Spring cleaning. It’s a good thing, or so my wife tells me! One area of our cameras that can be neglected is the sensor. Dust mites and spots cause extra time in post-production and can mess up a print when they sneak through unnoticed. Make time for camera sensor cleaning to make sure that doesn’t happen to you.
Fear of sensor cleaning
It can be a bit scary getting in to the sensor area and touching that magical surface. This is only natural. You sure don’t want to mess up your camera sensor! If you are careful you can get in there and save yourself a lot of time, and money.
If you don’t think this is for you take your camera to a camera store or send it off to the repair depot and get the sensor professionally cleaned. Price for this service ranges between $35 and $100 depending upon your camera and service center. If you can’t drop off your camera there may also be shipping costs involved.
Do I need a camera sensor cleaning?
How do you know if you need to get your sensor cleaned? Sometimes it’s pretty obvious when you find yourself always having to clean up your images in post production. Follow your camera manual for keeping the shutter out of the way. If you are not connected to power make sure your battery is fully charged.
Look inside at the sensor. Shining a light, and if possible, add a magnifying glass. Even if you don’t always see prevalent spots there can be a degradation of your files. Test it. Make a photo of a plain white piece of paper evenly lit. Or, photograph a clear blue sky. Once you have downloaded your image open it in your processing software.
I use Adobe Camera RAW (ACR). In ACR, click Healing window. At the bottom is a Visualize Spots checkbox. This will give you a good indication if you are good to go or need some extra attention. There is a corresponding checkbox available in Adobe Lightroom if that is your preferred processing software. You can create a similar look if you open the image in Photoshop, add a Curves Layer and manipulate the curves.
Gotta clean, now what?
If you are going to clean the sensor yourself there are a lot of products on the market. One that you probably already own is a squeeze blower. I recommend the Giottos Rocket Air Blaster.
This will help remove loose dust. Do not use canned air as the force may be too strong and there can be some spray of liquid propellants that can really muck things up. After using the squeeze blower while holding the camera lens opening down do another test shot. BTW, it’s a good idea to always keep the opening side of the camera facing down to allow gravity to help you not get dust in the first place.
My go-to cleaning tool
I’ve worked with many methods for camera sensor cleaning over the years. I am a big fan of the Eyelead sensor cleaning system from Germany. This has given me the best results with minimum hassle. A dust-sticking-bar removes the dust with a touch of the sensor. The dust is removed from the handle using a sticky viscous paper. 10 sheets of this sticky paper are included with the kit. You can order additional packs of 20 cleaning papers for about $19. Repeat as necessary until all the dust appears gone to the eye and test again using white paper or clear blue sky. Note: Never touch the end of the dust-sticking-bar as the oils from your fingers can render it useless.
Eyelead makes a different dust-sticking-bar for some Sony cameras.
Still got dust?
If you have some really stubborn spots or oil on the sensor you’ll need cleaning liquid and swabs. Swabs are a one pass option. Make sure you apply only a drop or two to the swab and never directly on the sensor. After one pass throw that swab away. Repeat as necessary. If this doesn’t clear the sensor then it’s definitely time to send the camera off to the official sensor cleaning technician.
Final thoughts
Once you have done the sensor cleaning you’ll see it’s not as scary as you might have thought. Just make sure you have a clean space in which to work and take your time.
If you have had success with this or another method let me know in the comments below.
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
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