Sensor Cleaning, best practice & equipment

[Peter69]

I've ad my camera for 2 years now and I can now see some dust in the skies of my pictures.
I've taken a photo at smallest aperture. In LR I've moved contrast to 100% blacks to -100 & whites up a bit and the dust is very visible (am I doing this right?).

I've tried using my blower but it just moves around a bit.

I've been quoted £30-£60 for a clean but they're send offs.
Swab kit is £30 from high street camera shop.

Any suggestions on how to do it myself?

 

[psenior1]

I've ad my camera for 2 years now and I can now see some dust in the skies of my pictures.
I've taken a photo at smallest aperture. In LR I've moved contrast to 100% blacks to -100 & whites up a bit and the dust is very visible (am I doing this right?).

I've tried using my blower but it just moves around a bit.

I've been quoted £30-£60 for a clean but they're send offs.
Swab kit is £30 from high street camera shop.

Any suggestions on how to do it myself?

Where in Surrey are you? LCE will do a sensor clean for £40 (iirc), I'd recommend taking it to them or other camera store to do. Wet cleaning isn't that difficult, but it is possible to scratch the filter (I've done it) if you aren't careful. Once its clean then keeping it so with a blower or something like the sensorklear pen is pretty easy, unless you are constantly changing lenses outside in all weathers.

 

[woof woof]

Here's how I do it. I've cleaned my cameras more times than I can count especially my 20D and 5D when I had them.

1. Cut a slice from an old credit card. Maybe 10-15mm wide.
2. Fold a Pec Pad or similar around the end of the slice and tape it in place to make a little cleaning tool.
3. Place a drop of cleaning fluid (I use Eclipse) on the Pec Pad at the edge of the slice of card.
4. Wait just a couple of seconds for any excess fluid to soak in / evaporate.
5. Clean the sensor by moving the cleaning tool in one direction from one side to the other. Repeat to cover the whole sensor.
6. Take a close up small aperture out of focus picture of a white door or piece of paper to check the condition of the sensor and repeat the cleaning process if any dust bunnies are still visible. When looking at shots and searching for dust bunnies remember that the top and bottom are flipped so if you see dust bunnies at the top of your test shot they're at the bottom of the sensor as you view it.

The first time my camera needed cleaning I sent it off to Canon and all they did was move the bunnies around a bit so since then I've always done it myself. My reason for using a pec pad covered slice cut from a credit card is that it flexes and you can't apply any real pressure to the glass over the sensor and so strand little chance of doing any damage. as I said, I've cleaned the sensors in all of my cameras multiple times without incident.

If you decide to D.I.Y. good luck with it, it really shouldn't be a problem.

 

[Peter69]

Thanks guys.
LCE quoted £30 but with 3-4 day turn around.
@woof woof, you prefer the credit card method over the spatular over priced things?
I was looking at one ofthose kits for £40 with sensor viewer swabs and cleaner

 

[psenior1]

Thanks guys.
LCE quoted £30 but with 3-4 day turn around.
@woof woof, you prefer the credit card method over the spatular over priced things?
I was looking at one ofthose kits for £40 with sensor viewer swabs and cleaner

Ahh they must be sending the cameras away now they used to do it in an hour I'm the Guildford store. If you are going to wet clean most important is that you only do one pass per swab/cloth side.

You don't really need a loupe, though I have one if you'd like to borrow it, I find a decent led torch at the right angle shows up the dust just as well.

 

[Peter69]

Thanks. That was the Guildford store & they do it in house but only a few of them do it & it depends on how busy they are. They did say it could be done in an hour but allow 3-4 days.
I have use of a 3D scope which should easily see into the body but I thought £40 for the Denkin? Kit not to bad as Harpers in Woking wanted £35 for just swabs.

Btw, I live in Woking

 

[woof woof]

Part of my reasoning is that once I've got the pads and liquid I'm not going to run out half way through a clean and they're available for other non sensor cleaning tasks.

 

[psenior1]

I'm in Ash Vale, so not far. I've got a load of wet cleaning stuff, swabs, eclipse fluid etc. You are welcome to borrow it all. I use the eyelead gel cube thing now, but a bit apprehensive about recommending it as it has had some bad reviews, not that I've ever had a problem, super simple to use.