DSLR/STL Sensor Cleaning

Coraline

Well, after reading about a hundred articles and waiting a hundred days I finally took the plunge today and cleaned my camera's sensor.

I think I lost a lot of hair, but after £10 worth of swabs I came out victorious and cleaned about 90% of the gunk from my sensor in anticipation for upcoming photo-holiday.

Question is: Any photo-techies out there know a better and cheaper way to do it? I've heard a lot about using plastic knifes with Pec-Pads attached to them to do the same thing. Some say fine art brushes, others say never use brushes of any kind.

Curious to hear from other photographers here.

Many thanks,
CJ

patman99

This is a job best left to the pros. If you use the wrong cleaning agent you can destroy your camera's sensor coating.

Coraline

I did a lot of research (maybe too much? weeks?) and used Eclipse Lens Cleaner solution which is supposedly the purest form of methanol you can buy.

Used pre-made wipes which were vacuum sealed and lint free (bought 10 for a tenner on amazon).

So first time doing it...perfect results. But I want to do it cheaper. All the "pros" in the camera shops do is pretty much exactly what I did, but charge £30 - £40 a pop to do it. I can't afford to do that every month or two given the conditions I'll be taking my camera into, with different lenses.

I'm thinking of washing out the plastic handles of the kit I received and wrapping them in pec-pads. They are already perfectly sized for the APS-C sensor on my camera.

So what I'm wondering, is has anybody created DYI cleaning methods for their sensors?

WTFH

What conditions are you going to?

I've been on safari, hanging off the back of land rovers with sand blowing around me, haven't had issues. Just keep the body pointing downwards, change lenses as infrequently as possible and do it when you're not being charged by rhino.

If you're going to be shooting n those conditions a lot, I'd suggest getting a second/third body, and a portable vacuum cleaner. Suck the dirt out, don't blow it.

Coraline

I think it's an issue that comes with owning an STL--I am no expert but from what I've been reading and kicking around with members of my camera club is that my camera may be more susceptible to dust landing on the lens. (please correct me if this is bunch of b****x!)

I have been shooting on the beach, in fog, and will be going abroad to China, Morocco (including the Sahara, which I was in a couple years ago sans big expensive camera!)

You make a great point about switching lenses--I was naive and ignorant about the whole dust issue as I've never had a changeable lens camera before. Now after this dust issue that I had to sort out, I'm much more wary and thinking about how to prevent the dust problem, rather than cleaning it after the fact.

I heard about vacuum cleaners, but not sure if that is really practical on the road/travel! I have a rocket blower, but that only goes so far.

I really don't want to buy more bodies, I'm happy with having one camera and cannot travel with more than I have. (I'm a one backpack and nothing more than I can carry with me type of girl).

So....I'm thinking of course focus on preventing the dust whilst switching lenses that will mitigate it. Then considering I've own this for over a year and only had to do this just now...I guess I haven't been that bad with keeping it clean in the first place!


(Addendum...MSE should have a photography forum!!)

WTFH

I would steer clear of using a blower inside the camera body - it will move dust around, but not necessarily out. I learned that the hard way when I blew dust off the mirror onto the focus screen. Blowers are great for cleaning lenses and if the lens is a good quality one, just use a piece of soft cloth - coated glass can take a lot more abuse than cheap glass (such as the stuff you get on "protective" filters) or plastic. The only time I'd say to use a protective filter is in an environment where oil is being sprayed around, particularly the oil found in whale snot.. In which case after you've taken the photos, just bin the filter.

InsideInsurance

Never had any problems using a rocket blower to clean my sensor (have the camera pointed downwards so that most of the rubbish falls out) and I think only after 6 years of fairly heavy use are there now one or two spots on the sensor that air isnt clearing.

Certainly agree with the others over being careful when you are changing the lenses and of cause the other considerations are the lenses and camera bodies themselves. The higher the grade the more sealed they are and so the less issue of stuff getting in you have in the first place.

Gloomendoom

This one reason why I bought a 'superzoom' lens for travel photography. There is definitely a compromise on the image quality but that is balanced against not getting muck on the sensor when swapping lenses.

Coraline

The *funny* thing is that the only "approved" method of cleaning the sensor by Sony is...blowing into the body with a rocket blower!! However in Japan they endorse the wet clean method. The thing that took me so long to finally take the plunge and clean the sensor is that there is so much conflicting advice and arguments on the internet about it. From using tape to cotton swabs to nothing-but-sending-it-back to the manufacturer.

When I first discovered dust on the sensor (I was practicing shooting objects in my back garden at high apertures) I read the manual and did an auto-clean, then used the blower. It moved some dust around and got rid of a little bit, but didn't really do the trick.

The wet clean worked brilliantly--it was almost TOO easy to do it. I read a lot about how the sensor is a lot more durable than people think, but I was very careful when touching it with the swab (which is why it took me almost ten wipes to do it, but I wasn't concerned with that, I just wanted to get it right).

I have three lenses that are all very high quality (the lens the camera came with, a macro, and a telephoto) and use the Eclipse fluid with pec pads to clean them if a blower doesn't work. Typically that only happens whenever it's raining out, or very foggy.

InsideInsurance, when you say the high-grade lenses are more sealed, do you mean the lens itself, so that dust doesn't get into the lens, or that the seal formed around the lens and camera mount is tighter so that things don't slip in that way? (or both).

Do you think that's overkill and a microfibre cloth would suffice? The Eclipse stuff is expensive at £10 for a small bottle, but I've been using the same bottle for a year now and still have half a bottle left.

arathorn

Coraline wrote: »

(Addendum...MSE should have a photography forum!!)

I 2nd that.;)

WTFH

Coraline wrote: »

InsideInsurance, when you say the high-grade lenses are more sealed, do you mean the lens itself, so that dust doesn't get into the lens, or that the seal formed around the lens and camera mount is tighter so that things don't slip in that way? (or both).

Both. The lens will be better sealed itself and you should have one (or more) rubber seals around the edge of the metal mount where it attaches to the body.

In harsh environments it's better to have a zoom lens which zooms internally than one that extends, although a prime will still beat a zoom for sealing (and quality).