Sensor Cleaning

[justinchimienti]

<p>This is for Nikon d5000<br>

OK - rookie move. when changing lenses i saw some dust on the mirror of my camera - I blew on it and got some mositure on the mirror. Then i took a lens cloth to wipe it off then presto a ton of dust on the sensor - yes I know - rookie move. <br>

I then tried with an air blower with a brush at the end to blow and wipe away the dust. Got most of it off, but some still remained. Very frustrated with myself as every time i look throught the viewfinder, i see lots of dust. Then i tried to wet down a q-tip and wipe down the mirro and sensor. This helped get about 95% of the dust off the sensor (there was a lot of dust stuck on there)<br>

After several sessions of using the blower, q-tips and the brush - there is one stubborn impurity stuck in there.<br>

When looking at the sensor, i can not see the speck. When looking through the viewfinder, i can not see the speck - but when looking through the video screen and on the picture - i have a small crescent shaped impurity now showing up on all of my photos. It shows up more clearly when i am fully zoomed - and it shows up more clearly when I shoot at the sky - and sometimes it is so faint or on a dark surface that it does not show up.<br>

any idea on what this might be? where it might be in the camera? (cant seem to see it when i look at the sensor - even when shining a light on it. ) and how it might dislodge it?<br>

Thanks for the help.</p>

 

[Matt Laur]

<p>Hopefully it's not a scratch. Do <em>not</em> use q-tips or brushes on your sensor. Definitely never use compressed air out of a can.<br /><br /><strong><a href="http://www.bythom.com/cleaning.htm">Here's some good reading</a></strong>, including a discussion of sensor swabs and the right cleaning goodies and strategies.</p>

[timblodgett]

<p>Personally I would take it to be cleaned by a professional at this point. They can tell you if you may have damaged your sensor with your previous cleaning attempts.</p>

[anthony_bez]

<p>I agree with Tim it would be best to get it professionally cleaned and checked.</p>

[robert_hooper1]

<p>You did just about everything you could to destroy your sensor except to use a Brillo Pad on it. Ordinarily, I would encourage people to learn how to clean their own sensors, but not everyone is up to the task. At this point, and in the future, you should have your sensor cleaned professionally. Send your camera to Nikon for an evaluation and keep your fingers and toes crossed. </p>

[wpahnelas]

<p>it's probably a piece of lint that's wedged itself into the frame at the edge of the sensor. please don't try to pluck it out with a pair of tweezers. get someone experienced and qualified to check it out.</p>

[justinchimienti]

<p>thanks for the advice. off to Nikon to get it cleaned - and crosing my fingers and toes</p>

[ArthurRichardson]

<p>Justin......</p>

<p>it must be your honesty that saves you from some serious slap in the face comments. I hope it all turns out well!<br>

This post reminds me of a friend of mine who was oiling his bicycle brakes because of the sound they made.</p>

<p>He got rid of the sound.....</p>

[justinchimienti]

<p>here is a photo with the speck - shows up on all pictures :-(</p><div></div>

[dave_wilson1]

<p>When it comes back, keep your fingers and toes out of the camera ;-)</p>

[akshun]

<p>I laugh when i hear "professionally cleaned" thats like the gov't charging for a fishing license,lol.<br>

I clean my sensor all the time, delicately with some fluid and a swab, all my images are razor sharp, even zoomed in 200%.</p>

 

[john_tran14]

<p>It is a risky move but I strongly agree with Steven Jackson that we can clean our sensor delicately with some fluid and a swab. But you should have read a lot about it before trying to clean your sensor.<br>

<p>In your description of what you did, there are many misunderstanding and I believe you have never touched nor seen the sensor yet. What you have been messing with is the mirror and the focusing screen and these two have no effect on the sensor or the pictures you got<br>

<p>If you see them on all the pictures at almost the same positions of the frames, then you do have the specks on your sensor. Without a special feature in your camera or using B speed, you wont see the sensor and without a magnification glass you wont see the specks on the sensor.<br>

<p>But you can detect the specks easily by the following process:<br>

<p>Spread out a big white and clean paper on your coffee table. Then take a picture of it. It needs to fill the whole frames and it should not have any dusts of its own. The paper should also have some drawing or something that helps your camera to focus correctly. Use F16 and shutter speed at least 1/125. You likely need a good flash for that. The picture should be in RAW mode and at highest resolution.<br>

<p>Your picture will show the specks</p>

[john_tran14]

<p>You should use the lowest ISO to eliminate noises and the drawing on the paper should be sharp as a proof that the focusing is correct (even though sometimes it may also work if the focus is not correct)</p>

[justinchimienti]

<p>Thanks John - you are absolutely right - what i had been messing with is the mirror and the focusing screen. So I did not do all of those harsh things to my sensor after all!! whew. I did read up on the sensor cleaning online and in my manual. Once I locked the mirror - I could see the speck on the sensor. I dislodged it with a puff of air (not compressed) just a little hand held device. The speck of dust that is on the image i posted above is no longer in that position....now it is showing up on the upper left side of my images. Not sure if the dust is on the sensor and just moved or if it is on the focusing screen. The focusing screen seems to have collected a lot of dust and I can not seem to get it clean - any suggestions?</p>

<p>thanks</p>

[john_tran14]

<p>If you are lucky, you can blow it away when you turn the camera up side down. That means the back is up and the lens mount is down so that the speck may drop out.</p>

<p>If you are not lucky, you may have more than one speck that your pictures dont show them yet. You should really try what I said above to see most of them first. Of course the picture when you look at the computer screen is up side down compared with what you see looking at the sensor through the lens mount</p>