Index of Contents

Introduction and Warnings

Now that we’ve got that warning out of the way, I will add that I’ve probably cleaned a hundred or more cameras for people over the last several years and so far I have never had a problem - and yes, I too was nervous the first few times I performed sensor cleanings. However, if one uses common sense and is very careful, the risks should be quite minimal. I will strive to point out all the potential pitfalls in this document as I walk you through all the various cleaning methods. However, no cleaning method is absolutely safe and there is always a possibility you could damage your camera!

Also, one more small detail to get out of the way: if you are reading this document and are the manufacturer of a cleaning product for digital SLR’s, please don’t be upset that I have not mentioned your product! I am certainly not familiar with all the products on the market and this is not meant to be a comprehensive overview of every last method for cleaning your sensor!

Don't Panic!

If you’ve already skimmed through this document, you might be thinking “... good grief! What have I gotten myself into!?  I should go back to shooting film!”

Please don’t panic - the situation is not all that bad, really! For example, I have been shooting with an Canon EOS-20D for close to a year now and only once have had to resort once to a wet cleaning. Despite the fact that I have made several trips to the dry, windy and dusty desert in the southwestern USA, I have generally been able to clean my sensor with only a few vigorous bursts from a blower bulb.

If you spend your days shooting at f/8 and below, you may never even notice that you have a dust problem. The more you stop down the aperture in your camera, the more visible dust becomes. If you stop your lens down to f/22 or more, look out! Every little speck becomes horribly visible. Dust settles onto the glass protective filter that is mounted right in front of the light sensitive part of the sensor. Since this filter is slightly in front of the actual photo-sites (pixels) that capture the image, the dust will generally render as large, out-of-focus, barely visible fuzzy gray blobs. The more you stop your lens down, the greater effective depth-of-focus and the sharper these specks will become on the final captured image.

The other factor which determines how visible the dust will be, is the actual design of the sensor itself. If you have a sensor that has its protective glass cover very close to the light-sensitive portion, you will be bothered by dust much more than if the glass cover sits further away. Therefore some cameras will appear to get dirty far more quickly than others. So far, only one company has bothered to actively address the whole sensor dust issue – Olympus. They have incorporated what they call a “Supersonic Wave Filter” into all their digital SLR cameras. Essentially, the CCD vibrates at ultrasonic frequencies for a few moments when the camera powers on and this effectively shakes the dust off the sensor. In my experience, this system actually works surprisingly well!

Quick Start Guide !

If you're in a hurry to clean your sensor, are new to cleaning and don't want to wade through this entire lengthy document, here are the bare essentials for you to read to get the job done quickly, simply and relatively cheaply.

Click on the following links in order, then read the text carefully and make sure you have the described cleaning tools on hand. Here is a recommended starting point - a Rocket Air Blower, a bottle of Eclipse Fluid, several correctly sized Sensor Swabs, an AC-adapter for your camera (if it requires one to activate cleaning mode), a good desk lamp or even better yet, a head-lamp and finally, a steady hand!

How to check if your sensor needs cleaning?

So, if you want to check how dusty your sensor really is, this is what to do:

So... after you’ve picked yourself up off the floor, taken some deep breaths and calmed down, you might want to consider cleaning your camera if there were more than a handful of specks visible!

Keep in mind that this “torture test” is often going to show way more dust than will normally be visible in shots that have a lot of image detail or were taken at wider f-stops. If you only see a half dozen faint black specks, I wouldn’t even worry about anything other than a light-duty cleaning by blowing the sensor off (see below) but if there are tons of specks, smears or little “bubbly” looking spots, you may have to resort to one of the slightly more aggressive cleaning methods outlined below.

You might be thinking, “How in the heck did all this junk get on my sensor?  My camera is only a few months old, I have only one lens for it and it never gets removed!”  I have heard that question many times and the explanation is that when a camera is new, the shutter and mirror mechanisms will naturally shed some particles due to their initial wear - their break-in period. These fine wear particles can get on your sensor during shooting and cause all the specks that you see. Usually after the camera has seen several thousand frames, this initial shedding will have settled down and become minimal. In addition, some cameras actually arrive from the factory with some dust on the sensor. While manufacturers generally strive to ensure the cameras are as clean as possible during assembly, sometimes a few specks find their way onto the sensor.

