microfiber cloths, they don’t sit and collect dirt, etc. either way you’re probably better off just sticking to lens wipes; i’ve just had to deal with too many people scratching things up with them.
The “scrubbing” side of the LensPen is really only for fingerprints and the super fine dust/dirt that’s not easily visible by the eye. And to that end, it’s sort of ironic - the front element of most camera lenses is non-optical sacrificial and those fingerprints will not impact image quality. I still carry a LensPen, of course. Hey, the fingerprints are still annoying but I actually have small nicks/chips in a lens or two where I’ve dropped the camera right on the front, on rocky surfaces, and they have no impact on the image. I use the brush end to clean the image sensor in the field. Give it a few whips on some other clean surface to build up a static charge and it sucks the dust right off the sensor without needing to make contact.
2 Likes
yeah, i know. but…uh, i 100% wouldn’t use the brush on that to clean a sensor. it’s really for the lens only, especially since while the brush retracts, it’s not enclosed, mean the end could get dirty. rocket blowers all the way baby.
and sure, effects of dirt on the lens is overstated, but i keep them clean - resell value, prevents glass etching, and just poor practice more than anything else. i have gotten some artifacts in pictures from it if i’m stopped wayyyy down doing macros, though.
i find microfiber cloths will often smear oils and resins, which is why lens wipes are a good pick since they’re soaked in solvent. a lens pen can remove anything like that without smearing.
none of it may matter in the end. i just offered an option.
Like I said, I don’t contact the sensor with it. Rocket blowers don’t work well in the field in the desert. A static brush works much better in this case.
i guess i didn’t parse your paragraph correctly the first time. still a bit ballsy for me, but i definitely can’t afford to replace this camera with its successor for some time to come :V
Gotcha. These sensors aren’t as delicate as people make them out to be. There are glass filters over the sensor itself and those are serviceable though I have never had a need to service them. You can swab them without much worry to get rid of stubborn dust. Cameras that get tons of field use get dirty, gritty, banged up. They’re built to handle it and to be maintained by 200lb gorillas.
1 Like
sure, and i’d be more willing to do that on something i wasn’t so concerned about maintaining. but i’ve not had great luck with sensors, and i’ll continue to baby mine. my little portable point and shoots i’m happy to shove in a vacuum to try and suck dust out, though. 
1 Like
30 years with SLRs and I beat the tar out of them. 13-14 years out of a 20D and the only sensor issue is a few dead pixels now, and that’s just because of age, and the quantity of them is actually what Canon deems acceptable for NEW equipment (literally only 2 or 3).
Most of the grit just falls into the bottom of the camera body. 
2 Likes
i’m mostly just annoyed because a friggin’ hair is caught on mine and i’m having trouble getting it off.
1 Like
A sensor swab will pull that right up, they’re made for safely cleaning sensors.
1 Like
for sure, i just have to get off my butt and go get one. i’d say i’d use amazon but that robs me of the ability to go to the camera store (…and let them rob me)
2 Likes