Wet-clean your sensor, or just blow it off?
by eNoBlog on Sep.28, 2009, under Equipment, Techniques
Much to my chagrin, even with its internal sensor-cleaning, it came time for my first Nikon D90 sensor cleaning. No, the in-camera sensor cleaning wasn’t doing a thing with these dust bunnies. If you want to check how much dust your sensor has, do as I did, and take a shot of the blue sky at an aperture of f/16 or f/22.
Trying to save some time and inspired by the advice I’ve read about a “good blow” with a Giotto rocket blower being all that’s usually needed, I decided to go that route this time. After all, I only had a couple of specks to remove.
Suspecting that I had in fact moved dust lodged elsewhere inside the camera, I decided to give blowing another try, and this is what I got.
This confirmed my dad’s admonition that the lazy person always ends up working twice as hard. Shaking my head, I got out my wet cleaning kit (I use the one provided by Copper Hill images), and went about the cleaning as I have been doing for a while with my Nikon D80. A couple of swabs later, I tested my work with another blue sky shot at f/22, and voila!
Moral of the story? As uncomforable as sticking something into your camera and swabbing across the sensor’s protector may feel, once you get over the shakes, the satisfaction of a clean sensor and spotless images will be well worth it.
September 28th, 2009 on 10:40 am
Never had any problems with a blower. Works just fine.
September 28th, 2009 on 7:17 pm
When I got my D200, believe it or not I had “factory dust”. The rocket blower took care of it no problem, and since I rarely change the lens on that camera, things have stayed pretty darned clean.
Just a note on the blower for what it’s worth – I keep the Giotto blower in a plastic zip lock bag when it’s not in use. If you just stand it upright in an open room, dust will settle in/on it, and then you’re just blowing accumulated dust into your camera. I also store the wet cleaning items sealed in another bag – more due to dust paranoia than any other reason. But no sense introducing more dirt into your cleaning environment.
September 29th, 2009 on 8:06 am
The suggestion to keep the blower in a baggie is probably a very good one. It will also better preserve the rubber, I think, which over time can decay and flake. Someone has suggested that for that reason, one should blow outside of the camera about 10 times before using the blower inside the camera chamber.
September 29th, 2009 on 9:24 am
I always blow out my rocket blower outside of the camera several times to get anything inside the bulb and tip out of the blower before even removing the lens. Also make sure your camera’s opening is poiting down so any heavy items drops out of the body and not into the body.