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Have you cleaned your camera's sensor?

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Tourmeister

Tourmeister

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Scott
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So while doing my bug shots of late I have noticed annoying spots in the images that I have to stop and remove in post processing. I made sure the lens and mirrors were clean. I did some test exposures. The spots are always in the same place, which pretty much means they are on the sensor. In fact, there were a LOT of them! :shock:

Have any of you ever used any of the cleaners that use a wet swipe instead of just the air bulb (which doesn't work real well)?

What have your experiences been, good or bad?

Got a favorite brand/kit?
 
Yes. Just cleaned one of my sensors for the first time a few weeks ago.

These are kits I ordered. One is for full framed, the other for APS-C crop.
That is the crop for 1.6x

For a Nikon, I think you need this one if you have Nikon crop, but you need to double check.

It comes with instructions on how to dry clean, do test shots, wet clean. I manage to get rid of all but one spot in my first cleaning and it was minor so I left it alone.
 
So pretty good results for you. Were the sensors very dirty?

My D7200 sensor is FILTHY! It was kind of surprising because I never take the lens off. The 105 Macro just sits on there all the time.

Scott linked me to a video where a guy shows how to test his various Canon bodies. One is fresh back from a factory refurb because he sent it in and another is brand spanking new, never even had the cover removed from the lens mount. Both had some serious nastiness on them from the factory!
 
My 7D mark II is around 5 years old. I found that I had 3 very obvious spots and 2 others that showed fairly easily. And a couple of little ones that cleared by blowing. The process was to take a picture of a well lit white wall, high f stop, focused at infinity, if I remember correctly. Then I pull them into lightroom and use the show sensor spots option when the healing tool is active. I made a note of where they are on the sensor. Remember it is upside down and backwards. then do the cleaning. and reshoot. repeat as necessary. The other camera is newer and I haven't noticed spots so I only ordered the kit so I'd have it if needed.
 
I had no idea there was a "show sensor spots" option!

Going to look for it now.
 
Hmmm... According to this,

VisualizeSpotsLighroom.png


I should have that stuff show up below the image, but I don't :shrug:

258911
 
tool bar is turned off. I think you hit the T key and it will come back.
 
Never tried to clean my sensor, I've read it can be risky if one doesn't really know what they're doing. I know I have some spots but not blowing up anything into prints lately nor trying to sell any image so it's not too annoying...at this point.
Let us know Scott how your cleaning attempt goes.
 
iratollah said:
Never tried to clean my sensor, I've read it can be risky if one doesn't really know what they're doing.
Click to expand...

I've watched a bunch of videos on how to do it. Doesn't look to hard as long as you take your time and are careful. From what I can tell, getting the right amount of cleaning fluid is the trick, enough to still clean and also evaporate quickly so it doesn't leave streaks.
 
@Tourmeister and @WoodButcher, I'm glad you guys posted this stuff up. During my shots of the Blue Angels fly over I noticed some spots that were always in the same place. Blowy bulb thing and wet cleaning kit has been ordered and hopefully my little 750 will be good as new soon. I'm not surprised that it is this dirty this soon, with all the competition shooting photos I end up taking. It always seems to be really dusty, and nasty for all those events.

Wish me luck!
 
Yeah, and I still saw a sensor spot in my Thunderbird flyover pictures, but on the other camera that I thought didn't need it. Oh well, at least I know what I'm doing this time.
 
DFW_Warrior said:
@Tourmeister and @WoodButcher, I'm glad you guys posted this stuff up. During my shots of the Blue Angels fly over I noticed some spots that were always in the same place. Blowy bulb thing and wet cleaning kit has been ordered and hopefully my little 750 will be good as new soon. I'm not surprised that it is this dirty this soon, with all the competition shooting photos I end up taking. It always seems to be really dusty, and nasty for all those events.

Wish me luck!
Click to expand...
Which kits did you order?

I still haven't done the wet clean, only the air blast with the bulb which helped a lot. I still have a few stubborn spots though.
 
Did the sensor spot reveal in Lightroom. Ugh! My sensor has at least a dozen spots that are too big. Tried the blower cleaning method and it almost got rid of a single spot. Going to try the wet method.
Anyone got any updates to their cleaning attempts? Tips, lessons learned?
 
I have a Sony A7III. Blower works pretty well for that one, and the camera cleaning mode on it is way better than on my old NEX-6. Mirrorless are way more prone to nasty dust than DSLRs. I took my NEX-6 to our local shop (Precision Camera in Austin) back when I got freshwater spray all over the sensor on a particularly windy day at Lake Superior. Worked pretty well, and I didn't have to worry about poking the sensor myself.

But here's the thing. You'll never get it COMPLETELY clean and there is a very real possibility that you'll do more damage than good if you wet clean. Unless you shoot at f/13 and above all the time, the spots should come out in LR.
 
I clean the sensor on my Canon 7D and 7DMKII all the time. It's not a big deal. Just get the cleaning kit for your sensor size from Houston Camera Exchange. I do mine in the bathroom after running a hot shower. The steam causes any dust in the air to fall to the floor. I use Aeroclipse fluid to clean the senor. Just use it sparingly and only swipe the sensor each direction with each side of the swab then toss it.

If you don't have Photoshop and want to see if there is dust on your sensor just set your camera to it's highest aperture and take a picture of the blue sky while moving the camera around as the shutter stays open. Then just import the picture into your editor and dust will show up as dark spots.
 
iratollah said:
Did the sensor spot reveal in Lightroom. Ugh! My sensor has at least a dozen spots that are too big. Tried the blower cleaning method and it almost got rid of a single spot. Going to try the wet method.
Anyone got any updates to their cleaning attempts? Tips, lessons learned?
Click to expand...
I totally missed this. I cleaned mine and it was easy as can be. I actually can't see how you could damage the sensor if you use the proper tools, but I guess anything is possible.
 
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