Giottos AA1900 Rocket Air Blaster Large - Black
by Giotto
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Giottos AA1900 Rocket Air Blaster Large - Black
Customer Review: Simply flawless
Summary: 5 Stars
Glance through my reviews and you'll see I'm hardly inclined to give a product five stars without a good reason. In this case I have no choice: the large Giottos Rocket Blaster is an item of such flawless quality and functionality that I literally can't think of a single way it could be improved.
In its standing position it has approximately the proportions of a large drinking glass. It's not small; in fact it's about as big as it can be while still fitting comfortably in your hand. That's an important detail: squeezing it is easy enough but because of its size it moves enough air to direct a strong, smooth blast at whatever you're attempting to clean. I've spent half my life trying to blow dust off lenses with junky little blower/brushes that don't do a thing, and through size alone the large Giottos blaster is a vastly better tool for the job.
Beyond that, there are lots of design details that help the Rocket Blaster do its job. The materials, particularly the expensive silicone rubber used for the blower bulb itself, are of obvious high quality. The bulb has a separate intake valve at its rear, so that it can fill more quickly than would be the case if the small blower nozzle were its only source of intake air. And of course its freestanding "rocket" design is itself simple, useful and unique. Look closely at the blower nozzle: the hole through which the air is forced is not round, it's an obviously-deliberate triangular shape, and if you think about it a moment it might occur to you that a this interesting shape might very well be more efficient at generating a coherent stream of air than a simple round nozzle. Just another detail.
The end result is an item that is deceptively simple but so nicely made that it just doesn't have any competition. It's a flawless little piece of Italian design that anybody can buy, appreciate, and put to good use. It might cost five times as much as a junky little blower/brush, but it must be at least a hundred times better.
Miscellaneous notes:
- This is the "large" Rocket Blaster. There is also a small model, and in some cases here on Amazon it has not been perfectly clear what you're getting from the item photograph or description. Here's how you tell difference: the small blaster has a round (spherical) bulb, the large one has an elongated, more or less elliptical bulb.
- The large blaster is not ideal for carrying in a bag: it's a bit too big. Buy one of the small models for keeping in your bag, and the large one for home. The large one is probably two or three times as effective as the small one, however, so if you only intend to buy one, buy the large one. Honestly, by the time you have a modest sum invested in camera gear, you really ought to have both.
- It's hard to quantify the strength of the airflow - too subjective. Here's my attempt anyway: Putting a penny down on a smooth surface, the airflow from the large blaster from a distance of about three inches will make it jump. At about the same distance, aiming the blaster at the palm of my hand will create a depression in the skin of the palm. I can make a piece of ordinary copy paper flutter by using the blaster from about 2-1/2 feet away. Compared to the small blaster, for those who have it, the large blaster seems to provide about double the force of air for about double the amount of time.
Customer Review: Try using this before buying / trying anything else
Summary: 5 Stars
There were two small spots on reference photos taken with my Nikon D40x. Based on recommendations here and at some good photography websites, I bought the Rocket Blaster and a 4-pack of pre-moistened Sensor Swabs from Amazon.
The Sensor Swabs added more spots than they removed, and also streaked the sensor. (The new spots and the streaks were apparent in reference photos.) Given the many positive comments people have posted about the Sensor Swabs with Eclipse-2, I attribute these problems to my own lack ot skill.
With some trepidation, I switched to the Rocket Blaster, cotton swabs (Cue-Tips), and moist breath (distilled water vapor). After several iterations of blowing, wiping, blowing, and testing, all of the streaks and most of the spots were gone, and there were no scratches. Finally, I just used the Rocket Blaster (no physical contact) between test shots until all of the spots were gone.
So, the sensor is fine again, and I was lucky not to have damaged the sensor. It's possible that the only way to remove the original spots was by using the Sensor Swabs, but the Rocket Blaster is what really helped the most.
Now for a couple of comments about the Rocket Blaster itself: it puts out a lot of air and is very easy to squeeze. There's a one-way valve to minimize sucking air back through the nozzle.
At first, I thought the four fins at the base were just a decorative gimmick, but in fact, they are feet: the Blaster stands on them, so the tip of the nozzle doesn't have to touch the table.
So, as the title of this review says, I'd suggest trying the Rocket Blaster before spending money on something else. You may have to squeeze it many times, but it won't hurt anything as long as the tip doesn't touch the sensor.
P.S. Although the cotton swabs / moist breath worked for me, I do NOT recommend that method.
Update, 2009-08-13.
Got a new camera yesterday. It came with a self-cleaning sensor and a large, prominent spot of dust on the sensor. Well, wasn't that considerate of the manufacturer, to give me an excuse to see how well the self-cleaning feature works?
