How I keep my DSLR camera sensors clean

realspeed

realspeed

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Sensor seen through a loupe (explain later on)

ok what is a sensor?

An image sensor is a solid-state device, the part of the camera's hardware that captures light and converts what you see through a viewfinder or LCD monitor into an image.

Now all cameras have a sensor but the problem with cameras you can change lenses with they can attract dust (dust bunnies). One of the big problems with this type of camera.

So how to remove the dust bunny?
There are several different ways

1= Send it away for cleaning , but this means you will be without a camera for possibly several weeks and at a fairly expensive cost.

2= More common is to blow out dust with a blower of some description, usually what is called a rocket blower

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Mine needs a wipe over.

Personally I hate using one of these as I find it tends to stir up dust within the camera body, but that is my choice not to use, many do though.

3 = My choice is to use a Spinning brush designed for the job. Not spinning in the camera body but outside to build up a static charge that attracts the dust bunnies to it

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Once the static charge has built up stop the spinning and gently brush over the sensor once, remove -spin -and repeat process

On of the problems when cleaning a sensor what is seen in a photo, on a sensor it is the other way around ,top becomes bottom and left becomes right. this makes thinks a bit harder so back to the first para. and a Loupe. This is purly a magnifying glass that has built in LED lights and rests where the lens normally fits

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now you can see (pic no 1) exactly where the dust bunny is.

All that is ok for light dust but what if the dust bunny is stuck to the sensor?
This is where the use of a swab comes into use. Depending on sensor size depends on what size swab and also needed is sensor cleaning fluid

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too much fluid on a swab is the devils own job to wipe off a sensor. So what I do is to put a drop on a work surface and dip the swap into it. This way you don't get the swab too wet.

Anyway that is how I keep my camera sensors clean

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Of course one can edit out dust bunnies and small hairs, but on several hundred photos? individually ??????
 
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My cameras have a built incleaning process but it is not always successful as all it does is vibrate the sensor to shake it off. The dust is still within the camera body
 
I am another one who has never cleaned a sensor. I have had a DSLR since 2005. I am particular about where and how I change lenses.
 
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I found that DSLR's are more difficult to clean than mirrorless, I think as a result of the sensor being deeper inside. I had that exact spinning brush and found it a nightmare, my sensor was worse than ever after using it (yes I did follow the instructions ;)). For DSLRs I found first using a rocket blower and cleaning swabs was the best bet. For mirrorless I've never had to use anything other than a rocket blower to date.
 
Can't understand why it was worse, it is only a fine haired brush that goes over the sensor. I can only think you tried using it whilst still spinning, or the instructions were wrong????.
Thinking on it mine didn't come with instructions and I got the Visible Dust show presentation box at Focus on Imaging as it used to be. maybe you had a different make
 
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realspeed said:
Can't understand why it was worse, it is only a fine haired brush that goes over the sensor. I can only think you tried using it whilst still spinning, or the instructions were wrong????.
Thinking on it mine didn't come with instructions and I got the Visible Dust show presentation box at Focus on Imaging as it used to be. maybe you had a different make
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Lol definitely didn’t use it whilst it was spinning :LOL: Pretty sure I had a duff one as it put a layer of dust across the sensor as though the brush was already full of crud.
 
I now have two DSLRS, and I am keeping a 35mm prime on one body, and a 28-300 zoom on the other body. Just hoping not changing lenses will help to keep sensors clean, although I assume the zoom lens has the potential to suck dust in.
 
realspeed said:
Your signature on it
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I doubt it. Were you trying for this one, by any chance? I hardly ever post photographs and can usually tell what is mine. The hoverfly is Cobra and the following is mine with hairs where you mentioned - but the hairs are on the kitchen window, not the sensor.
john.margetts said:
This critter climbing up the kitchen window looks like some sort of wasp to me, but can anyone confirm its identity?View attachment 275287
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realspeed said:
<snip>

On of the problems when cleaning a sensor what is seen in a photo, on a sensor it is the other way around ,top becomes bottom and left becomes right. <snip>
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This is correct, but liable to confuse...

If you have a dust mark on the top-right of a photo, the dust will be on the bottom-right of the sensor as you look at it through the lens mount. This is because you have just turned the camera around to look from the back through the front, so left and right have switched.
 
