I recently came to know about a lens shaped vacuum cleaner for camera called Fujin. It seemed like a very nice innovative idea so I went ahead and got hold of one. The Fujin cleaner (D version for Nikon mount) was shipped to me from Japan and reached my door steps in a few days. The company had packed it very well. On opening the parcel, I found a very neat looking box, similar to the kind that comes with lenses.
The box contained instructions in different languages, a set of filters for use with the cleaner and the cleaner itself in a velvet bag similar to the ones shipped with Nikkor lenses.  The whole package looked very impressive. The finish of the product is good. It is expensive considering the built quality and components used.

The Fujin cleaner is a lens shaped vacuum cleaner that attaches to the camera  like any standard lens. It has a fan that sucks out air from the camera while the peripheries of the Fujin cleaner push in clean filtered air.  It looks exactly like a Nikkor lens. The unit is powered by 4 AAA batteries which are not supplied in the box.

Assembly of the unit was very simple. All it needed was to open the front latch by rotating, place a filter and then close the front cover. There is battery compartment on the side which opens by sliding the cover. Once it is assembled, the instructions said to run it for a minute without attaching to the camera so as to clean any dust that might be in the unit. I did just that. The on and off switch is on one side of the unit and looks like the M/A button of the Nikkor lenses. It also has a small red indicator light which lights up as soon as the unit is powered on.

To test it, I tried with my Nikon Df camera body which had recently been on a long trip with me and had some dust on the sensor too apart from the mirror and the focusing screen.  The sensor dust is a problem as any camera user knows.

After running the Fujin cleaner, when I looked through the view finder after attaching a normal lens, I was in for a pleasant surprise. The focusing screen looked comparatively clean, with almost no spots to irritate me. I removed the lens and examined the camera interiors, the mirror and the focusing screen were almost clean. Why almost? I could still see many small specks of dust. Next came time to clean the sensor. I had great expectations from this little unit but it failed to pick up some of the very small dust particles from the sensor. I am guessing that very small particles remain stuck due to some kind of static energy which the suction from the cleaner is unable to overcome.

My suggestion for any serious photographer- buy this little genie and use it occasionally to clean your camera’s internals. The dust on the mirror and focusing screen doesn’t affect the photos but it can fall back on the sensor while using the camera or it can even settle on the rear surface of the lens. Dust on the focusing screen can be a constant source of irritation too if you are anywhere as sensitive as I am.

To summarize, the Fujin cleaner though marketed for cleaning sensor is actually more effective at cleaning the mirror, focusing screen and the surrounding areas. Now my cleaning schedule for inners of the camera comprises of three steps –
1.   Clean the sensor with a rocket blower.
2.   Clean the mirror, focusing screen and also the sensor compartment with the Fujin cleaner.
3.   Clean the sensor (actually the thin transparent sheet in front of the sensor) with a sensor swab if required.

For Fujin company, I recommend working further on this wonderful idea of theirs. If only they can come out with a version that sucks up the small specks too. Maybe after overcoming the static. I am not sure how but if they work on it further, it can be a relief for most photographers.

For more details on how I clean my camera and lenses – Cleaning Camera and Lens

For purchasing Fujin – http://usa-ipp.com/fujin.html