DISCOVERY Plus user manual
© 2013 Digital Technology Art s.r.l.
OPTICAL WINDOW CLEANING
Both the optical window and the CCD cleaning are carried out in the clean room through a 30-
magnifying power microscope. This procedure removes any dust which may cause spots to appear
on the images taken. These spots increase in particular when the focal ratio gets wider. In other
words, an image may not show any marks at f/5.6, which, however, can
be clearly noted at f/32 because of a geometrical problem of projection.
Due to the shutter elapsed time, the external surface of the optical
window may gather dust particles that can be easily removed.
In order to do so, we recommend the use of a compressed air cylinder
designed specifically for optical cleaning.
Be careful !!! There are similar products that, instead of using compressed
air, use fluids containing liquefiable gases : at ambient pressure they
quickly gassify, thus causing a compressed air effect. Absolutely do NOT
use these products : they may cause persistant marks or rings on the window.
A product we can recommend is DUST-OFF made by EDMUND-OPTICS. Thanks to DUST-OFF (or
other similar products) it is very easy to remove microparticles : keep the shutter open for a few
seconds (via the camera control program) and spray some air blast. We strongly advise against
using cloths, optical paper and cleaning liquids because the dirt will only mix up or even increase,
which may cause damage to the coating of the optical window !
