cleaning

[bigger_travis]

i bought a canon digital camer last year, and lately, i see alot of dots on my pictures. I reasearched this and its because of the dust. it is safe for me to clean this with a cleaning kit or is it better to have a professional do it?
thanks

[ciddog91]

What type of camera is it??
Also check your manual. If you can clean it, clean it with just a blower, not brush blower (take the brush off). DO NOT CLEAN IT WITH ANY THING BUT AIR PER MANUAL... you can scratch the sensor, ect..It should clear up easily..

[SmartWombat]

If it's a SLR then yes you can try to clean it folling the manual.

BUT it doesn't always work and sometimes it just makes it worse.
I was in Spain , used the blower bulb just like int he manual to blow out the dust.
Ended up with a huge blob of sticky residue from I dont' know where ...it took 3 hours with eclipse solution, pec pads, sensor swab (and my special close-up glasses) to get that gooey mess off. I *think* it came from inside the blower bulb, it behaved like very soft rubber or depolymerising plastic.

So clean with caution, and unless you think you can afford a new camers, or you're desperate, dont' stick anything inside, (like I did) or use liquids (like I did) or use cleaning cloth (like I did).

[livin4lax09]

search around the web for sensor cleaning techniques and you will find quite a few techniques. use them at your own risk though, since as Paul said, sometimes they can make them worse.