Sensor dirt

Hi all

Having a few lenses for a DSLR is all very well, but I find that changing them is always a nervous affair - because of the risk of the dreaded 'dust on the sensor'! Cleaning the sensor is always warned against and can be equally daunting, even more so when you're 'in the field'.

I'd be interested to know of your experiences with sensor dust and what steps, if any, you've taken to get rid of it.

Hi, welcome to potn.

First, dust is a part of digital photography and learning to deal with it is part of this process. There are many good systems out there. I personally use a rocket blower and pec pads and eclipse. I have not heard warnings against cleaning the sensor, but to take care and learn how to do it properly.

You cant just go around and not change lenses. That defeats the purpose of having more than one lens. You could get a lens like the 28-300 and never change lenses, but IQ would suffer.

Its really easy to clean your sensor. I do it on both of canon's top of the line dslr bodies. Get it down. Its easy and safe when you know how.

I've never cleaned the sensor by means of physical contact. Like Dante, I use a Rocket Blower and it takes care of 95% of the specks. Anything else I just clone stamp out in post processing.

Dante King wrote in post #2366860
Hi, welcome to potn.

First, dust is a part of digital photography and learning to deal with it is part of this process. There are many good systems out there. I personally use a rocket blower and pec pads and eclipse. I have not heard warnings against cleaning the sensor, but to take care and learn how to do it properly.

You cant just go around and not change lenses. That defeats the purpose of having more than one lens. You could get a lens like the 28-300 and never change lenses, but IQ would suffer.

Its really easy to clean your sensor. I do it on both of canon's top of the line dslr bodies. Get it down. Its easy and safe when you know how.

I second this.

Hi Roy, welcome to POTN I also had a huge fear of 'sensor slurm' not long ago. Upon the recommendation from a fellow forum member I purchased an Artic Butterfly brush which has performed very well.
Another tip I took to heart was to avoid changing lenses in the great outdoors whenever possible and to change lenses with the camera pointed down. Good luck!

misspix wrote in post #2367151
Another tip I took to heart was to avoid changing lenses in the great outdoors whenever possible and to change lenses with the camera pointed down. Good luck!

Another tip, stage everything in advance minimizing lens-off time. I loosen the end cap of the lens I am putting on, loosen the lens coming off and when I am ready to switch, I do so pretty quick, maybe 3-5 seconds at most. But as several posters have said, dust is not really that big of a deal a rocket blower takes care of most.

Thanks to all you folks for your comments - I'm off to buy a rocket blower (and to practise what misspix and gj711 advocate! Thanks guys.

I've just realised where you come from, Dante King. Although we live in England, we have some very good friends in San Anselmo, who we visit every year. Maybe we could hook up next year and discuss Canon and dishwashing?

canoflan wrote in post #2367085
I second this.

Put me down as a "third" on this. I was afraid of it too, until I finally did it. Now I check my sensor at least weekly, and clean if necessary

I used to be paranoid about cleaning my sensor, but finally got totally sick of having to clone spots out of every image I wanted to save.
Went to: http://copperhillimage​s.com/index.php?pr=tut​orials
Bought a basic kit, read the instructions a few times, and then cleaned my CMOS. Took 2 tries, but was really easy. I'll not hesitate to do it again whenever sensor dust becomes a problem. Hope this helps. Much better than a blower, and since most camera shop employees have NO clue about sensor cleaning, I'll continue to clean my own, whenever needed.

divetex wrote in post #2384632
....and since most camera shop employees have NO clue about sensor cleaning, I'll continue to clean my own, whenever needed.

Having gone to my two local camera stores and heard some of the advice they have handed out I can not imagine turning my camera to them for cleaning. It is so easy and who better than I will take the care and caution needed to insure a successful result. As one poster earlier mentioned, once you go through the process once, you will realize how easy it is as long as you do so gently and with care.

This was a major bug bear for me too about a year ago.

You are not actually touching the sensor, but a low pass filter that sits onto of the sensor.....and you can also apply some pressure to it. I've tried most products and spoken to pros, researched the net, and I find that different solutions seem to work for different folk.

Me, I only use a viable dust sensor brush, which you use a bulb blower on the tips of, which give the brissles and wee charge......when you swipe across the sensor, they pick up dust......you then need to blow the brush again to prevent re-contamination. Take a test shot and repeat if needed......with practice, this process can take as little as a few mins.

One of the advantages of using the Eclipse fluid and pads system is that it also cleans the micro sized dust. On one of the forums someone was complaining that he had a defective sensor because of the black squares in the image at 1200%. Not so, cleaning with Eclipse fluid and pads cleaned up the specks.

Just to be 100 percent positive, I can apply the eclipse solution to a pad and wipe the ccd? I really don't want to mess that sensor up, if you know what I mean!!
I also have a lens that looks to have dust inbetween the glass filaments..how the heck do I get that out?!

I had recently cleaned my sensor with eclipse solution and the images afterwards were great. No more dots!