Is it best to clean your cameras censor by yourself or get it done professionally?

When I owned the Nikon D3, the sensor was a dirt magnet. Cleaning it, no matter what product I used, proved frustrating, as it seemed to just smear the dirt, perhaps a drop of oil from the innards of the camera. It was very frustrating.

Once I came back to Canon with the self cleaning sensor, I have never, ever had to manually clean the sensor again. Maybe I'm somewhat blind, but I never see a spot on any of my pics, and I change lenses in all kinds of situations.

wayne.robbins wrote in post #14703099
I never clean my censor ; they can usually take a shower all by themselves. Besides, they are usually critics- and I don't care for critics either.

But surely, cleaning a censor is an oxymoron. Or is that a stupid cow?

Can't say how many times I've read about people scratching or smearing the sensor.... What ever you do just be careful.

davidc502 wrote in post #14703346
Can't say how many times I've read about people scratching or smearing the sensor.... What ever you do just be careful.

Absolutely - although smears are easily sorted. Scratches need to be avoided and with care are - easily.

This is something we should all be able to do, dontcha think?

davidc502 wrote in post #14703346
Can't say how many times I've read about people scratching.......

Never heard of anyone scratching their sensor while cleaning except the 1 post in this thread. Google search doesn't bring up much either....

Remember I mentioned the need for common sense?

No problems cleaning my sensors. Rather easy IMO

It's really a piece of cake, use Visible dust products,

firstly

1) Use Sensor loupe to eyeball dust particles

2) electric butterfly lightly to lift of the largest dust particles from identified areas

3) if required wet clean with Sensor Clear solution.
Use a brand new swab (never reuse), I find the trick is not too much solution just 2-3 drops (wait a bit for the solution to spread through swab 5 sec), then swipe back and forth lightly and slowly and it's done. Don't keep swabbing more than twice with the same swab as this will leave streaks, if more swabbing is needed start again with a brand new swab and new solution

The trick is not too much and not too less solution on the swab

4) Sometimes may need a corner swab to go around the edges of the sensor and the large swab may push the dust to the edges if there is a lot of dust, the corner swab only needs one drop of solution

Always buy the best swabs, don't be tempted by cheap swabs and untested solutions on ebay

I bring mine to the Canon service center in Jamesburg NJ, only 25 minutes from my home. They charge $30 and it takes around an hour. I just go and grab a quick bite and its done. Given the cost and convenience I personally don't want to take any chances or even the time cleaning it myself. It not like I have to clean it every week.

myself
the 1st time, you'll be worried
every time after that, it will be pretty simple, and you won't give it a second thought

Got my 550D done professionally and came back worse than when i sent it. Needless to say i wont be sending it back there.

The best and most complete info about sensor cleaning is here:

http://cleaningdigital​cameras.com/

Read all of it thoroghly and see if it's something you are willing to do.

The guys who maintain this website also sell the supplies and tools, including everything for the so-called "copperhill" method. They are repair techs themselves, so are experienced at the cleanings and give reasonably objective views about the various methods. They might have their own preferences, but aren't trying to sell you one particular method that they sell, because they pretty much offer supplies and tools for all the different cleaning methods. Their store www.micro-tools.com is one of the top suppliers to the profesional camera repair industry. (Actually, it's "stores" - plural - they have facilities in Europe and in N. America.)

Essentially, there are sifferent degrees of cleaning, depending upon what's needed...

1. A puff of air (Rocket blower)
2. A gentle brush
3. Vacuuming (gently)
4. Slightly adhesive particle pickup
5. Individual speck removal (Speck Grabber)
6. Wet cleaning
7. Final polishing (Sensor Pen, often necessary after a wet cleaning)

Often cleaning is done in this or a similar order, though one or two steps might be skipped (brush, vacuum, or adhesive, for example), then stopping at whatever step has solved the problem.

Tools that make the job easier include a loupe or other magnifier and some sort of light, to better see the sensor (actually the AA filter that sits in front of the sensor) down inside the camera.

You have to be certain to have enough charge in the camera's batteries to maintain the mirror up and the shutter open for the period of time while doing the cleaning. At tops, a freshly charged battery in some cameras might only give 20 minutes or half an hour holding those open, so you also have to work efficiently too. You also have to be careful not to accidentally turn off the camera while doing the cleaning. If the shutter closes or the mirror drops done onto a cleaning tool, some damage might be done that would require an expensive repair.

The other big consideration is to not use too much cleaning fluid. You don't want to flood the surface and risk fluid seeping around and behind the AA filter or dripping elswhere inside the camera.

You would be wise to learn how to clean the sensor yourself and to have at least basic supplies for the purpose, should you need to do it in an emergency while on location somewhere. But you also might find a local shop that will do it for reasonable price, and let them take the risk most of the time.

I admire you guys that do it well yourselves. I had my 5Dc done locally by a place that specializes in that for $50.00 and it was immaculate afterwards and had 30 day warrantee for free cleaning if it got dirty again within that time.

Meh, I don't think sensor cleaning is a big deal. I picked up the LensPen kit from Amazon ($37 and it comes with an illuminated sensor loupe) and a wet cleaning kit (pec pads, swabs and eclipse solution). I already had a large Rocket Blower, so for the price of paying a local camera shop to clean my sensor I have everything I need to do it myself, several times.
Koala, I don't understand why you are so antagonistic to the idea of looking through a loupe at the sensor to see if there is any dust before shutting the camera down. Lets see, I can look through the loupe, see a spec I missed and re-clean, or I can just shut the camera down, put a lens back on, take a shot, load it on the computer and view at 100% to see if I got it all. Yep, that sounds so much faster. Granted, if I don't see anything with the loupe, I will still take a test shot just to be sure, but so far it has worked fine for me.

is there any point doing it when canon camera's have a sensor cleaner system?

jonneymendoza wrote in post #14707645
is there any point doing it when canon camera's have a sensor cleaner system?

Johnny the camera's sensor cleaning system is fantastic for keeping the sensor clear, but eventually certain stubborn particles won't get dislodged. That's when it becomes essential to perform a manual cleaning (either done by Canon or other service, or by yourself.