Onward to Cleaning

The very first (and safest!) option is simply to send your camera in to the manufacturer for cleaning. They generally do quite a good job and you have the added assurance that if they screw-up and damage your camera, they would also have to fix it for you at no charge. However, if you work in a dusty environment and your camera collects sensor dust fairly often, the factory cleaning option can get expensive. If you have decided to clean your camera yourself, read on…

Before you start with any of the outlined cleaning procedures, the first thing to do is ensure that your camera has a continuous and uninterrupted flow of power! You are pretty much guaranteed to cause major damage to the camera if the power should fail and the shutter and mirror mechanism were to try and close down on your cleaning tool! Ensure that you are using a fully charged battery and, very important, use your camera’s sensor cleaning mode - refer to your camera's manual if you don't know how to activate its cleaning mode. If you have an AC-Adapter, plug it in as well. In fact, some cameras actually require that you have an AC-adapter plugged in, before they’ll even allow you to switch them to sensor cleaning mode.

Do not use a bulb (B) exposure mode since the camera’s shutter will close as soon as you let go of the shutter-release! In addition, in bulb-mode the camera will actually be taking a picture, so the sensor may retain a small electric charge which might create a slight electrostatic attraction and make any dust more difficult to clean off. At this point, I would have to consider the electrostatic effect quite minimal though – definitely the more important reason not to use bulb-mode is the possibility of accidentally letting go of the shutter-release and having the shutter blades (and mirror) close on your cleaning tool and damaging the camera in the process!

Section A: Light Duty Cleaning - Blowing the Sensor Clean

(1) Huff and Puff and Blow the Dust Out

Not recommended! With the camera in cleaning mode, take a really deep breath and… well okay, maybe not! Not only is it unlikely that you’ll be able to generate a stream of air powerful enough to dislodge much dust, but you’re very likely going to spit all over the sensor as well - you’ll have a cleaning nightmare from that point on! You may be wondering why I even bothered to mention such an obviously bad method … well, we once had a rental digital camera come back and it looked as though someone had sneezed on its CCD! I’m thinking that maybe someone tried out this “technique”. Just so there’s absolutely no mistake, I do not recommend this cleaning method ! Never attempt to blow your sensor clean with your own breath!

(2) Squeeze-Bulb Air Blower

(Rocket-Air, Hurricane blower etc.)

Best Method.  Hand-held blower-bulbs are generally very safe since they do not use any liquid propellants and can supply a vigorous (but not too strong) burst of air. With the camera in cleaning mode, hold it with the lens mount facing down and then use the blower bulb (pointing up) to dislodge any dust with numerous aggressive squeezes of the bulb. Do not insert the end of the blower too deeply inside the camera – I would suggest not going much past the camera’s lens mount. This method works for most light dust and dirt but not on any particles that are “welded” to the sensor’s surface. More on that later.

One recommendation is to keep the blower bulb in a clean Ziploc bag, when it’s not being used, to avoid contaminating it in any way. Also, when you buy a new blower bulb, make sure you “exercise” it vigorously for a minute or so – we have had one report of some sort of fine dust that blew out the front of a fresh-out-of-the-box blower bulb.

(3) Canned Air (using liquid propellant)

 (Dust Off, etc.)

Good if used with caution!  When used very carefully, canned air is capable of being a fairly safe way of blowing clean a camera’s sensor. However, there are many ways in which one can screw up and potentially cause minor or even major damage! I had been using canned-air for many years and because I was always extremely careful, I never had a problem. I am now using the large Rocket-Air blower bulb for most light-duty cleanings though – I would say this is preferred to using any form of pressurized air. However, canned air does offer more cleaning force and may be slightly more effective. If you insist on using canned-air, here are some very important tips:

(4) “Safe” CO2 Cartridge Blower

Not so good.  Although the manufacturer may bill them as being completely safe for cleaning digital camera sensors and they are supposed to be clean, dry and free from any liquid propellant, we have now had several instances of these supposedly “safe” blowers actually spewing out liquid of some sort. The severity of this liquid spray has varied from a few minor droplets that were easily cleaned using the wet-cleaning technique mentioned later in this article, all the way to huge globs of “gunk” that coated the sensor severely enough that a camera had to be disassembled and cleaned by the manufacturer!

