Sensor Cleaning Question

[fenris117]

Hello all,

I've been noticing dust bunnies on my D7000 every since I bought it. If I shoot under f/8, it's not too noticeable, but definitly still there. I have decided that it's about time to do something about it. I took a headlamp and some strong eyes and peeked in and noticed a few spots on the sensor where the dust particles should be compared to the photo.

The most noticeable one near the center of the frame seemed to be a darkish spot that was probably about as wide as a cross section of a strand of hair. I tried to go at it with a blower, but it did not budge.

After some research, the kit from Copperhill seems to be promising. However, I am afraid a physical cleaning may scratch the dust particle I found across the low pass filter. Has anyone every used their products or a similar set (Eclipse, Pec-pad, and a stick) and damaged their sensor in any way? If you have any tips, I would appreciate that very much. I'm also not exactly willing to spend the time and money to get it "professionally" cleaned by the manufacturer.

Thanks for the help in advance.

[OsmosisStudios]

Actually touching the sensor is always a last resort: Try a Rocket Blower instead.

[litenphrame]

I have the kit form copper hill, I highly recommend it, and it included everything I needed. I have the rocket blower and a static brush along with the swabs, Eclipse, and extra material to make my own replacement tips. All of this was included in the kit. I tried the blower first with limited success (I had a large piece of dust that would not move with air). I then tried the static brush and it seemed to work a little better, but the large piece still wasn't budging. Last resort, I swabbed LIGHTLY with Eclipse (only a drop or two NOT saturated). Just follow the detailed instructions given with the kit and you shouldn't have any problems. Just be gentle.

Oh, you are not actually touching the sensor, but the filter mounted above the sensor which is flat glass. It is glass and can be scratched if you're not careful.

[inkista]

Copperhill's cleaning kit is pretty well known. The biggest issues with wet cleaning are that you have to watch out for leaving possible streaks on the sensor filter. Dry cleaning methods are typically a little easier to control, but you always want to be careful not to go past the edges of the filter, because then you might drag some grease onto the filter.

Two other methods that are out there are the Lenspen Sensorklear (which is, by rumor, what Canon's Service department actually uses when they give a sensor a clean), static-charged brushes like the Arctic Butterfly, and sticky stamps like the Dust-Aid. Which one you're going to want is kinda up to you and your confidence in your skillz.