Never cleaned my sensor in seven years...

I got my first dSLR about seven years ago. By 2007 I had a 5D, and the topic of sensor dust was all the rage on POTN. I purchased a rocket blower as well as a complete wet-type sensor cleaning kit with PEC pads and solution and a wand and all that crap.

Now, years later I still have that 5D from 2007. Along the way a 1D3 passed through my hands and I've added a 1D4 and 5D3. In all this time, I've never even opened the sensor cleaning kit I bought.

Oh sure, every summer I'll start shooting at f/11 - f/22 range and some dust bunnies will show up on whatever camera I'm using. When this happens I grab the rocket blower, enable sensor cleaning and puff away. This has gotten rid of the dust bunnies every single time.

Anyone else had such experiences? I swear in 2007 I used to read threads about people who were wet cleaning their sensors monthly. I bought the sensor cleaning kit fully expecting to use it all the time. I'm surprised in some ways that sensor dust has been pretty much a non-issue for me. What are your experiences?

Really depends on the environment where you shoot and especially where you change lens. I shoot and change lens at the beach quite often and need to clean my sensor on a regular basis. I shoot at small apertures so any spec on the sensor is visible.

I've swapped lenses 50+ miles out into the pacific, in storms, at 14,000 feet, next to hair and makeup artists spraying and dusting away...never had an issue that couldn't be fixed with a quick blast from the rocket blower. Been about 4 years.

I don't believe I've ever seen any ill-effects from dust on my sensors. I certainly haven't seen anything if I wasn't specifically looking for it. A few times I've shot at very small apertures and still couldn't find anything. Figured it's one of those things that I'm better off not worrying about.

Rocket blower is all I use.

When I first got my camera the sensor was FILTHY, so I did a wet cleaning. It's been 9 months or so and just regular rocket blows has kept it clean, I shoot at f22-44 all the time and rarely do I get a spec. I don't baby the camera either, sometimes ill even forget to put the body cap on.

my first DSLR was the original rebel. back then i used the make my own swabs from strips of credit cards and lens tissue. i used alcohol to clean my sensor. did the same thing with the 20d.

then i got the 5d and discovered that the FF sensor was harder to clean. you actually had to remove the crud because there's no real margin to brush it to.

then came the 1d and 1ds mark III. i had them professionally cleaned by an excellent technician at keeble & shuchat in palo alto.

i'm on my fifth year with the 1ds Mk III. i now get the sensor cleaned about once a year, whether it needs it or not .

ed rader wrote in post #15592543
my first DSLR was the original rebel. back then i used the make my own swabs from strips of credit cards and lens tissue. i used alcohol to clean my sensor. did the same thing with the 20d.

then i got the 5d and discovered that the FF sensor was harder to clean. you actually had to remove the crud because there's no real margin to brush it to.

then came the 1d and 1ds mark III. i had them professionally cleaned by an excellent technician at keeble & shuchat in palo alto.

i'm on my fifth year with the 1ds Mk III. i now get the sensor cleaned about once a year, whether it needs it or not .

What's an average price for a cleaning done by a camera shop vs. Canon?

mannetti21 wrote in post #15592689
What's an average price for a cleaning done by a camera shop vs. Canon?

I think Canon is around $35 dollars. Camera shops range from $25-$40.

Bryan

I've never wet cleaned any of my sensors and have only used a rocket blower maybe 2 or 3 times (on the sensor) in the last 5 years. But I'm also very careful about how I change lenses (I angle the body down and change the lens very quickly, the environment in which I perform a lens change, and I never leave the camera body open and exposed any more then I need to. I think this goes a long way in reducing the amount of dust that enters the chamber.

Bryan

Right with you there Jeff. I heard all of the stories of dusty sensors, so I purchased a Copperhill wet cleaning kit 9 years ago, along with a rocket blower. The only thing I've ever needed is the rocket blower. I've been through a 10D, 30D, 350D, 5D, 1Ds II, 7D, 1Ds III, and like you, I've seen some dust, but the rocket blower has always been up to the task, and the Copperhill wand is still in its envelope.

Jeff,, I give my camera's sensors a good clean about once a year. I have few problems with dust bunnies. I change lenses a lot depending on what I'm shooting and change lenses in the field also.

Also,, I mainly shoot at full aperture to f/5.6 so I haven't noticed any dust bunnies.

Shooting at f/11 as I usually do for landscapes is fine really unless you really look for the odd bunnie [Usually top left ] When I close the aperture more for long exposure/ND110 stuff a few show but nothing major - Load in LR, select all, autosync & heal them there as they are mainly sky anyway

The rest of the time I'm shooting much wider apertures & primes so no issues at all

450D I've had since 2009 which I bought used too & 5D2 since 2010

My 30D has it's sensor cleaned once, that was at the end of the 2006 a week after I bought it when Canon took it back to clean some dirt from between the sensor and AA filter.

The 5D2 has had one clean, Canon CPS were doing free cleans and firmware updates at an event.

I haven't done anything to my 5D2 yet since it's only a couple of months old.
I've only use a rocked blower on my 5Dc. It was cleaned and the af adjusted when I got it two years ago though. It has quite a lot of small spots but as long as I can get rid of the bigger specs with a rocket blower it's fine. I don't shoot with very small apertures that often anyway. I never had my 500D cleaned either apart from using a rocket blower, it's also got some spots but rarely used nowadays because one of the shutter curtains is missing.