I will point out that these were isolated incidents, however since we have now heard of problems more than just once, I cannot recommend CO2 cleaning products with a clear-conscience. If you have no other choice, and you have to (or want to) use one of these CO2 blowers, then use the same precautions as for the canned air. You probably won’t be able to safely bend the straw at an angle since they are quite rigid, but since there is not supposed to be any liquid inside the CO2 cartridge, it should be okay to tilt the blower upwards. Just make very sure that you carefully test the blower, especially with a newly installed cartridge, to ensure that no liquid sprays out! Use at your own risk…

Light-duty cleaning – Final Comments

That about wraps it up for the light-duty cleaning methods. The last thing I’ll mention is that it would probably be a really good idea to give the camera’s mirror-box a good blow-out prior to putting the camera in cleaning-mode and blowing off the sensor. This will help clean out any dust that you might otherwise blow into the sensor area and potentially make your cleaning even more difficult! Use the same precautions (just to be on the safe side) as when blowing off the sensor, but keep any canned-air spray nozzles even further away from the lens mount to avoid damaging the SLR mirror and shutter. I would try to stay about 10cm away at least.

The last precaution is to try and avoid misdirecting the air too much to one side, away from the sensor. I have seen some very small “blobs” of lubricant residue blown off one of the mirror hinges or pivots (presumably that was the source) and smear itself onto the sensor with a burst from a canned-air blower. That was quite a pain to clean off! Yes… as cautious as I generally am, it has happened to me!

Section B: Medium Duty Cleaning – Using a Sensor Brush

I am essentially dedicating this section to the use of sensor brushes, namely those from Visible Dust Inc. They have brushes to fit the width of all the common sizes of SLR sensor, from a 1.6x all the way to full frame. In addition, they have other brushes for sensor “touch-up” and travel use, brushes intended for cleaning your mirror-box and even tablets that you dissolve in distilled water to actually clean your brushes if they become soiled. Visible Dust makes a wide variety of cleaning products and I am not going to go into details on the use of them all – for that, please visit the following link, read the directions and watch the instructional videos as well:   http://www.visibledust.com/instructions.html

Make-up Brushes?

There have been a few reports on the Internet, some exceedingly detailed and carefully written, about people buying their own brushes (usually make-up brushes) and preparing them for use in sensor cleaning. The appeal of this is that makeup brushes are, of course, considerably less expensive than the brushes from Visible Dust! However, preparing them involves many cycles of cleaning, rinsing, drying and test wiping on a delicate surface to ensure that they don’t leave any residue or cause any damage. While it's possible that if you are careful enough and take extraordinary care, this method may also be safe... however I cannot endorse it here since there are absolutely no guarantees on brush quality or cleanliness, or on an individual’s ability to prepare these brushes properly. There are some people who seem to be having success but if you want to try this, good luck - you are on your own.

Although expensive, keep in mind that the brushes from Visible Dust are meticulously prepared and inspected to ensure they are of the absolute highest quality and are utterly clean and safe to use on your camera’s sensor. I would suggest that due to their longevity and effectiveness, their one-time cost, although somewhat steep, is a small price to pay to ensure that your multi-thousand dollar digital SLR can be cleaned as safely and efficiently as possible!

Speck Grabber?

There is also a product I thought I'd mention, called the "Speck Grabber", which has a special type of rubber tip for picking up dust. You are supposed to reach in with this and touch any specks of debris on your sensor and lift them out. Nice theory, but in practice it is virtually impossible to see the vast majority of specks that may be contaminating your sensor. While I have had limited success using this tool to remove very obvious large specks, bits of hair etc., I generally don't find it all that useful. In addition, you need to keep the rubber tip extremely clean since otherwise it may leave a mark or smear on the glass of your sensor, which will then require a wet cleaning to remove!

