NHinote Loc: Tennessee

After shooting my grandchild's dusty baseball game, I noticed a few specks of dust/dirt on my images. No problem I thought, I'll just get my trusty rocket blaster and blow it away. Big mistake! I know have a lot more particles on my sensor.

I think my removing the tip of the blower and inserting it into the blower for storage, introduced dust/ dirt into the blower bulb. So, when I reassembled the tip and bulb and blew air onto the sensor, I made the problem worse. So I now realize that I need to clean the sensor. Problem is my camera store only cleans sensor once a month (a group comes up from Atlanta). So, do I try to clean it myself or wait. All suggestions, comments, experiences are welcomed.

I need to add that I've never wet cleaned a sensor before. It seems to be a straight forward process based on YouTube videos, but it is a D810 and...

NHinote Loc: Tennessee

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camerapapi Loc: Miami, Fl.

You did not mention what type of camera body you have. Olympus mirrorless camera have NEVER been an issue when it came to dust on the sensor according to my own experience.
Modern Nikon bodies, which is what I use, supposedly have a self cleaning device that can be activated with the menus. It is a joke! It never has worked for me.
Making sure that your blower is free of dust you can raise the mirror in the menu for cleaning making sure you have enough power in your battery. With the camera upside down blow the inside of the camera and if there is no oil on the sensor those particles of dust should disappear.
If what I have indicated does not solve the problem then let a professional do the cleaning.

RichardSM Loc: Back in Texas

Yes he did it's a 810 Nikon?

Jim Bob

Look at his last sentence.

Jim Bob

Wet cleaning is not rocket science but is slightly tedious. I have done it many times without adverse consequences on my DX cameras and I am not at all dexterous. Only you can decide if you wish to take that chance. Nobody here can tell you what to do. Were it my camera, I would clean it myself.

sloscheider Loc: Minnesota

Go ahead and clean it. Get a pack of swabs from B&H that match your sensor size and a bottle of cleaning fluid. It's easy to do. The first time I had to do it was in the Bahamas and I didn't have a cleaning kit at the time. I used a lens cleaning pad double folded over a soft new/clean rubber pencil eraser tip - creaped my out but that was my only available option at the time and it worked great. Now I always have at least two cleaning swabs and a tiny bottle of fluid with me when traveling.

charlespkeith

I also have the D810 and have cleaned my sensor with the wet swabs. YouTube is really good at giving you the general approach but here are a couple of things that I would emphasize. 1. Make sure that you have the right size swab (yep, they make them for FX and DX and other sizes of sensors). 2. Before you open up the camera, clean the body really well. I blow it off with my bulb and use a very slightly damp lint free cloth to clean the body (don't go crazy with the wet stuff, use just enough to be able to wipe the body and clean it off. 3. Clean the area (your desk,etc.) where you are going to be doing the sensor cleaning. 4. Blow off the sensor using a clean bulb.... this removes grains of sand, hard speck stuff. 5. More is not better when it comes to applying the cleaning fluid on the sensor swab. You want just enough to fully wet the sensor swab across its width. YouTube and some swab directions give you a general idea of how much but don't be tempted to use a lot of fluid. 6. Keep a steady even pressure as you drag the swab across the sensor. DONT lift it up when you are returning to the starting point. If you do, you may very well pick up other junk and put it on the sensor. You'll understand when you watch the videos on-line. 7. Mount a lens and take a test shot at f22, focused on infinity. Usually most people use the sky but I have a special card that I shoot. Look at the image you just took at high magnification. I use my camera's LCD screen and gradually increase the magnification as I scan the image. Note where there are still spots. Repeat the process of cleaning to get any remaining stuff off the sensor. As a final, I use the camera's sensor cleaning function. If the stuff persists after two swabs, I recommend that you have an authorized repair dealer look at it. I had stuff on my sensor once that seemed to be really stubborn but they were used to dealing with issues like that. After doing it several times, you will be comfortable in cleaning your own sensor. Good luck

CO

I got the KOH Global Hepa Jet Air II dust free blower. It has a large hepa filter that filters out 99.97% of dust particles. It also has an anti-static filter and one-way check valves to keep it from drawing dust particles back in. The filter is large so it lets the bulb refill quickly. Adorama Camera carries it. I ordered mine from the KOH Global website.

I've read that over time some blowers that have a rubber bulb can start shedding little rubber particles that will get blown out. The KOH blower is made of medical grade PVC that is debris free.

pecohen Loc: Central Maine

If you use a blower on a sensor, the sensor should face down and the blower should shoot up. Reverse this and you might well get more dust on the sensor. My A6000 has a clean mode where it will shake the sensor briefly - that usually seems to clean off the sensor, but I do keep the sensor facing down when I use it (with the lens removed).

Nikocarol Loc: NM & FL

I hope this helps.

https://video.search.yahoo.com/search/video?fr=yset_ie_syc_oracle&p=how+do+I+properly+clean+my+sensor+in+my+Dsl#id=6&vid=56cb81ead737fc3464e6483f3418ba87&action=click

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I'd give the Rocket another chance. If it blew dust onto the sensor, it should be easy to remove it. Just don't use canned air. Wet cleaning can be a nuisance, even though it looks easy on YouTube. Someone is making a Giottos imitation with a filter to prevent it from sucking in and blowing out dirt.

Here's a link to one, but the price is ridiculous.
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/609036-REG/Visible_Dust_5068290_Zeeion_Blower_Sensor_Cleaner.html

I can't find the other one, but it looks like a Giotos with a filter at the bottom - same color scheme.


Some tips -
http://content.photojojo.com/tutorials/digital-slr-sensor-cleaning/
http://www.bythom.com/cleaning.htm

CO

The Visible Dust Zeeion blower is overpriced. The KOH Hepa Jet Air II blower is less than one-half the price and has a larger filter that lets the bulb refill with air faster.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

This one has a filter, bit it's still pricey, and it's not the one someone posted a few weeks ago.

https://www.amazon.com/Kaavie-Eyelead-cleaner-Panasonic-Germany/dp/B00KLC4C7O

flyguy Loc: Las Cruces, New Mexico

There is nothing more tedious, in my opinion, than cleaning up little specks using software to eliminate them. Right now I'm working on some images from my Thursday afternoon photo walk around Fisherman's Wharf and one image that has a lot of sky in it has about 70 specks all because I have not taken the time to clean my sensor properly. Even with a Wacom pen tablet and some great software it's no fun attempting to ameliorate the effects.