Sensor Cleaning

[ishootRAW]

I'm tempted to try either Dustaid or Eclipse. But I'm kinda scared-ass.

So who around here cleans their own sensor? what do you use?

And, are there any actual documented cases of people F***ing the sensors while cleaning them?

[ishootRAW]

Well, I'm getting the Dustaids, we'll see how this goes when they get here.

[Preeb]

I've never had any need of it to this point.

[OsmosisStudios]

I've not had to use any kind of physical cleaning: my rocket blower has always been enough.

[ishootRAW]

Originally Posted by OsmosisStudios

I've not had to use any kind of physical cleaning: my rocket blower has always been enough.

That's not working anymore. Of course buying a used camera, using primes, and changing lenses in the not-best of places (Death valley, many, many beaches, etc) may not be the best way to keep dust off a sensor. Doing lots of landscapes and therefor using large apertures does not help either.

[IABoomer]

Insert disclaimer of warranty, fitness of purpose, or other fun-filled legal terms here

Before doing much research on this, I was using a friend's D40 and noticed spots at small apertures. Being the "resourceful" person I am, I acquired some alcohol and cotton swabs and cleaned the spots off the sensor.

It took a couple tries (finding the spots in the correct corner) and a go with a dry swab to make sure all the alcohol residue was gone, but it worked and to the best of my knowledge, he hasn't had any problems with the camera, nor had I after cleaning it.

[ravncat]

I've done my own sensor cleaning, usually a rocket blower is good enough, sometimes not, depends.

I have Nikon clean my camera every now and then, because they do a super thorough job, and not just of the sensor - but this is also due to the fact that I am not too far away from a nikon repair center and can get it done while I am out and about on errands.

[inkista]

I haven't done physical cleaning of the sensor, but I'd go with a LensPen and the Dustaid stamps.

The lenspens, rumor has it, is what Canon Service uses when they clean the sensors for you. But if you've ever used a lenspen, the you know the graphite-based cleaner dust goes everywhere afterwards, so you'll need something to get that out of there. The Dustaid can do that. For me, the best advice I've seen is probably that in the lensrentals sensor cleaning video.

Remember, you're not touching the sensor directly when you do this cleaning. You're cleaning the UV/IR cut filter on the front of the sensor, so it's a glass surface, not the actual sensor surface you're swiping.

[DelCan]

Rocket blower works for me most of the time. I had a speck on my 1D that against my better judgement I used alcohol and a q-tip and it worked for me. Not sure I would do it on my 7D.

Insert IABoomers legal mumbo jumbo here LOL

[dakwegmo]

I've been using Eclipse with Visible Dust sensor swabs every couple of months for about two years (on four different bodies) and have had good luck with them.