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When I had the Canon 20D and 5D they were dust magnets and it was a serious issue but anti dust bunny sensor coatings and in camera sensor cleaning mean it's much less of an issue these days. I used to have to wet clean my 5D just about every time I picked it up even if I hadn't changed the lens but these days wet cleans are few and far between even though I do a lot more lens changes. Time and technology really has moved on and in a really good way.

When I do a wet clean I use pec pads and eclipse fluid which seem to work well for me. I check for contamination by taking an out of focus picture of a white door at minimum aperture making sure that the shutter speed is into seconds and moving the camera around whilst the shutter is open to make sure that any detail on the door isn't captured.
 
Overtime, it is inevitable there will be dust but you can mitigate some risk by

1 - Try not to change lenses outside
2 - If you have to, try not to do it in a windy/exposed area
3 - If you have to, do it facing down (even if you are inside)
4 - Do it quickly, don’t be a YouTuber and wave a open sensor around
5 - Try keep your camera gear clean in general, check for dust on the lens first before opening the body cap/lens.

Then I leave it until I notice dust in photos, I will wet clean it when I can see something.
 
I now always turn my mirrorless cameras off when changing lenses, apparently reduces static charge on the sensor so attracts less dust.
Yesterday I took delivery of a used Sony A6000 body from a well known seller of new and used gear. It was in very fine condition and I didn't notice anything amiss with the sensor when reviewing images.

I decided to put it through the sensor cleaning procedure as set out in the menu just to see what happened. What happened was that a bloody massive hair suddenly appeared on the sensor!
How did that happen you may well ask particularly if you saw me with virtually no hair and what I have left is reduced to a #1 level by my dear wife.

When cleaning sensors I always use an illuminated magnifying loupe as described by the OP, it's probably less of an issue with mirrorless but when I had DSLR's it made the job much easier.
 
footman said:
I now always turn my mirrorless cameras off when changing lenses, apparently reduces static charge on the sensor so attracts less dust.
Yesterday I took delivery of a used Sony A6000 body from a well known seller of new and used gear. It was in very fine condition and I didn't notice anything amiss with the sensor when reviewing images.

I decided to put it through the sensor cleaning procedure as set out in the menu just to see what happened. What happened was that a bloody massive hair suddenly appeared on the sensor!
How did that happen you may well ask particularly if you saw me with virtually no hair and what I have left is reduced to a #1 level by my dear wife.

When cleaning sensors I always use an illuminated magnifying loupe as described by the OP, it's probably less of an issue with mirrorless but when I had DSLR's it made the job much easier.
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Loupe’s definitely help imo.
 
snerkler said:
Loupe’s definitely help imo.
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Help with what? Show you where the dusts spots are? Just take a really blurry photo of a plain surface at f/16, eg wall, and there they are. Just remember that the sensor is upsidedown.

Not dissing a loupe BTW, but the one used by the OP costs £110, and the static brush (Arctic Butterfly by Visible Dust) is another £110. That compares to twenty quid for a bunch of swabs and a bottle of cleaning fluid - which is what we all end up using anyway :)
 
HoppyUK said:
Help with what? Show you where the dusts spots are? Just take a really blurry photo of a plain surface at f/16, eg wall, and there they are. Just remember that the sensor is upsidedown.

Not dissing a loupe BTW, but the one used by the OP costs £110, and the static brush (Arctic Butterfly by Visible Dust) is another £110. That compares to twenty quid for a bunch of swabs and a bottle of cleaning fluid - which is what we all end up using anyway :)
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A paint brush that spins, you would need to be out of your frickin mind to spend £110 on that device........
 
If you all read the heading "How I keep my DSLR camera sensors clean" others use different methods ,as I stated in the post .

for cost? rather spend it on these items than drink in a pub. Stupid comments made says a lot about a person
 
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Studio488commercial said:
A paint brush that spins, you would need to be out of your frickin mind to spend £110 on that device........
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Agreed. I've got one, though I got it free with a magazine subscription years ago. There must be some m-a-r-g-i-n in those things.

They work though, kind of... okay if you keep on top of things with a regular dust off I guess, but since I only clean my sensor when it definitely needs cleaning (ie not very often) I always end up giving it a proper swab over anyway.
 