Onward to Brushing

I would suggest that the initial step is to clean your camera’s mirror box as best you can. You can either use one of the light-duty air-based cleaning methods that I mentioned earlier (see “Light-duty cleaning - Final Comments”) or you can use a Visible Dust brush dedicated to this task. By “dedicated” I mean that you should never use the same brush for cleaning the mirror box and for cleaning the sensor. When brushing the mirror box, you could inadvertently pick up some lubricant or other residue and then transfer it to your sensor if you use the same brush! At that point, your only option would be a wet cleaning. Again, since Visible Dust provides such detailed instructions, I won’t bother repeating everything here, so see the link above for more info. A third option is to use the Chamber Clean kit from Visible Dust. This is actually a wet-cleaning of your mirror box using a special liquid and swabs, and it will remove even more particulate matter and residue than blowing or brushing would.

Once your mirror box has been cleaned, you need to prepare your camera for sensor cleaning as described in “Onward to Cleaning” section above. Namely, ensuring you have a fully charged battery or, ideally, an AC power adapter and putting the camera into its sensor cleaning mode. The basic procedure for the use of the sensor brushes is to “charge” them with compressed (canned) air before use. Blowing them for several seconds with canned air will remove any dust particles, ensure that the brush fibers are totally dry and give them a slight electrostatic charge that will attract the dust on your sensor and allow the dust to be swept up, clinging to the brush, and not just pushed around on the sensor.

Once your brush is charged, your camera is in cleaning mode with the shutter open and the sensor exposed and you’ve got enough good light to see by, carefully insert the brush through the lens mount and down to the sensor. It may be a good idea to insert the brush while rotated at a 45 degree angle until it is almost touching the sensor and then rotate it again to line it up for the cleaning stroke. Start with the brush at one end of the sensor and lightly stroke it across to the other side with just enough pressure to slightly flex the brush fibers. Lift the brush off slightly, rotate it to a 45 degree angle again and lift it out. Rotating the brush at an angle while inserting and removing it gives you a little more clearance and makes it less likely to touch the mirror box walls and possibly contaminate the brush. At this point, clean and charge the brush with compressed air again and do one more swipe, just like before. When you charge the brush again, make sure your air stream is not blowing towards the open camera! That’s all there is to it! At this point, unless you have “welded on” spots of dirt or smears, your sensor should be totally clean.

Visible Dust also makes a lighter duty touch-up brush that is thinner and has fewer brush fibers. This allows it to be cleaned and charged effectively with only a blower-bulb rather than canned air. This is ideal if, for example, you are traveling by air and are not permitted to carry canned air on board the flight. The procedure for its use is essentially the same as the normal thick brushes but it may not be as effective and require more than the usual 2 passes to get all the dirt off. Also, if you have dirt that is slightly stuck to the sensor, the normal heavier brush might be more likely to dislodge and lift these particles off than this lighter duty brush.

It may take a bit of practice to get good at this but not to worry… there is very little risk to your sensor by brushing. Visible Dust has recently published results of their long-term cleaning test with a Canon EOS-20D digital SLR. Even after 10,000 strokes, the equivalent of over 8 years of daily cleanings, there is no visible damage - no streaks, no scratches and no marks on the camera’s CMOS sensor. Sounds pretty darn safe, if you ask me! Here is the report: http://www.visibledust.com/long_term_sensor_cleaning_test.html

One important point is that after you brush your sensor and re-check the camera (as described above in “How to check if your sensor needs cleaning?”) look carefully for any new smear marks. If you see a fresh smear, it could indicate that somehow you’ve contaminated your brush prior to your last cleaning. At this point, you will need to resort to wet cleaning and (very important) do not use your sensor brush again until you have cleaned it thoroughly! You will otherwise just risk smearing your sensor again. Again, see Visible Dust’s website for their instructions on how to clean your sensor brushes, should they become soiled. Visible Dust recommends you clean your Sensor Brush after every 20 or so sensor cleanings.

