Averar13 Loc: Norristown, Pennsylvania

Hi everyone. I have the Nikon D7000 and the sensor and the mirror inside have dust on it. Yesterday I went to Cardnial camera to ask them about this. They said they would ship the camera out to get it cleaned. They also said I could do it at home with a cleaning kit. But that would be a bigger hassle and a risk to my camera. And plus I looked on B&HPHOTOVIDEO and the one kit cost almost $300. It's actually cheaper to get it done at Cardnial Camera for $90.
Has anyone else had this issue? And if so any suggestions would be helpful.
Thanks !!

juicesqueezer Loc: Okeechobee, Florida

Great kit and certainly not $300. Hope this helps and there is even a tutorial on cleaning the sensor.

http://www.copperhillimages.com/

deej

Good kit with instructions on web sight. I do not think you would want to clean the mirror though!

Averar13 Loc: Norristown, Pennsylvania

Thank you.
The video is helpful.
I would still be nervous about scratching the sensor or any other part of that area if I were to do the sensor cleaning myself.

Averar13 Loc: Norristown, Pennsylvania

Probably getting the camera shipped out to be cleaned would be better.
I have to go find out how long the whole process with shipping would be. Since in the video from the website shows it doesn't take long to clean.

Hankwt Loc: kingsville ontario

dont be nervous it is really very simple just take your time be patient copperhill or visbledust are 2 very good brands

LoneRangeFinder Loc: Left field

Get the specific kit for your camera-- but no way should it be $300-- or $90.00, for that matter. I understand the hesitance-- but it's not that difficult

Averar13 Loc: Norristown, Pennsylvania

Your right. Shouldn't take long to clean. And thanks I will look online at those two brands.

Averar13 Loc: Norristown, Pennsylvania

Wouldn't I have to get like the Full kit with everything in it? With the brush and the little air pump, the strips, swabs, liquid, pads?
I've noticed, with everything like that included varied between to two price ranges.

Bugfan Loc: Toronto, Canada

I have four Nikon SLRs, two APSc sensors, two 35mm sensors. I change lenses a lot and my work constantly ends up in less than favourable environments. Though three of them are sealed as are most of my lenses, it's inevitable that my sensors will need cleaning. Sometimes I'm cleaning a sensor four or five times a year.

I'm surprised to hear your cleaning quote is ninety collars, the quote my camera store offers is forty dollars and it's done while you wait. Even so though it adds up when you clean them as often as I do.

There are several technologies. First of all I have what is called the Arctic Butterfly, it's a brush that is used for wiping the surface of the sensor and in fact it comes in two sizes. That company (Visible Dust) also has a variety of other brushes it sells that I also have for cleaning other parts of the camera. I use this technology and a blower brush to get rid of loose dust. It cost me a few dollars I'll admit but by the time you clean a lot of sensors more than once a year it's paid for very fast.

But not all dust is loose and easy to get rid of. For that I have two sizes of swabs and a fluid for washing the surface of the sensor and I even have small swabs for getting into the corners. This gets rid of the sticky dust, something you get when you have a hot humid sticky environment.

The third technology is a loupe. This one is designed to fit into the lens mount opening and it has nine LEDs in it to illuminate the sensor, I use that to check where the dust and dirt are and to check that everything is clean now.

In a small aluminum case I have all of these technologies in addition to lens cleaning material and fluid and even a shaving brush which is excellent for cleaning camera and lens surfaces after a very dusty adventure. The case and its contents probably cost me about $500 but at as many as ten cleanings a year at forty dollars each plus tax it's paid for in a year and after that it's all free except for replacement cleaning swabs and fluids.

So those are the tools I use.

In terms of the actual cleaning ... first of all your camera has an ultrasonic cleaning device built into the sensor. Basically it shakes the hell our of the sensor on command and this is supposed to shake the dust off the sensor. Sometimes that's all you have to use to clean the surface. But over the years I've also learned that this doesn't work forever. Eventually there's just too much dust so you have to get out the tools instead.