I love the way they display cameras in Costco, no body cap, sensor fully exposed and within reach of children's fingers.
 
HoppyUK said:
Agreed. I've got one, though I got it free with a magazine subscription years ago. There must be some m-a-r-g-i-n in those things.

They work though, kind of... okay if you keep on top of things with a regular dust off I guess, but since I only clean my sensor when it definitely needs cleaning (ie not very often) I always end up giving it a proper swab over anyway.
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I had one, probably a sub. gift like yours. Read a couple of reviews of the tings and learned that a common problem (might have been around D600 release time?) was specs of oil on the sensor which the VD brush would pick up and spread further over the sensor, leaving the £110 device fnurked and the sensor needing a proper wet clean.
 
HoppyUK said:
Help with what? Show you where the dusts spots are? Just take a really blurry photo of a plain surface at f/16, eg wall, and there they are. Just remember that the sensor is upsidedown.

Not dissing a loupe BTW, but the one used by the OP costs £110, and the static brush (Arctic Butterfly by Visible Dust) is another £110. That compares to twenty quid for a bunch of swabs and a bottle of cleaning fluid - which is what we all end up using anyway :)
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Help you find that bloomin piece of dust that refuses to go ;)
 
I must admit, I find the wee blower thing works excellently! I've had to swab it a couple of times over the past couple of years but that's also a piece of p***.
 
There is really only one sensor cleaner I use, when I shoot digital, the Eyelead SCK-1. Easy and very affective.

The rest of the time I change the sensor itself after every shot
 
Karl.t1965 said:
There is really only one sensor cleaner I use, when I shoot digital, the Eyelead SCK-1. Easy and very affective.

The rest of the time I change the sensor itself after every shot
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The sticky jelly pad thing? I nearly got one of those after I read some good reviews and heard that (allegedly) it was being used by some camera service departments.

Then I heard about it pulling the coating off some Sony sensors, then they released a low-tack Sony version, then doubts were raised about what it might be doing to sensor stabilisation mechanisms and went off the idea.

After all, swabs and liquid are very effective, cheap, easy, thoroughly tried and tested. So why reinvent the wheel?
 
(Arctic Butterfly by Visible Dust) Biggest waste of money going. I got one and would steer clear of ever using it again.
 
LBJNBA said:
(Arctic Butterfly by Visible Dust) Biggest waste of money going. I got one and would steer clear of ever using it again.
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Actually it does what it is designed to do. If you were expecting to remove dust that requires a wet wipe anyway then this is not the product to use. Great for removing fine hair and light dust without strirring up anything else within the camera body. Maybe you were expecting too much???

Had that gear shown for over 11 years and saved me a fortune on (3 cameras) professional cleaning costs

Just consider a camera (full frame) sensor only a professional clean once a year at say Fixation cost of £55 +vat so lets say £60 . forgetting post and package. That is 11 years@£60= £660 and that is just one camera.
So the gear I have shown has paid for itself many times over at least. Cleaned twice a year or two cameras once a year and your talking of over £1300. not such a stupid idea is it Richard- HoppyUK, let alone being without a camera while away being cleaned
 
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HoppyUK said:
The sticky jelly pad thing? I nearly got one of those after I read some good reviews and heard that (allegedly) it was being used by some camera service departments.

Then I heard about it pulling the coating off some Sony sensors, then they released a low-tack Sony version, then doubts were raised about what it might be doing to sensor stabilisation mechanisms and went off the idea.

After all, swabs and liquid are very effective, cheap, easy, thoroughly tried and tested. So why reinvent the wheel?
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100%, rocket, if that fails a wet clean.
 
twist said:
100%, rocket, if that fails a wet clean.
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I’ve actually found the inbuilt clean on the Sony to be very effective, but with my Nikon’s not so much.
 
realspeed said:
Actually it does what it is designed to do. If you were expecting to remove dust that requires a wet wipe anyway then this is not the product to use. Great for removing fine hair and light dust without strirring up anything else within the camera body. Maybe you were expecting too much???
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Nope, I know what it does and how it works, its just not worth the money and fell apart when I was using it. Ill stick to swabbing my sensors.
 
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