A few additional notes… make sure that you are very careful not to touch the brush fibers with your fingers and always put the brush back into its plastic case. Do not touch anything with your brush other than your sensor! Also, try to avoid dusty environments when you’re cleaning and make sure you don’t speak while poised over your open camera – in other words, don’t go fumbling for your cell-phone if it rings while your camera is open for cleaning! And that goes for all the other cleaning methods as well...

That’s about it for brushing - simple, safe and effective. Next, cleaning that will strike fear into the hearts of… well hold-on, wet cleaning is not all that scary - honest!

Section C: Heavy Duty Cleaning – Wet Swabbing

Okay… now the gloves are off – no more Mr. Nice-Guy! You’ve got crud or smears on your sensor and no amount of blowing or brushing is getting them off. Time to call in the big guns! We’re talkin’ wet cleaning here and it is the most aggressive way I’ll be describing to clean your sensor. If this doesn’t work, you’ll have to send the camera in to the manufacturer since I am not going to describe any cleaning methods that are more vigorous!

Note that wet cleaning is potentially the most dangerous of the methods discussed here since you will wiping a cleaning pad across the surface of the sensor while exerting a decent amount of pressure. What could be dangerous is if you somehow manage to get a minute grain of sand or other very hard particle trapped under the pad and then drag it across the sensor, possibly scratching its cover glass in the process. The best way to minimize this danger is to always clean the inside of your camera as thoroughly as possible, first with one of the light duty (air) cleaning methods described earlier and then following up with a thorough medium duty (sensor brush) cleaning. At this point, there should no longer be any larger dirt particles anywhere to be found inside the camera, so the wet swabbing should be very safe. I will be discussing two basic techniques - one, using the Sensor Swabs and Eclipse cleaning fluid from Photographic Solutions Inc. and the other using the Sensor Clean kit from Visible Dust.

Photographic Solutions - Sensor Swabs

Sensor Swabs have been around since the early days of digital SLR’s and are the “original” self-serve cleaning solution for digital SLR’s. The swabs come is 3 sizes for a perfect fit to your digital SLR and are specially designed, single-use, lint-free cleaning pads mounted to a flexible plastic blade. The swabs are manufactured and individually packaged in a clean-room environment and are absolutely guaranteed by Photographic Solutions not to damage your sensor when you follow the proper directions. The flexible plastic stem of the swab is designed to bend when the perfect amount of safe cleaning pressure is applied so you don’t need to be afraid of pressing too hard and cracking the glass on your sensor! Eclipse cleaning fluid is an ultra-pure alcohol-based fluid that leaves absolutely no residue when it evaporates. Together, the swabs and fluid are a very effective cleaning method when your sensor has welded-on dirt, streaks or smears. I have been using them for many years now and they have proven very effective.

Visible Dust - Sensor Clean Kit

Relatively new to the market is the Sensor Clean kit from Visible Dust. This kit uses medical-grade cotton swabs (like giant Q-Tips) that are wood sticks with pure cotton tips, containing no damaging powders or glues. Since the tips are relatively small, you will end up using several of these for even a minimal cleaning of your sensor versus a single Sensor Swab which is wide enough to cover the entire sensor with a single stroke. However, even though you will be using more of them, the Visible Dust swabs are still much less expensive than the Sensor Swabs. The Sensor Clean solution from Visible Dust is a different formulation from Eclipse fluid, is non-flammable and thus can be taken on flights whereas the Eclipse fluid cannot. In addition, since it is (presumably) water-based, it may actually be better at cleaning certain types of streaks or smears. Even if you decide you don’t like using the “giant Q-Tips” for cleaning (although they do have some advantages as we’ll see in "Final Thoughts") it is worthwhile having the Sensor Clean solution at least. In my opinion, a well stocked wet-cleaning arsenal would have both kinds of fluid as well as both kinds of swab.

