Life with scratched sensor glass

<p>Is it possible? Sure it is. I would like to share my story with You. What's one of the worst thing that could happen' to You digital baby? Yep, scratched sensor.<br>

<br />I was shooting some landscape with my ultra-wide love named Sigma 10-20, and I have noticed some nasty dust spots, 5 of them, on my sensor (damn you f22), on my 2 months old Nikon D7100. It wasn't only at f22, they were showing up even at f16/f18. I was moving from one appartment to another, and yes, there was alot of dust everywhere. And all 5 were at top center part of the photo (worst part, where ussualy comes sky). I tried to blow it with that rocket blower, but it just didn't want to get away from my sensor. I did some research, and come to decision to buy cleaning kit. 4 swabs (that green one's), and liquid. <br />Did my homework, watched some videos on Youtube, for wet cleaning, read instruction manual... Ok, I locked up mirror, took a battery lamp to see sensor better, put some liquid on swab, a carefuly whipe from one side to another, two times, with different sides of swab. Hm, something went wrong. I didn't saw any dust with lamp, but there was some, I don't know how to call it, like when you wiping a window and there's some lines that stay after whiping. I come to conclusion that I must put little more liquid on swab to whipe that better. So I did. With second fresh swab. And there was a mess. No more lines, but a lot of liquid on sensor. I took a third swab, clean, dry, and whiped it again. So 3 swabs, a lot of mess. Then I looked up, and my sensor was full of dust, and at some angle I saw 3! lines that look like scratch. Jesus. 3. My life was over. I was sure that I scratched my little baby. And for what, 5 dots that are visible at high apertures?! <br>

<br />Tommorow, I went to a local service to clean it, and to get adviced what to do. Nice guy from service said to me that doesn't mean that, if sensor is scratched, it will be shown at images. It happens, don't worrt, he says. Yeah, it's easy for him to say that, he didn't whipe his sensor like it's kitchen flor. He took magnification glass thing with lots of led lights, to check it out. He said "I see some dust, but no scratches". He told me to come in few hours when he finishes cleaning. I finaly felt some relief...<br>

<br />Two hours latter i came back, and he said that sensor does not have scratches, and that he cleaned dust (most of the services here are guarrantee 95% clean sensor after treatment). He gave me back my camera with shot before and after cleaning.<br />Jesus, I was happy like a little kid. Took some shots, below f16, I was scared that nasty dust is goind to show up again. <br>

Two days latter, I was thinking again about that stupid thing that I done. I was sure that I scratched it. So, I did a little test, again. 50mm and 10-20mm shots, f16, f18, f22... clear sky... and there it was... I zoomed and barey saw that three lines. I new I was right! Lines are visible barely if you shoot something like clear sky, but at very high apertures. They are showing up at f22 I think. But they are in bottom right side of the frame. Not it the sky part of the photo.<br>

<br />I was mad at myself, messed up a new thing... I felt stupid... Some dust parts scratched my sensor while I was doing cleaning... And I was careful. Then i realized that a barely shoot at aperture higher than 16, and that the scratches are not visible at all. Dust neither. I were banging my head in wall for nothing, for material thing, (250$ is new sensor glass), that is meant to broke at some point... I was perfectionist my whole life, all about not to make a mistake. Everything must be at it's place... This thing with camera was like waking up for me. <br>

I don't know why I wanted to share my story, but I feel better now, when I say it loud. I did mess up, so who cares. Life's go on.</p>

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<p>Yes, life does go on, and hopefully you learned your lesson. The internet is so full of people showing how to do things for which they are not really qualified, and holding these out as sure-fire, easy to do, safe, fixes for problems. Perfectionists need to back off a little and slackers need to step up a little. Thanks for sharing your story.</p>

<p>The old saying is that "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."</p>

<p>If there is dust on the sensor, I would try to clean it with a blower as much as I can. Occasionally I use liquid and the swab, but using cleaning liquid could leave streaks on the sensor, and those streaks could look like scratches.</p>

<p>I think the word you are searching for is "streaks." Streaks on the sensor. I think what happened was the spots were not dust, but either oil or a bit of grease. That's why they wouldn't blow off. One wipe spread the grease along--a streak. To get rid of streaks, you keep cleaning with new swab but only go in ONE direction, not forwared then backward. It also sounds like you are either using too much fluid or pressing a bit too hard. It sometimes takes me four or five swabs to clean my sensor.</p>

<p>Kent in SD</p>

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<p>5 of them, on my sensor (damn you f22), on my 2 months old Nikon D7100<br /> They are showing up at f22 I think ..<br>

I was perfectionist my whole life</p>

</blockquote>

<p>mm How does that work out for you ? <br /> No unsharpness due to diffraction at that kind of apertures on a DX sensor ?</p>

<p>the perfectionist doesnt shot APS-c with f16 or f22, this apertures are used in medium format, </p>

<blockquote>

<p>the perfectionist doesnt shot APS-c with f16 or f22, this apertures are used in medium format,</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Hence my polite question..</p>

<p>English is not my native language. I couldn't find the right term, streaks, yeah. That's right. Im from Latvia. Anyway, I tried to do some long exposure shots, etc... Also tested lens at higher aperture. And then I noticed some dust, and the rest...<br>

<br />Dust after few months of usage someone asked? Yeah, I was changing few lenses, and some dust must be on them. Although I have used blower on lens everytime I changed one. And I out in the forest most of the time... So, dust-welcome-environment.<br>

<br />Today my friend photographer came by with sticks that had some silicone on top. Some of You will know what that is, I guess. He told me that there was a chance for scratch, but he would like to try to clean that. Like a gentleman in post up said, he thought it was a streaks. And he was right. After cleaning with that silicone thing, there were no more stripes. None. I took a test shot, sky, blank piece of papper... nothing...<br>

<br />Point of my first post, well, I wanted to confese somewere that Im sick perfecionist, and that swabs aren't 100% safe, especially if You are using them for the first time. It's better for someone to show You how to use them. I wish You all good light, and thanks for advices.</p>

 

<p>Your English is fine. No doubt better than my Latvian. ;-)</p>

<p>Kent in SD</p>

<p>Thanks for sharing your story.</p>

<p>Thanks for sharing. I acquired a mild scratch on my D700's sensor (having got Nikon to clean it!) - although I've had no troubles since. I tend to use somewhat larger apertures anyway, since if nothing else it hides dust, and I have a house too full of cat hair to make me inclined to risk regular cleaning. I've tended to try to stay above f/8 since my D800e days, to limit the diffraction effects where possible - although DxO (and I'm sure other converters) can do a good job of inverting the diffraction pattern. I've occasionally done f/16 or higher in a really busy scene, but fortunately that tends by its nature to hide dust spots.<br />

<br />

I don't think it helps if you're shooting raw, but I'm assuming the camera's dust subtraction abilities would work for JPEGs. My sympathies to you, anyway, and I hope you can live with the sensor.</p>