Dirty Sensor

[bradleylaw]

I have a dirty sensor on my 400D.<br>

And i dont like it.<br>

Its ruining my shots.<br>

<br><br>

The smaller aperture (eg ﾃ/22) i use the more it shows up.<br>

Its not a speck of dust, although there is specs on there, its a small hair or thread. <br>

(Shown in attachment from a pic of sunglasses)<br>

<br><br>

Im 16 so as such im on a budget.<br>

How can i clean my sensor without spending any or little money?<br>

<br><br>

Thanks.<div></div>

[radu_vadan]

Put the camera on sensor cleaning, turn it lens mount down and blow onto the sensor. Don't spit!

[bradleylaw]

I was thinking of doing this but was worried about spitting onto it.

My mum said to use the hair dryer.

But was also worried, but don't know what of?

 

Brad

[g dan mitchell]

Use a blower - it will probably remove this.

 

Also, and this is quite important, generally you do NOT want to shoot at f/22 on your cropped sensor DSLR. The optical

phenomenon called "diffraction" begins to DECREASE sharpness as you stop down past about f/8 on the smaller sensor

cameras. By shooting at f/22 you are making your photos less sharp... and increasing the visibility of stuff on the sensor

glass in the bargain.

 

Dan

[kickstand]

Get a rocket blower or <a href="http://www.visibledust.com">sensor brush</a>. Do not blow into the chamber with your mouth.

[geoffs1]

Ken Zirkel , "Get a rocket blower or sensor brush. Do not blow into the chamber with your mouth."

 

What he said.

 

Spit, ewwwwww... (and hard to clean off the sensor, too...)

[trebor_navilluso]

Actually get BOTH a rocket blower and a sensor brush. Different dirt needs different remedies.

 

This won't be the last time you have to clean a sensor. So, you might as well get used to it. Realize you are not cleaning the sensor directly. It has two or three glass filters fused over it. But still, you dont' want to scratch that glass.

 

A hair dryer may shoot some more debris in there and cause scratching. Realize that some sensor brushes require cleaning with an alcohol pad so they won't leave streaks on your sensor. Read the directions on whatever kit you get.

 

For the most stubborn stutt, I use a dry or even a wet (with sensor cleaning chemica not water) Qtip. The trick with Qtips is that while it removes just about any dirt on your sensor, it also leaves strands of itself behind which then have to be blown or picked out.

 

As for the shots already "ruined" a few minutes with the clone stamp tool in PS will fix those. When sensor dust appears in the middle of a shoot, it's really just a matter of how much time it costs you to fix the pics, they'r not a total loss.

[milton-chris]

Gee - and all these years I thought that was the Nike Swoosh.

[bradleylaw]

Thanks. :-)

[NK Guy]

Your instincts are right - blowing in there with your mouth or using a hair dryer would be terrible ideas. Spit makes things worse,

and the heat from a hair dryer could destroy the camera. Even a hair dryer on cold would be an awful idea since they tend to

build up a lot of dust.

 

Q-tips are also a terrible idea since any fine almost invisible grit on a Q-tip will scratch the sensor. Only products sold for

sensor cleaning should be used. But start with a Rocket blower or something similar before monkeying around and risking

permanent sensor damage, which would be even more annoying than specks of dust, which after all can be painted out.

[dvb]

As others have pointed out, a Rocket blower is essential. But to get that sensor really clean, you need three more things:

 

1. Sensor brush - used in combination with the Rocket.

2. Sensor swabs - be sure to get the correct size for your sensor!

3. Sensor cleaning fluid.

 

Use the blower and the camera's built in vibration cleaning until you can free the fiber and as much of the dust as possible. Obviously, the camera must be in manual sensor cleaning mode for the Rocket portion of this step.

 

Then, apply a dozen or so blows to the sensor brush with the rocket. This will give the brush a slight static charge to help it attract dust. Carefully brush the sensor while the camera is in manual sensor cleaning mode.

 

Lastly, apply some sensor cleaning fluid to the sensor swab and wipe across the sensor, keeping the brush at an angle, with the stem pointed in the direction you're moving the swab. I would do this a few times, since it looks like your sensor is probably pretty dirty. After you have wiped in this direction a few times, angle the brush the other way and repeat the process, so that you are now wiping with the clean side of the swab. When you're done, remove the swab and power down your camera.

 

I'm not sure how well this works for you on your budget (the bill for this shopping list comes to around $50), but these items should last you a while. The brush and the Rocket are both long-term investments. The swabs are obviously single-use, but the fluid is used in such small amounts that a bottle could easily last a few years.

 

Good luck!

[alan_myers]

Good answers all, but they don't address one thing: risk.

 

Cleaning your sensor, you risk damaging your camera. So, it's all about minimizing that risk.

 

For one thing, be sure your battery is fully charged before starting the cleaning. It must hold the mirror up and

the shutter open the whole time you are doing the cleaning. If it closes down while you are poking around in

there, it's likely you will have some very expensive damage to the shutter or other parts. You have to be careful

not to turn the camera off until you are ready, too, since that will close the shutter and drop the mirror back

down. And, speaking of the mirror, don't touch or try to clean it or the focus screen above it with most of the

sensor cleaning methods. Maybe a puff of air from a blower, only. Anything else risks damage to the mirror or

focus screen.

