VisibleDust SL-788 Arctic Butterfly with Light

by VisibleDust

• Three stage power button
• Equipped with light
• Enhanced fiber cleaning through patented rotary motion
• No canned air - completely travel safe
• Enhanced super-charged fiber technology - metal clamp is attached to the body of the Arctic Butterfly through a non-conductive joint

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• ASIN: B004OPWQEA
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
  • #5 in Camera & Photo > Accessories > Cleaners > Brushes
• Date first available at Amazon.com: March 28, 2011

Product Description

The Visible Dust SL-788 Arctic Butterfly with Light cleans your sensor without the use of any canned air. The built-in light allows you to see exactly where the brush is cleaning and also prevents you from accidentally smearing the surrounding surfaces. The fibers on the brush are ultra thin and are super charged giving them excellent lifting power. Because of its safety features all models of Arctic Butterfly can be safely used on ITO (Indium Tin Oxide) coated sensor and DLSR's with built in sensor cleaning systems.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars An expensive spinning brush that might work for you. November 30, 2011

By T. Streiff

Amazon Verified Purchase

As I start this review, let me say I have friend who used this brush to remove a speck of dust and it worked great for him. Thus, I picked this up myself for my Nikon D40 and D90. I was hoping to not have to clean my sensor wet after hearing warnings and possible mishaps. Let me say it is better and easier to wet clean your sensor now that I have done it (photographic solutions Eclipse liquid and sensor swabs).

If you have one or two pieces of dust this may be the solution to try first. It has worked for others as documented here. It didn't work for me. I used it once, twice, and then kept going ... trying to get rid of "Dust" or "something" stuck on my sensor (even after 10 wet swipes it is still there). Anyways, after about two tries I must have smeared the sensor. This can occur if the brush even slightly bumps the surrounding sensor box or anything else on the way when being inserted through the camera carefully to the sensor. It looked like dirt and possibly scratches (were streaks) on the sensor when I took a sky picture at lowest aperture (highest F number). My heart sank and my stomach felt sick. I thought I messed up my sensor somehow. Did an abrasive piece of dirt or sand get in? What did that brush do to my beloved sensor?

Turns out, the brush didn't do anything. Didn't scratch my sensor. Didn't clean my sensor. It smeared my sensor with some type of dirt or grease and made it look horrible. I couldn't see it on the brush, but it was on my sensor. I was trying to clean some dust off the sensor for routine maintenance and was leaving to go out-of-town the next day and needed my camera. Luckily a local "professional" camera shop could clean my sensor the next morning no problem before I left. Drop it off and pick it up in an hour. Only will cost $100 + .... Well, in a hurry to get on the road and wanting to take my beloved D90, I let them clean the smudges and dirt out. I did not have a wet kit, never cleaned it before and didn't have time to learn.

The camera shop did a great job cleaning the smudges and streaks out of the sensor. Trouble is, there was more dirt and dust in the camera then when I started. "There is no warranty, we did the best we could, and you could have changed lenses in the wind blah blah" I was told. Never again! I came home from said trip, and ordered a wet kit (sensor swabs and Eclipse from photographic solutions). I have used and tested it on my D40 which was never cleaned and had about 20 or so dust specks. After two swipes of wet swabs, it was perfect. After the D40 preliminary tests, I Used the wet swabs on the D90. Did not get it as perfect as I wanted, but close enough for now (after too many swipes lol). I did use the artic brush a few times to help intimidate a couple fibers and specks off of the sensor. Thus I had to give it a few stars for that.

SUMMARY:

I deducted the two stars because the brush didn't remove all my dust, it smeared my sensor (be VERY careful), and it is way expensive. I think the companies that sell camera cleaning supplies are making billions on stuff like this and sensor swabs (almost $40 for a box of 12)!! I have since cleaned my brush in some 91% pure rubbing alcohol to remove any possible contaminants, we'll see how that works. I personally wouldn't recommend this brush. However you may wish to use the brush if you find the need to try and remove one piece of dust that is bugging you or you want to complement your cleaning arsenal with all the expensive tools. Now that I do own it, it has come in handy a few times when I needed to kind of swipe a piece of dust or fiber off the sensor before or after wet cleaning... hence I think it deserves maybe three stars. Order and use it at your own risk. Read more ›

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Does the job, picks up the dust... June 19, 2011

By Dave McGhee

Amazon Verified Purchase

Although I think Visible Dust charges a bit too much for their products, they do work as advertised. If you have specs of dust on your DSLR sensor and you need a good way to clean it off without damaging it, take a look at this.. I had an older model of the Arctic butterfly and I must say the addition of the LED is a good improvement. Cleaning your sensor is so easy a caveman could do it. Just pull the Arctic Butterfly out of t's stylish hard case, install 2 AAA batteries and uncap the brush. Push the spin button, count slowly to 10 and then remove the dust off of your sensor. DO NOT SPIN THE BRUSH WHILE IT IS IN CONTACT WITH THE SENSOR. This is not intended to brush off the dust from your viewfinder or from the inside of the camera. It is intended to clean only dust from the sensor. Visible dust sells swabs to clean more stubborn smudges or particles stuck on your sensor. This only works for dust and is pretty good at lifting it off with the static charge it builds up while spinning the brush at a very high revolution.

I live and work in the Southwest and blowing dust is the norm. Switching lenses often means dust on the sensor and hours of photoshoping it out of your pictures. Use this to save some time and remove the dust before you take the picture. Takes less than a minute...

I would recommend this for any novice out there and also recommend doing your research on the problems you can cause if you mess up.. Most camera manufacturers and salesmen will tell you to send your camera of to have the sensor cleaned. If it's only a small particle of dust, spend the money you would have to send it off and buy the Arctic Butterfly SL-788.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Product. Simply Works. September 29, 2011

By R. Winners

Amazon Verified Purchase

My 2-week old camera got two specs of dust on the image sensor. Disappointed, I first tried the Giotto's rocket blower and it did not remove the dust. Not wanting to get ripped off with a $75 fee to clean the sensor at the camera shop I looked for an alternative. I really did not want to risk doing a wet clean on a new camera so I decided to pick up the Arctic Butterfly brush. After two swipes it took the dust right off. Shooting at f/32 I do not see any dust anymore. I think it would take the dust off the first time if I left the brush spin for about 3 seconds to get a good charge. Furthermore, the brush left no streaking on the sensor. I think there is a lot of hype around not cleaning the sensor yourself. Bottom line, buy this product.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Should have purchased sooner! September 20, 2011

By C. Beelman

Amazon Verified Purchase

This brush is incredibly effective at removing dust from lenses and my sensor. The light is adequate for working on my sensor - I really don't think that it'd be worth it to buy the pricier, brighter version of this brush.
Seems solidly built and the storage case is helpful.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Good, but too expensive. March 19, 2013

By Twingo

Amazon Verified Purchase

Please refer to the images that I posted, you can see the true results of the brush. ( a picture is worth 1000 words)

I won't go into details, but I will say that it removed about 90% of the dust of my very dirty sensor.

I wish the brush would be a little cheaper.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars did not work on arrival. January 3, 2013

By Gamer5533

Amazon Verified Purchase

The brush head fell off as soon as i turned the product on. It would not reattach properly and would simply fall off again instead of staying attached to the handle. It looks like the mechanism that causes the brush head to grip to the handle relies on friction instead of any kind of locking system. If so, it probably would not last very long as the plastic base of the brush wears out. Unfortunately i had to return the product since it is unusable. I tried to exchange it to try second one but Amazon would only offer a refund so i won't bother to try reordering it.