Sensor Cleaning

[Brigitte]

I own the Nikon D7000 and it is need of a serious sensor clean. I would be interested to know how many of you clean your own sensors and what equipment you use. Currently it is booked in for a service but if this is going to be a regular problem it could work out rather expensive. I have been going some reading on this subject and the impression I get is that so long as one is very careful it should not be a problem to do it yourself. I would appreciate your thoughts on this. Thanks Brigitte

[CherylK]

I play it safe and get mine cleaned by a reputable camera shop. I don't think I would attempt to do it myself.
If they make a mistake cleaning it, they have to fix it.

[ricktas]

I clean mine with stuff from cameracheckpoint

[macmich]

buy a kit of the site sponsor camera checkpoint and do it yourself, it might sound daunting, but once you do it once its as easy as
the kits are a good price and good service off the sponsor
cheers macca

[Darey]

I regularly clean my D7000 with the DustAid kit.
It was a little daunting at first but now I have no fear doing it.
Oh and DustAid gives me a very good clean.

[arthurking83]

If you are unsure of cleaning it yourself, asking for assistance is as easy as ... umm... asking!

I find that after about 1K exposures, most sensors need a bit of a clean to minimize annoyances in images.
From there on, the longer you delay the cleaning process, the harder it is to do.

If you ever need help, just ask.

[wmvaux]

I bought a kit from cameracheckpoint and just use the cleaning swabs. Just put eclipse optic cleaning fluid on both sides of the cleaning swab at the end and swipe from one side to another of the sensor, don't it a few times with no issues.

[J.davis]

Copied from a previous post on the same topic.

Do it yourself for a few bucks - it's not rocket science.
This is where I got my cleaning kit from.
http://shop.cameracheckpoint.com.au/...aning-kit.html

[glennb]

I just went through the same issue with my d610. Had dust spot all over it got it pro cleaned $80 and after first outing more dust appeared so I brought my own sensor wipes. My kit come with 4 and I used 4 till I got the clean result. I guess with more practice I will get better. WARNING wipe only once on either side of the swab it will leave dust if you try and use it twice.

[old dog]

get the Copperhill cleaning kit....about $80 via ebay. Once you have done it once you realise how easy it really is. I must admit that I was pretty apprehensive the first time but it really is quite easy and does a great job. If you get this kit PM me and I will detail what I do......cheers.

[Greengrass]

Vacuumcleaner.
I just hold it above the lens mount (never enter it!) and that's it.
Works like a charm for me.

[I @ M]

Vacuumcleaner.
I just hold it above the lens mount (never enter it!) and that's it.
Works like a charm for me.

Sorry to be a little negative with the following comment Greengrass but that is possibly the most ill advised idea that I have read for a long time.
There are too many finely constructed and precisely aligned bits and pieces inside a DSLR that are not designed to withstand the sort of pressures that a vacuum cleaner can exert.

Brigitte, purchase a quality sensor cleaning kit and learn / research how to do it yourself, it really isn't that hard and does need to be done on a fairly regular basis.
And please, don't use a vacuum cleaner.

[Kym]

The other BIG danger with a vacuum is static electricity that plays havoc with electronics

Warning: DO NOT USE A VACUUM TO CLEAN ELECTRONICS GEAR - EVER!

[glennb]

Interesting you say that Kym , a friend of mine cleaned the dust out of his computer with his vacuum cleaner and fried it!! He thought it was because he moved all the dust around in there but I'm guessing it may have been the static electricity!!! 8-0


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Edit: also wanted to add don't use a cheap rocket blower!!! I bought a cheap one from JB and found it was blowing more crap onto the sensor!! And even after rinsing it with water it still blew crap out ):-(

[arthurking83]

And besides ... a vacuum will only clean the loose particles, which barely have any impact on the image in most situations, as they generally move about as the camera is moved.
It's the baked on spots that annoy the most, and vacuuming does nothing to help with those.

[NikonNellie]

I'm another one that uses a kit from cameracheckpoint - very easy to do.

A vacuum cleaner ...really?

[macmich]

arthur
thats where the steam cleaner comes in to it
you steam clean the hard to move spots
cheeras macca

And besides ... a vacuum will only clean the loose particles, which barely have any impact on the image in most situations, as they generally move about as the camera is moved.
It's the baked on spots that annoy the most, and vacuuming does nothing to help with those.