 

Next, use the least intrusive method first, then check to see if that did the job. To test, you probably already

know, set the aperture to f22, turn the lens to manual focus and focus it very close, then photograph something

featureless, like the blue sky. Then check the image to see if there are any specks.

 

Least intrusive method is the bulb blower.

 

Next is the static brush.

 

Next is a low powered vacuum. There are special ones made for this purpose.

 

Once you start touching the filter surface (it's not actually the sensor, there is a filter over it), you're risk

goes much, much higher.

 

There are special, soft nylon brushes used (www.micro-tools.com).

 

There are very low tack adhesive pads to lift off specks (Dust Aid, just be sure to get the kit with the special

"Canon Cleaner" strips).

 

A clean, fresh microfiber (lens) cloth can be used very, very gently. Just fold the cloth over the end of a

Starbuck's stir stick that's been cut to square with a pair of scissors.

 

Adding any fluids further increases your risk. Especially with Canon cameras, since there are some fluids known

to damage the anti-alias filter coatings in a number of Canon models. See the Eclipse website for much more info

about this.

 

There's also a danger of getting fluids in where they don't belong, under the filter or seeped along the edges of

the filter/sensor or shutter assembly, for example. Use only sterile pads like "Pecs" for wet sensor cleaning.

 

Never ever, ever blow on it with your breath (breath onto a Petri dish and see what happens), use cotton swabs

(i.e. Q-tips... these are known to shed tiny threads, which have been known to jam shutters & other fine

mechanisms), use too strong vacuums, or overly wet the surface. I'd not use a hair dryer or even most common bulb

blowers. The "Rocket Blower" for example, also creates a lot of suction to help pull away the dust it has stirred

up. Less powerful blowers may not do that very well.

 

In summary, your level of risk is as follows:

 

No cleaning what-so-ever (lowest)

Puff of air from a bulb blower

Static brush that doesn't actually touch the surface.

Low power vacuum.

Dry cleaning methods that touch the surface: ultra soft brush, ultra clean microfiber cloth.

Low tack adhesive methods that touches the surface.

Wet cleaning method (highest)

 

You will probably find you need to use a combination of more than one method, as there are different types of

dust and debris that get on the surface.

 

You have one more alternative... That's to take your camera to a trained camera technician for a cleaning. If the

camera is in warranty, this should be Canon factory service or you risk voiding the warranty (incidentally, all

the above cleaning methods will also void your warranty, except for the puff of air from a blower).

Unfortunately, Canon service generally means sending the camera off and being without it for a while. If the

camera is out of warranty, a local camera repair shop can probably help, and might do so faster and cheaper than

Canon service.

 

In either case, having it professionally cleaned is the safest route... because if they damage it, they have to

fix it!

 

Other things you might do include minimizing dust by minimizing lens changes, or at least trying to not do

changes when and where there is a lot of dust blowing around. Holding the camera face down during lens changes

might help a little too. Keep the body capped tightly whenever there is not a lens on it. Dust off the back of

lenses before installing them on the camera, and keep them tightly capped when stored off the camera. There's

some who say it's best to turn off the camera during lens changes, but I'm not sure if this makes any difference.

Still, it can't hurt. Vacuum out your camera bag occasionally. Store the camera in a relatively dust free place,

and keep the outside of it clean. Don't use f22 very much, with most lenses it often leads to a less sharp image

anyway, due to diffraction. A middle aperture is often a better choice, and if far less likely to show a tiny

speck of dust. Learn to retouch in Photoshop or whatever program you use... it's easy, especially compared to

retouching we had to do in the days of film (dust was always a problem then, too.)

 

 

 

 

 

[adrian_lowe]

First of all, you will not be able to touch the sensor! There is a glass filter in front of it: now that doesn't mean to say you can stick the camera in the washing machine, but of course be careful. You have done th right thing by asking for advice.

 

As far as cleaning goes, May I suggest that you visit a local tech/repair shop , let them clean it (shouldn't cost much) and ask for their advice on future cleaning. I wouldn't bother talking to Canon, unless you like watching paint dry.

 

Fianlly , I'll be sensible, ...I have found from (almost) bitter experience, that the Arctic Butterfly brush system works pretty well, I've tried "wet and dry" cleaning wands, and honestly can't recomend THEM. Blower brushes can do a reasonable job, but won't solve every issue, and so I'm brought back to the Arctic butterfly, it would be my choice.

 

So, you can't spit on the sensor array ehh?...I'll bear that in mind Captain....

 

A.

[peter_adams1]

If you are london based try Fixation in Vauxhaul, they will do a professional sensor clean while you wait, it wont void warranty and it is fairly cheap. checkout www.fixation.co.uk

[bradleylaw]

Well after all that i just got a £7 rocket blower and it done the job perfectly.

Its now totally clean :)

Thanks anyway.