Cleaning Digital Sensors - Who of you do it?

[hughosborn]

Hey all,

My digital sensor is quite filthy and I'm waiting to find a good reason to clean it such as a new lens. However when I first had problems with it I had it cleaned at the local camera repair store for a high price. I'm not sure this guy was 100% comfortable with it and the results weren't so great either.

So anyway, I guess it's a constant problem and wanted to know what other people do to solve it (or not) for themselves, whether it be sending it off to Canon, or the local repair store or doing it for the first time themselves?
Thanks

Hugh

[Frog]

I had my first dust spot a couple of weeks ago and with great trepidation, pulled out my rocket blower, removed the lens, and blew in there. Voila! Spot gone.
Why is your sensor getting so dirty?

[hughosborn]

Yeah, I have no idea. That's pretty amazing. Maybe your camera is better sealed. I bought the camera second hand and it is a 20D. The people who previously owned it were selling it to get the 5D and were professional photographers who it seemed from what I saw on their website did mainly photos of the snooty Sydney Harbour Bridge, so I assume they looked after it well. When I got it I noticed a few small dust spots. Because I was going on a holiday for 3 months I had it cleaned right away. Early photos from the holiday showed up some dust spots after the cleaning so I took it back and got the guy to clean it again and I don't know what method he used because it wasn't clean after that and a lazy year of taking photos later I'm sure it's even dirtier. I've just tried to avoid taking photos of anything like blue sky or a plain light colour or using too small an aperture in these situations. Because I don't actually have any other lenses yet, that lens remains on the whole time, so I'm not even opening the camera. I want to buy a new lens but I don't want to buy it with a dirty camera.

Anyway, that's my story, haha. I hope I haven't done something wrong. Maybe I need to wear soft white gloves and a suit when I use the camera.

By the way, here is a site that outlines the different cleaning processes quite clearly that I've found but I still want to hear from other people's experiences. http://www.cleaningdigitalcameras.com/

Thanks very much already,
Hugh

[jorgemonkey]

I clean mine with the Visible Dust stuff. At first I'll try using a blower brush and blowing the dust off. If that doesn't work I'll use the brush in my sensor cleaning kit and brush the dust off. At first I was nervous about it, and now its no big deal.

The shop probably charges a high price because if they screw up and scratch it, they owe you a new camera

[Canuck935]

I just use my rocket blower. Gets the job done every time.

[Frog]

Could it be the lens?

[SmartWombat]

Frog, no it couldn't. Not if there are real, sharply defined, spots when stopped down.

I use a blower first.
Then on the 20D I use the visible dust brush.
If that fails, or produces a streaky mess because it was oil-based off the mirror or shutter ...
Then I use the SensorSwipe, Pec Pads, and Eclipse solution.
That can take an hour to remove the last of the residue.
Or it can work in 5 minutes.
Depends how nasty the persistent spot was that wouldn't blow off.


I get a LOT of dust because the 24-70L and 100-400L are not internal zoom.
Since the lens barrel extends when zooming there is more air movement into and out of the lens, and more dust moves with it.

The 100-400 now has dust on the inside of the front element, so I have to use the lens hood all the time to stop sunlight hitting it and causing flare off the dust.
You can't SEE the dust in the lens in any photos, but you can see the light scattered by it as a general loss of contrast.

In comparison the 70-200 has no problems, because it's an internal zoom where there is no change in volume going from 70-200 so there is no air movement into the lens/camera in use. Plus the seals are better on the 70-200 than the 100-400.

[rovowen]

I own a Canon 20D and tend to have the same problem. I'm a carpenter and my
work is on fire & water damaged homes.
My boss doesn't understand that to replace a senor is more then a P & S camera that would work just as good.
I feel that, SmartWombat, is very good and what I do now.