[old dog]

[Brigitte]

Many thanks to all for your input. I love vacuuming but will give this a miss, sorry Greengrass.
Just picked up the camera today, fantastic service, same day pick up and according to the picture supplied a great job as it was very bad. I think I figured out why it was so bad. The place we stayed in over Christmas had a fan going nearly 24hrs due to the heat and even though I went into another room the air was well stirred. Will change lenses in the car next time. Once again, thanks, Brigitte

[arthurking83]

Many thanks to all for your input. I love vacuuming but will give this a miss, sorry Greengrass.
Just picked up the camera today, fantastic service, same day pick up and according to the picture supplied a great job as it was very bad. I think I figured out why it was so bad. The place we stayed in over Christmas had a fan going nearly 24hrs due to the heat and even though I went into another room the air was well stirred. Will change lenses in the car next time. Once again, thanks, Brigitte

Something to note:

Changing lenses does not in itself create more dust on the sensor!
I don't know who it was that started this notion, but they should be flogged!

Dust gets onto the sensor by the simple fact that you are using the sensor, ie. making an exposure!

You could have the same lens fitted to the camera for years, and you will still get dust onto the sensor.
That's just the way life is.
So get used to the idea that your sensor will always collect dust, and will need to be cleaned every now and then.

For the cost of a single 'professional' clean, you can get the items needed to do it yourself, for years to come.
I still have the the last pack of 2 packs of pecpads from 8 years ago!(there's about 100 in a pack).
I'm a regular cleaner of my cameras(or used to be), so to have only gone through about 150 pecpads in 8 years somehow seems strange. I still have the same bottles of Eclipse fluids too.

So, for a long term strategy, it's strongly recommended to purchase the minimum basic cleaning kit.
And while it may at first seem like a daunting proposition, you really have to be quite silly to damage the sensor, using a pecpad! So cleaning dust off a sensor is really 99.9999999% foolproof and safe.
It's not like performing neurosurgery, just common sense. I liken it a bit to cleaning the screen of a smartphone/tablet/etc ... where it just makes sense that you don't use a scourer, or a cutting compound to clean it free of finger marks.. and that you also don't put too much pressure on the glass or it may break.
it's exactly the same principles used for cleaning a camera sensor.

ps. you don't actually clean the cameras sensor per se. What it is that you actually clean the dust off is a filter in front of the sensor.

.. also. almost all zoom lenses and even most prime lenses are the general cause of dust on the sensor. the zooming/focusing action is very much like a pump action(watch the rear lens element move in an out of the rear barrel). This circulates the air around the mirror box area. air is naturally dusty, and your lenses are almost certainly not environmentally sealed. Air gets in via the lenses into the mirrorbox area, and when you take a photo, the shutter being open exposes the sensor. The sensor has an amount of static electricity(charge) and dust is attracted to it naturally!

Unless you are taking photos whilst changing lenses, dust will never get onto your sensor as you change lenses. Dust can't get through the shutter blades(otherwise their not light tight!).

Finally, don't worry .. or overly worry about dust on sensor. Only do so if it's obviously affecting the images.
I did a shoot yesterday and had a practise run the night before. One of the shots I tried to do required f/32, and I immediately noted to very obvious dark spots in one corner of the image I was practising with. This was simply because the subject was primarily white(dark spots!! )
But in the 60 or so images I shot for my friend, you can't see these two large spots, because they were masked by the background are of the images. I made sure to try not to place any contrasting matter in that part of the sensor.

So apart from resigning to the fact that your camera will always collect dust .. also understand where the problem manifests itself too.

Stopping down(ie. f/8 and smaller) will make the dust spots more acute in the image. But also remember that these spots may only show up, where they contrast with the imaged area on that portion of the sensor too.
That is, a spot is clearly more visible against a plain sky background, and not obvious at all if the same spot is located against say an intricate area of detail(bushes, and suchlike).

Also note that the D7000 has a self cleaning feature. It's not perfect, but it does seem to help. Set it to operate on startup and shutdown. It all helps, even if only a little bit.