rook2c4 Loc: Philadelphia, PA USA

If the sensor isn't dirty, I don't see any reason to turn on the auto sensor cleaner.

User ID

That would be a good idea. I never remove my
only weatherproof lens from the weatherproof
body it's assigned to. So I might's well disable
the auto cleaner.

Same can apply to my "perfect pair" of lenses
each of which always wears its own dedicated
compact live view body. Those 2 lens mounts
are never open to the environment.

OTOH, for all my other IL cameras, there is no
way to be sure that the sensor isn't dirty so it
only makes sense to assume it might BE dirty,
and therefor auto clean will remain enabled.

`

johnst1001a Loc: West Chester, Ohio

Haha, good topic. I had a situation a couple of weeks ago where I saw a fleck of dust in my pictures while taking them. Not thinking, and in retrospect pretty silly, I did the in camera sensor cleaning thing. But that did not solve the issue. Hmmm. I then thought some, and I started the process of elimination thing. I took off the lens, looked into the camera, saw nothing. Haha, another stupid mistake, I was looking at the mirror, not the sensor. I then took some pictures, put them on my computer, and there were no spots on my picture. That's when it dawned on me I was seeing the speck while looking through the viewfinder. So, I thought well dummy, the image through the viewfinder is not from the sensor, but the light path from the mirror, to prism, to viewfinder glass. So, I blew off the mirror with an aspirator. No luck. I cleaned off the eyepiece with a Qtip. No luck. then I tried blowing off the inside of the camera, thinking the dust was on the prism (couldn't see the prism though). After all that, and several tries, I was able to get rid of the speck, but now I had a fiber. Well, that was easier, the only thing I used with fibers was the Qtip. I blew off the eyepiece, and it was gone. Interesting experience.

mborn Loc: Massachusetts

Always On

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

The Auto Sensor Cleaning on the Nikon is simply the sensor vibrates. It will not remove all. It will remove maybe something like a loose piece of dust, but the piece of dust is still in there some where and can reappear later. If I use this method I turn my sensor upside down so the vibration will sometimes do a better job in that the loose what ever falls with gravity.
The best sensor cleaning method is still the professional way of wiping the sensor using professional cleaning material.

mizzee Loc: Boston,Ma

Always when switching off. Plus I take advantage of the free, or discounted, cleaning opportunities at my local camera store, Hunt’s.

jaymatt Loc: Alexandria, Indiana

Mine is set to clean whenever I turn the camera off, which is not too often, maybe once a week or so.

Skiextreme2 Loc: Northwest MA

camerapapi Loc: Miami, Fl.

If you are talking about the Nikon self cleaning mechanism all I can tell you is that it is a joke. It does not matter how you set it. In my experience it is practically useless.
I have two Olympus mirrorless camera bodies with self cleaning mechanisms and in the many years I have owned them NEVER ever it was necessary to clean the sensor.

olemikey Loc: 6 mile creek, Spacecoast Florida

I use it on demand when I change lens, esp. outdoors...otherwise if I don't "see" the need, its off...if I do see something that needs to go, then I use it, or a squeeze bulb. Every once in a great while I do a real cleaning - but a very easy cleaning (no scrub brush) !!

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Mine is set to clean when turned on (or maybe off). That seems to work. If I see distracting spots, I'll clean it myself.

agillot

never used it [ D300] , the vacuum cleaner always done it without any issues ] dust on sensor .

brooklyn-camera I Loc: Brooklyn, NY

On & Off all the time....7D MKII

broncomaniac Loc: Lynchburg, VA

This thread gets more interesting all the time. Thanks much to all participants, again.

speters Loc: Grangeville/Idaho

My cameras are set to do it always at start-up and at turn-off, has worked well for 10 years!