Sensor Cleaning

[Eric DeWitt]

Anyone have any advice about cleaning dust specs off a sensor?

[Buzz Bryson]

Eric,

I’m fortunate enough to have a pro photo shop about two miles from the office.

[Richard Bernabe]

I have done my own sensor cleaning hundreds of times over the past two years. It is much less daunting a task than you think.

I use the lens pen tecnique and a new product by my friend, Ross Wordhouse – Dust Aid.

http://www.dust-aid.com

It work great and its very safe, if you know how to follow directions.

[Eric DeWitt]

Richard, what lens pen do you use?  I have a couple of them from Leupold, they give them to you with the a purchase of a scope.  I have used them to clean my lens, but i’m not sure if they are good enough to do the sensor?   You can see a pic of it on this page.

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/pod/standard-pod-wrapped.jsp?id=0031539&navCount=0&parentId=cat600529&masterpathid=&navAction=push&cmCat=catrtoptics&parentType=index&indexId=cat600529&rid=

I also have a “Specgrabber”, but it fell out of the case a couple times inside by bag, so i am a little hesitant to use that too. I’ll swing by the local shop and see what they reccomend also.

[Richard Bernabe]

Here is what I use.

http://www.lenspen.com/?cPath=1&products_id=DM-C1&tpid=146

I get the combo kit – one large and one small pen.

I learned this technique from Art Morris, the very well-known bird photographer. He cleans his own sensors and I have done it over a hundred times since then.

First, open the larger lens pen and tamp it gently on a piece of cloth to remove any excess carbon from the pen. If your camera has a sensor cleaning mode, use it. If not, use a remote release cable with a locking mechanism (be sure you have a full battery charge on your camera) and press the shutter, exposing the sensor and AA filter. Hold the camera upside down and away from your body and use a bulb blower to remove any loose particles and dust. Then take the larger lens pen and with steady pressure, clean the sensor (actually the AA filter) go over it several times before opening the smaller pen, tamp it on cloth to remove excess carbon, and then use it to reach the corners. When finished, take the bulb blower again and blow the sensor again while holding the camera upside down. Now you,re done.

Its difficult to do any damage to the sensor itself. The real risk is having the shutter curtain close while doing this. If you have a sensor cleaning mode, it is the safest. If you use the remote release and locking mechanism, it is IMPERATIVE to have a full battery charge, or at least half, to be safe. If the camera loses power, the shutter curtain will close while cleaning.

Put a lens on, stop it all the way down, focus at the lens MFD and shoot a solid white scene. If there is any dust you missed, you will see it on your monitor. Repeat if needed.

[Eric DeWitt]

Thanks, that looks identical to the lens pen that comes with leupold rifle scopes.

[Richard Bernabe]

Eric,

The cleaning end, not the brush.

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