ParaNexus Newsletter
2
They say that cleanliness is next to Godliness or something like that. Thisto me includes your camera equipment. I know what some of you are think-ing, that I have cameras on the brain, well, yes as a matter of fact I do, andfor good reason. As of late I’ve had the opportunity to review a few photo’sthat the photographer(s) would swear left right and center are the result of ORB’s or other paranormal phenomena, despite what anyone else may say tothe contrary (sorry, can’t include them due to confidentiality agreements).One such photo immediately struck me as a totally filthy camera lens and orsensor. (If you want to be really technical about it, it is the low pass filter infront of the sensor that gets gummed up not the sensor itself, tomato, tomA-to, but some would argue, trust me.)With the proliferation of D-SLR cameras on the marketmaking their way into theequipment boxes of anomalousresearchers everywhere, thereraises some concerns with pho-to contamination. In this re-spect there is some merit tothe tiny point and shoot cam-eras, but, still not enough tomake me use one. Manypeople assume that if theykeep their lenses clean thecamera will take care of the rest, especially with the newer models Of D-SLRincorporating a sensor cleaning feature which in theory “cleans” the sensorevery time the camera is turned on or off. In part this is true, in that themechanism briefly vibrates the sensor in an attempt to dislodge any looseparticles that may be present. For this it works wonderfully. However, everytime a lens is removed and replaced, you are breaking a seal and introducingnew contaminants to the now exposed sensor, some of which are bound to bea little harder to remove than with just a quick shake. Some of these par-ticles are going to be small enough that you may in fact have a hard time see-ing them with your naked eye, but that doesn’t mean that they are not there,and it doesn’t mean that your super sensitive camera will not pick them upand portray them as being your next paranormal holy grail.Cleaning is relatively easy and can range from a number of different solu-tions (
Google “DSLR sensor cleaning tools”
), some more expensive than theothers, but, for the love of Pete, don’t blow on it and assume that did thetrick. Saliva introduces a whole new set of issues and can be a real pain toremove. Most camera geeks will have canned air and various other solventsand wipes to clean their cameras. I’ve found the easiest and cheapest, aside from a little squeeze bulb air blower thatyou can get from any camera shop, is the old fashioned soft paint brush, assuming that you keep the brush itself cleanand if you need to go with a wet cleaning solution, cotton swab, and methanol alcohol. Remembering a little dab willdo you and to check that the cotton swab has not left any contaminants of its own. Stay away from paper towels, tis-sue, or toilet paper as these can be abrasive and really screw things up if you’re not careful.So, how do you know if your sensor it dirty? Easy! If you are 100 percent sure your lenses are spotless, connect yourfavorite one (50mm or longer) to your camera and bring it bear on any light background, the sky, white wall, piece of
Editors Corner
by Dave Desjardins
Many apologies for the absence of last week’s Newsletter. A suddenillness got the better of me and hadme laid up for a bit. With that said,I’m back to normal (relatively speak-ing of course), and return to the sad-dle to get this week on line and out toour readers.It would seem that in my shortlayup, much has changed and I have abit of catching up to do. Doug hasbeen busy revamping the layout andlook of the web site, making it thatmuch more professional in appear-ance and streamlining its functionali-ty plus adding a NEW FEATURE whichenables members to customize thelook of their profile page (check un-der your Members Menu).In addition to the estheticchanges, membership and subscrip-tions are steadily on the rise, which isgreat to see. I, personally take com-fort in the fact that there are a greatnumber of likeminded professionalpeople that are willing to supportwhat we at ParaNexus are about, arewilling to share and are willing tolearn alongside the rest of us as wesearch for the truth and offer objec-tive opinions and advise. The rest Iwill leave to Doug so as not to stealhis thunder.Until next week.Best wishes.Questions, comments or sugges-tions pertaining to this newsletter oranything posted herein, may be sentto ddesjardins@paranexus.org.
Gizmos and Gadgets
– by Dave Desjardins
A weekly review of the latest “tech”, and tips onparanormal research and equipment.
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