Home-Made Sensor Swabs?

Again, there are many instructions floating around the Internet on how to construct your own cleaning swabs, with the most famous probably being the “Copperhill Method”. The author of the Copperhill Method has taken great pains to describe the (hopefully) safe use and construction of cleaning swabs and many people are using the method successfully. So, while the Internet does indeed have some very detailed instructions with many good tips on how to safely construct and use these swabs, they invariably rely on using “Pec Pads” wrapped around some form of home-made or purchased “spatula” that is the correct width for your camera’s sensor. Pec Pads are also manufactured by Photo Solutions, the same company that makes the Sensor Swabs, however they are not made of the same material and have not been tested or approved by any camera manufacturer. Photo Solutions does not recommend or warranty Pec Pads for use in cleaning digital camera sensors! Pec Pads are intended for cleaning lenses and other optics, not sensors. Read the caution here, and a FAQ here...

Even accepting that Photographic Solutions is, perhaps, being a little overly cautious with their warning, another problem is the handling required to cut and wrap a Pec Pad around your home-made cleaning spatula. You would need to be extraordinarily careful not to contaminate the Pad with dirt or oils from your fingers during its assembly. Remember, Sensor Swabs are hand-constructed in a clean-room and individually sealed in plastic bags. You cut the bag open, remove the swab by its plastic handle and immediately use it for cleaning, so there is virtually no chance of contamination. As you can imagine, there are many more ways you could go wrong with the home-made swabs. Your CCD or CMOS sensor is the single most expensive and critical part of your digital SLR - you will have to decide how much your piece-of-mind is worth...

Before using either of the two wet cleaning methods described here, remember to check the "Onward to Cleaning" section on how to prepare your camera and also clean your mirror box as outlined in "Light-duty cleaning – Final Comments".

Instructions - Using Sensor Swabs

Each individual Sensor Swab comes individually wrapped in a small plastic bag. Please note that the following instructions are only for the use of Sensor Swabs made by Photo Solutions Inc. - they are not necessarily safe instructions on how to use any other third-party or home-made swabs!

Here is the step by step...

That is basically all there is to it. Please be careful in step 4 not to put too much cleaning fluid on the pad. You definitely do not want the pad sopping wet! Also note that Eclipse fluid evaporates quite quickly, so do not delay after moistening the pad - use it for cleaning quickly before the pad has a chance to dry.

At this point you will want to check how clean your sensor is (as described here) and if it not yet clean enough for your liking, repeat steps 1 through 12. If the camera's sensor is very dirty, you may need to use several swabs to get it totally clean. My absolute worst case cleaning for someone required the use of a dozen swabs - the sensor was unbelievably dirty! However the camera was essentially spotless afterwards. Note that even using a dozen swabs is less expensive (although not by much!) than sending the camera to the manufacturer for cleaning.

On average, I use about two swabs for most cleanings. If I find that the correct size of sensor swab is just barely wide enough for the camera's sensor I'm cleaning, I will first "hug" one side of the sensor, and then the other, with the two passes of the first swab. Then, with a second swab, I will do the two strokes centered down the middle. Just don't hug the sides so close that the side of your swab tip touches and drags along anything in the camera, potentially scuffing bits of material off the swab's pad and contaminating the sensor with new bits of junk!

Instructions - Using the Sensor Clean Kit

Using the Sensor Clean kit by Visible Dust is slightly more involved than using the swabs. Many of the same precautions apply, namely that you should never touch the tip of the cleaning "Q-Tips" with anything before using it on the sensor and so on. If you run out of the Sensor Clean swabs, do not substitute any other kinds! Normal drugstore Q-Tips may have bonding agents or absorptive powders with could contaminate your sensor further.

Also note that the wooden handles of the cleaning swabs have minimal flex, so you need to be fairly gentle with the amount of pressure you use when wiping the sensor. Unlike the Sensor Swabs from Photographic Solutions, you need to be careful not to apply to much force when cleaning. Use a gentle but firm touch, enough to slightly deform the cotton ball at the end of the swab. If you are new to sensor cleaning, don't have a steady hand or are nervous about doing your own cleaning, it may be safer for you to use the more flexible Sensor Swabs in part (1) of the wet cleaning section.

