by Harald Mühlhoff
6. March 2010 09:55
Even though the sensor cleaning integrated into my Canon 5D Mark II does a good job I sometimes get sticky dust on the sensor. As you probably know it's mostly visible when using small apertures (like f/18). As a test I photograph the clear sky or a white paper sheet. I then import the image into Lightroom and increase contrast.
To get rid of it I make sure that my camera battery is full and activate the manual sensor cleaning mode. You have to be very careful not to damage the sensitive hardware.
Use the info provided here at your own risk! If you don't feel comfortable self-servicing your camera get professional help (e.g. Calumet)!
At first I use a small manual air blower (like the Visible Dust Hurricane Blower). Don't touch anything on the inside of the camera with it! Sometimes that's all what is needed.
For my first attempts at sensor cleaning I used a SpeckGrabber but beside getting rid of dust it often left some residue. I still come back to it sometimes for very sticky dust but very carefully and only before wet cleaning the sensor.
Nowadays I mainly use the VisibleDust V Swabs (get the right size for your sensor) together with a few drops of Eclipse Optic Cleaning System solution. (A FEW drops will do. More will be counterproductive!)
In most cases that should do the trick. For very dirty sensors several passes may be required. If you get tired of reassembling your lens, shooting test photos, transferring them to your computer ... you can use a product like the LensPen SensorKlear Loupe to watch the result of your cleaning immediately. (Note: The LensPen SensorKlear CCD Sensor Cleaner did NOT work well for me as it left a lot of carbon dust on my sensor. Actually I had to go to Calumet to clear my sensor afterwards – that's when I learned about the VisibleDust V Swabs and the Eclipse solution ...).
What are your sensor cleaning experiences? I'd love to hear from you!
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