[JJ_SO]

photonius, you should try once shopping here

 

Cameras and lenses are usually cheaper, but as soon as I like to have something more special...



Now, how do you clean this brush? The Visible Dust products do have a small motor to throw the particles and load the brush statically and also one or two LEDs to see what I'm doing. But the brushes itself are the same as your's, I guess.



Now I just went to the brush site and then to a German vendor (of course, no Swiss dealer...)

 

Your site, photonius, wants 25$ for it, the German vendor 25 € (= 34$) - German V.A.T. + shipping costs to Switzerland: 37.92 € = 52$

 

A Giotto's rocket blower. 9.95 € - German V.A.T. + shipping costs to Switzerland: 25.31 € = 34.5$

 

Yesterday I purchased that one in a camera shop in Basle: CHF 29.9 = 33.3$

If I try to make a bigger order to reduce shipping, the tax drops in. Until 40 € goes taxfree via mail, over it's 15 € fee for post service + Swiss tax.

 

It's always like that, importing is just a tiny bit less expensive. And only in case there's no flaw of the product and I don't have to send it in.

[Guest]

photonius, you should try once shopping here

 

Cameras and lenses are usually cheaper, but as soon as I like to have something more special...



Now, how do you clean this brush? The Visible Dust products do have a small motor to throw the particles and load the brush statically and also one or two LEDs to see what I'm doing. But the brushes itself are the same as your's, I guess.



Now I just went to the brush site and then to a German vendor (of course, no Swiss dealer...)

 

Your site, photonius, wants 25$ for it, the German vendor 25 € (= 34$) - German V.A.T. + shipping costs to Switzerland: 37.92 € = 52$

 

A Giotto's rocket blower. 9.95 € - German V.A.T. + shipping costs to Switzerland: 25.31 € = 34.5$

 

Yesterday I purchased that one in a camera shop in Basle: CHF 29.9 = 33.3$

If I try to make a bigger order to reduce shipping, the tax drops in. Until 40 € goes taxfree via mail, over it's 15 € fee for post service + Swiss tax.

 

It's always like that, importing is just a tiny bit less expensive. And only in case there's no flaw of the product and I don't have to send it in.

 

I'm rather familiar with shopping in switzerland (and toppreise.ch), you do get good deals on lenses and bodies because of the VAT differences. Regarding price I was actually in general referring to your whole list of sensor cleaning items, and the expense of all these swaps etc.

But overall indeed, US prices are hard to beat, even bodies and lenses are often sold cheaper and with more rebates (but one tends to forget local tax, if you buy in a shop).

 

Regarding the dustpatrol brush, yes, buying it in europe, one gets the usual 1 $ = 1 Euro bad deal, and then the extra shipping costs depending on location. If you have a friend in Weil or Lörrach, you could have it shipped there.

I do use ebay for small items, usually from Hongkong, sent to Europe. 

[JJ_SO]

Last time I bought in China directly at the manufacturer was a GPS tagger (Solmeta). That came with a malfunction, so I sent it back and realized afterwards, the German importer already made the effort to write a better manual in German and sold the tagger not much more expensive than Solmeta offered. The manufacturer's leaflet is just crap. It would have been a nice cycling trip to get it, the dealer (GPS-camera.eu) is based in Southwest Germany. 

 

Somehow I prefer real dealers with real addresses instead of eBay aliases, but I have to admit, it's a long time since I used eBay last time.

 

My list of cleaning items is much longer than necessary because I'm curious to try and find better methods to clean. But as I said, less is better. I rarely shoot with higher aperture than f/11, therefore I don't see so much disturbing particles. But if I start to see them, it's time for the brush

[Guest]

Last time I bought in China directly at the manufacturer was a GPS tagger (Solmeta). That came with a malfunction, so I sent it back and realized afterwards, the German importer already made the effort to write a better manual in German and sold the tagger not much more expensive than Solmeta offered. The manufacturer's leaflet is just crap. It would have been a nice cycling trip to get it, the dealer (GPS-camera.eu) is based in Southwest Germany. 