Didn't work. Tried several times. Began to feel just awful.
But! Sitting on the shelf is the Giottos Rocket Blaster, which I bought a couple of months ago and have discussed in the original review above.
Flipped up the mirror, squeezed the Rocket Blaster hard, several times, put the mirror back down, put on a lens, and took some more test shots.
No dust.
Life is good... again.
NOTE: the tip of the Rocket Blaster is hard plastic, which you do not want to contact anything in your camera. I cut the tip off a soft rubber ear syringe and stuck it on the tip of the Rocket Blaster. Nothing should ever touch the sensor, but this gives a little protection against human error.
Customer Review: Fantastic Solution At A Low Price
Summary: 5 Stars
When I noticed dust on the sensor of my Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi, I did what most photographers would in such a situation: fainted. OK, not really, but I did freak out a bit. Any serious photographer knows that cleaning the sensor is as delicate an operation as performing a heart transplant.
Most experts will tell you that direct contact with the sensor is a last resort (and for times when that's required, there are special swabs and fluids made just for that task).
The first line of defense, however, is air. While some people would suggest using compressed air (from a can), most would argue against it because the gas inside can become liquefied, which would only damage your camera's sensor even more. The same goes for simply blowing into the camera body. Hence, the item that's become a staple of almost every photographer's arsenal, is the Giottos Rocket Air Blower.
Similar in theory to the bulb aspirator used to remove earwax or mucus from babies' orafices, a simple squeeze of the Rocket Blower gives off a concentrated stream of air to effectively blow off any dust particles that may have landed on your sensor. Because it's made so that the air enters at the bottom and leaves through the top (the red nozzle), there's no chance that the dust you blow away will be sucked back into the blower. Plus, the "fins" of the rocket keep the bottom valve from directly touching any surface, which means it's more likely to stay dust-free.
The first time I used my Rocket Blower, it was to remove a minute piece of hair that was visible to me only through my viewfinder. One or two squeezes with the Rocket Blower, and the hair was gone. It couldn't have been any easier.
I whole-heartedly suggest the Giottos Rocket Air Blower to anyone who cares about their gear.
Customer Review: Low-cost solution to high-impact dust problem.
Summary: 5 Stars
I have a Nikon D4 that had the most irritating dust spot at the top corner. All pictures, landscape or portrait view, had this spot in the pictures taken. We had checked into getting this cleaned by camera shops but no dice or they had to ship them away and it was expensive (near the cost of a low-end lens). We had heard a lot about this gadget after researching the web so based on the price and simple process, how could we lose?
So we purchased this item on July 1, 2009, and received it on July 8 (slight delay due to weekend and July 4th holiday). Out the box, the large size rocket is about the size of one of those mini-footballs you play with as a kid (but with a tube stuck to the end). It's decently constructed and has a rugged feel.
With the rocket in hand, we pretty much followed the same practice noted in these reviews and on the web (search the web for "giottos rocket blaster lens sensor cleaning video" or similar).
Before starting, be sure to take a before-picture of a blank or white space for after-picture comparison once cleaned. So basically, I performed the following steps: 1) lock mirror, 2) remove lens, 3) set face-down, 4) keeping 1-2 inches away, squeezed and blasted several rounds of air into the camera (NOTE: don't touch anything!).
That did it for us, and it fixed our dust problem. Even a cave man can do this fix. I was pleased with our minimal investment to fix our large-impacting problem. Great tool and it was very effective for our dust incident.
Customer Review: Every camera-bag should have one
Summary: 5 Stars
So, how do you rate a rubber thingy that blows air...?
The Rocket Blaster looks like a real sturdy little tool, good quality rubber and the plastic tip looks fine. When you squeeze the rubber tummy, air comes out the tip - simple. The 'fins' at the bottom could be handy if you need to put it down on a surface and you don't want the plastic tip to touch whatever you are putting it on. I have used mine a couple of times now, and it gets most dust off (just be careful when cleaning the sensor, not to touch your sensor by accident with the tip). It has a non-return valve at the bottom end through which it sucks the air so you don't have to worry that it will suck dust from the inside of the camera back into the unit and blow it back out again.
I'm also using it to blow loose dust off my lenses and other parts of the camera. For slightly more stubborn dust you may need a stronger puff of air - such as from a footpump, but of course you cannot pack a footpump into your camera-bag.
In summary - to get rid of loose and/or bigger dust particles, this is the tool for you. Of course it will not replace your cleaning cloth for lenses or wet cleaning tool for sensors, but you can get rid of a potential 'scratch-threat' by blowing off those larger particles that could cause scratches - before using the physical touch methods of cleaning. Get one - they are cheap and work well.