Finally, you will probably notice that the cotton tips of the swabs may shed a few fibers during the cleaning process. This is normal and expected - you will follow up the wet cleaning with a Sensor Brush cleaning to remove any of these stray fibers.

For those who are confident in their abilities, here are the steps for using Sensor Clean...

If this all sounds too complex to you, just visit Visible Dust's website and view the cleaning video! Here is their instructional page...

Final Thoughts

One advantage to using the smaller swabs in Visible Dust's kit is that you may be able to clean into the corners and edges better than with the wider Sensor Swabs. I have found that sometimes the Sensor Swabs will pull some debris away from the edges and just into the frame. You will often clean most of the sensor well with only one swab but then there will be a few annoying specks remaining right near the top or bottom edge of your sensor. My suggestion on using two swabs and "hugging" the edges with the first one, as described at the end of Part 1, is my attempt at minimizing this problem.

For really stubborn streaks or smears, Visible Dust has a more powerful cleaning solution available called "Smear Away". This product is used in a similar fashion to their Sensor Clean - here are their instructions on its use...

If you live in a predominantly dusty and dry climate, you might find that the light or medium duty cleaning methods (non-wet) are all that you'll need the vast majority of the time. If you live in more humid climates or change lenses when a lot of pollen spores are in the air you might find more sticky dirt will accumulate and require the occasional wet-cleaning. Industrial environments can be bad as well if there are oil-based vapors or fine oil-mists suspended in the air. Avoid changing your lenses is such environments whenever possible!

Use simple common sense when changing lenses too. If it is windy, try to use your body as a shield to prevent dust and dirt from entering the lens mount. Never leave your camera open with no lens mounted and no body-cap. If you share lenses between film and digital bodies, make sure the mounts on the lenses themselves are clean so as not to transfer dust to the digital camera.

And some photojournalists - yikes! There seems to be some sort of macho "Hah! My gear is more thrashed and filthy than yours!" mentality going around amongst some of them. The frequent lens changes some of their cameras must suffer through too... damn but I've seen the chrome worn almost completely off of a camera's lens mount. When you look inside the really bad cameras, there are fine brass particles abraded from the lens mount glittering in the mirror box like gold dust! Dirty sensors? Oh you betcha, and how! I've seen so many brass shavings in a photojournalists's digital SLR that I was surprised it was still working and didn't short out in a puff of smoke! Come on guys, treat your expensive gear with a little respect!

You might want to know how I clean the sensor on my own digital SLR? Well I previously used canned-air very successfully but now just use a large Rocket-Air blower for light duty cleaning. While not as powerful, I have found the largest Rocket blower sufficient for any loose dust and dirt particles. If there are "welded" specks, my preferred wet-cleaning has been to use Eclipse Fluid and Sensor Swabs. I have only recently started using the Sensor Brush and it seems to be performing well also, however my camera seems to be staying quite clean and I find that usually the blower bulb is all that is needed this side of a heavy-duty wet cleaning.

Lastly, as far as camera manufacturers are concerned, the only "officially" endorsed method (as of this writing) seems to be the use of Eclipse Fluid and Sensor Swabs from Photographic Solutions Inc. and only by two manufacturers - namely Fuji for their S1, S2 and S3 cameras and Leica for their new Digital-Modul-R. As far as I know, none of the other digital-SLR camera makers endorse any cleaning methods where the end-user is required to actually touch the sensor with any sort of swab or brush.

Well, that about wraps up this massive missive! Congratulations to anyone who actually managed to read the whole thing!!! Hopefully by now you are comfortable with the procedures for cleaning your own digital SLR sensor. I certainly hope I have covered all the points of concern in enough detail and answered all your questions. Please, if you find any errors or feel there are any omissions in the information I have provided, do let me know and I will endeavor to correct or expand this article. I appreciate any and all feedback...

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