How often do you clean your DLSR?

[henryrabbit]

Part of the extended warranty I'm considering comes with cleaning, where I can bring the camera in to get cleaned as often as I'd like. I've never cleaned a camera before, but then I've never had a DSLR before. How often do you clean your DSLR's? And do you pay to do it, or do it yourself? I'm just wondering if the cleaning is really worth it.

I know I am asking a ton of questions, but I thank you all so much for all your feedback. I really appreciate it!

[SmartWombat]

I clean whenever the dust gets in the way of my photos.
And I have enough time for it to be done in between race meetings.

I use a blower bulb to shift the easiest stuff myself.

[readingr]

Like SW said - a rocket blower is all I have ever needed on the 5D, AE 1. Its simple to do.

I only do it when dust becomes a real problem.

Wouldn't trust a store to do this for me.

Roger

[mjs1973]

Judging by my latest batch of photos, not often enough!!! I have never had it cleaned "professionally" but like the others have said, a good Rocket Blower like this will take care of most of the dust on the sensor.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...r_Blower_.html

This is the best $10 I have spent on photography equipment.

[jorgemonkey]

I clean mine when it needs it. If I goto the ocean, I'll usually wipe down the body & lenses to get the salty air stuff off. Or when I have a big shoot coming up, I'll pull all the gear out, charge batteries, look at lenses to see if they're dusty/dirty, and clean them then. I'll also usually clean off the sensor as well if it needs it.

To clean the sensor I try to blow the dust off, and if that doesn't work I pull out my Visible Dust stuff and clean it

[Franglais]

I assume you're talking about the sensor. I clean mine whenever I note I have obvious splodges on the images. Usually it's about once a year. The worst case was twice in a week. I do it myself. I take a test shot before and after cleaning to make sure I've really improved things. Sometimes it takes three goes to get the thing really perfect.

I use sensor swabs

[drg]

The more you change lenses typically the more need to clean the sensor. A blower (NEVER COMPRESSED AIR) will take most dust off the sensor and I blast out the camera every time I remove or change a lens. The sensor I usually clean with a Rocket Blower at the end of a long day before putting everything away.

If the problems gets too bad, get someone to help you the first time you use a swab/solution/pad cleaning option. And assume you have bad batteries or the power may go off while the shutter is open and take precautions. Use an A/C adapter, fresh batteries and if possible with an adapter a UPS-Uninterruted Power Source. Then if the power glitches, you won't break your shutter.