So when that doesn't work the next job is the blower brush. I actually have a device that blasts high pressure CO2 at the sensor but often the blower works quite well too. This can often also clean the sensor negating the need to ever touch it. When you do this hold the camera mount down so that the loosened dust falls out of the mirror box. But alas, that doesn't always work either. By the way do not use liquid air, that sometimes sprays a liquid as you use it. The CO2 cartridges don't.

So now it's time for the brush. First of all something you need to understand is that you can't touch your sensor, what you are in fact touching is a glass plate over the sensor. So don't get paranoid about cleaning this glass plate. Someone also asked me once what happens if you scratch this surface but if you use the tools I use that's impossible, they're all too soft to scratch anything. But yes if you do manage to scratch the surface you could be looking at an expensive glass replacement but that's never happened to me and never will.

To brush the sensor the Arctic Butterfly basically is spun a few times to set up a static charge and then it often just takes a single wipe to clean the sensor surface. I use the loupe after to make sure I got everything. If it doesn't go the first time I'll try again a few times. Unless the dust is stuck to the surface this always cleans the sensor.

When that fails it's time for a wash. Place two drops of fluid on a swab and stroke the glass surface with that once or twice and usually that gets rid of the sticky stuff. If you used a bit too much use a second one to dry the surface. With this you should be done and your sensor is clean again.

It's that simple. I know it seems daunting but once you've done it two or three times it becomes a dull boring routine just like sweeping a sidewalk, the only difference is that we're dealing with a camera sensor. I usually also clean the mirror box when I'm done before mounting the lens again and then I clean the lens and finish by going over the lens barrel and the camera with the shaving brush. That leaves me a spiffy clean camera that lasts sometimes three or four months and sometimes a week. It depends on what I'm doing.

I prefer this too because aside from saving money, I save a trip to my store to get the job done and if I happen to be in the middle of the bush I am able to restore my sensor immediately even there. It makes more sense than giving up a shoot because of a dirty sensor or finishing the shoot and then spending hours with Photoshop to correct the sensor problem.

By the way, remember too that when you see spots on your picture they are not where you think they are. The image in the camera is upside down and right to left so if your spot is top left in your images, it's actually bottom right on your sensor glass.

I hope this helps a little.

Hankwt Loc: kingsville ontario

air pump ( rocket blower) the proper size swabs to match your sensor size and the cleaning fluid should be what you need 3 or 4 swabs with fluid around and a decent blower shouldnt cost you more than 50$

LoneRangeFinder Loc: Left field

I already had the brush and air "puffer" The swab and liquid kit was around $35.00 USD

Averar13 Loc: Norristown, Pennsylvania

@bugfan, yes it does help. Thank you. Also I have notice the artic butterfly on b&hphotovideo it does seem to be in a few hundred dollars most of the ones I saw. I think because we both hot different store quotes is because your store, you said does it for you right then and there. The store I went to ships te camera out to be cleaned. So the higher store charge would most likely be going to shipping the camera out.

@Hankwt I believe the right size for my camera would be the 14mm. I have to do some more research on some of the variety of kits.

To both @Hanket and@LoneRangeFinder, did you guys buy your kits online? (B&hphotovideo ???))

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Isn't here somewhere you could bring it, even driving a distance, rather than having it "shipped"? If you're nervous about doing it yourself, maybe you could ask around about a good place to have it done.

Have you done a test photo? You know, small aperture shot of a clear sky or blank wall? Then you enlarge it on your monitor and look for spots. Maybe it's not as bad as you think.

I cleaned mine at home, but it took several attempts, and it was a bit nerve wracking. I wondered if I would ever get it clean.

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

Ninety dollars sounds very high. Its takes only a few minutes. I got my Canon sensor cleaned at Canon's NJ facility, which is close to my home earlier this year, and the cost was only $30. I can't believe cleaning Nikon sensors should be that much more.