Ei Yoshimura’s “Find video goods that are really useful!”: 17 items: Small but highly practical maintenance goods HOZAN blower/Otsuka Hake brush – Digital Camera Watch

In this series, Ei Yoshimura, a cameraman with a background in the video field, will discover and introduce useful goods for shooting videos with interchangeable lens digital cameras for “still camera enthusiasts.” He would like to be able to actively try out and introduce products ranging from expensive equipment for professionals to products from manufacturers he is unfamiliar with.

This time, I would like to take a look at two cleaning products for removing dust from camera equipment.

The first one is the blower. It’s like a pump that blows away dust. There are various products on the market, but not all of them are suitable for use in precision equipment such as cameras.

Small, portable types often have low airflow, and some products that are not for cameras are shipped with the inside of the pump sprinkled with a smooth powder to prevent the rubber material of the pump from sticking. There is also a product called a blower brush that has a brush attached to the end, which is quite easy to use, but you need to be careful if you touch the lens with the brush as it can easily get dirty.

Spray can-type air dusters are also convenient and powerful, but if you use them too close to camera equipment or spray them for a long time, they can condense and cause dirt, so be careful when using them.

Here we introduce HOZAN’s Z-268. The most distinctive feature of this product is the power it generates by compressing air. There is a special valve built into the blowout part, so no air will come out even if you push it a little. If you keep pushing it and the internal pressure increases, at a certain point the air inside will burst out.

By turning the nozzle half a turn and pulling it out, you can choose the strength of the compressed air. I would like to recommend this product as an easy-to-use and powerful blower for precision equipment.

In addition to the blower, which is useful for blowing away fine dust from the lens surface, you should also have a brush on hand. It can clean many areas other than the lens surface of camera equipment. In particular, you can use the brush to clean small areas that are difficult to reach, such as the edges of the dial.

Many of these brushes are small for cameras, but you want to choose a brush that has a good balance between size and stiffness to remove dirt without damaging camera equipment.

This Otsuka Brush product is used by multiple camera manufacturers for service purposes, and its ease of use is guaranteed. It also effectively removes dirt from the knurling of the lens barrel and the folds of the rubber.