 

Somehow I prefer real dealers with real addresses instead of eBay aliases, but I have to admit, it's a long time since I used eBay last time.

 

My list of cleaning items is much longer than necessary because I'm curious to try and find better methods to clean. But as I said, less is better. I rarely shoot with higher aperture than f/11, therefore I don't see so much disturbing particles. But if I start to see them, it's time for the brush

 

well, presently I'm located in a country that doesn't really offer much choice in shops, a lot is done just online.

 

as to cleaning the brush, dustpatrol has instructions on their web site, but so far I just used "twirrling" rapidly in my hands, and blowing the dust out with a rocket blower.

[JJ_SO]

Small problem: I tried to find some resisting dust, but in every body the blower and the brush were able to remove the small particles. So I can not tell, if it's also working for oil spots or other greasy parts 

 

I just give some quick impressions:

• Nice tin box
  
• Extremely expensive for a plastic stick, an adhesive cushion, a plastic cover and only 10 stripes of cleaning tape for the cushion
  
• I have some doubts to get the dust or the spots out of the corners - the cushions has very round corners.
  
• Out of the box, the cushion was dirty. I expected a clean one
  
• description is in English and French only - so, that's really poor for a German manufacturer to put only a short version in German onto the card box and no one in the leaflet. Another manufacturer clearly misusing the CE-symbol
  
• It's working.
  

 

Surrounded by a plastic cover...

 



 

...which failed to prevent the cushion getting dirty before first use.  <_<

 

So, never clean the cushion after usage, always only before.

[Guest]

"English and French only - so, that's really poor for a German manufacturer" probably made in china. what brand/product ?

[JJ_SO]

eyelead claims the product to be "made in Germany" http://www.eyelead.eu/fotoreinigung.html

[borisbg]

JoJu, thank you for sharing your experience with us. Did it leave any residue or marks on the sensor after use? Do you like the results near the edges of the sensor?

[JJ_SO]

No marks or residue, at least not visible with a sensor-loupe. The sticky cushion was able to remove two particles resisting to static brush and blower. Usually, the next step would have been wet cleaning - that was not necessary with the stick. So maybe, over long-term, it will become worth the investment.

[Guest]

eyelead claims the product to be "made in Germany" http://www.eyelead.eu/fotoreinigung.html

 

Perhaps the sticker   :-)  .  

Anyway, no, I don't want to put the company down, and wish them all the best. But based on the looks of the web site (.eu address, gmail email), and whois entries for the web site, web not updated since 2012. Their shop is an amazon.de seller, which anybody can set up.  it looks like a very small outfit that probably mostly rebrands. The 48 LED ring light can be found on ebay also sold by others.  This clearly looks like a Chinese product the people can buy in bulk with their own sticker.

compare:

http://www.eyelead.eu/licht.html

with

http://www.ebay.de/itm/New-Powerful-LED-...58a81b4645

 

As to the cleaning pad, the case in which it is shipped is identical to the case of a promotional laser pointer I got once. That doesn't mean much, but it points to the fact that the items are bought from other sources like China (at least the case).

Maybe it's assembled from inexpensive parts on someone's kitchen table.  However, if the product works, nothing wrong with it. I suspect that the blue sticky rubber is a commercial product that you can buy somewhere in bulk. Or perhaps they pour it themselves into something like ice cube trays (hence the rounded shape, it's seems not really meant for sensor cleaning) and stick the handle into the jelly as it solidifies. Such sticky rubber is used in a number of different ways.  One way to clean it is actually using mild soapy water (the green dishwasher detergent from the supermarket). 

 

 

Just to give an example of rebranding:  Samyang lenses, sold under gazillion names, but such good products that their name is now well known, and wouldn't need selling through rebranding anymore.