Comments on: DSLR Sensor Cleaning – My Approach http://www.gdanmitchell.com/2007/10/20/my-approach-to-dslr-sensor-cleaning Daily photographs, news, observations, and ideas about photography Wed, 08 Feb 2012 20:48:13 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: G Dan Mitchell http://www.gdanmitchell.com/2007/10/20/my-approach-to-dslr-sensor-cleaning/comment-page-1#comment-28527 G Dan Mitchell Tue, 22 Feb 2011 23:02:58 +0000 http://www.gdanmitchell.com/2007/10/20/my-approach-to-dslr-sensor-cleaning/#comment-28527 I had my own dust issue while in Death Valley this past week. I was picking up a spot that was noticeable even in the LCD - fortunately very near the edge of the frame where I could crop if necessary. I decided to clean it there while "on the road." Death Valley is not exactly a dust-free "clean room" environment. (The understatement of the century, right?) So I gathered my camera, my brush, and my blower and got in the front seat of my car and waited for things to settle. Fortunately, a couple shots of air from the blower followed by a couple of iterations of the "clean" cycle on the camera, and the spot went away. I get my Nikon models confused, but the D3 is full frame, right? We had the same issue when the 5D became so popular. It seemed like a regular dust magnet compared to some of the earlier cameras. My theory is that it is primarily just that the full frame sensor has more surface area and is therefore that much more likely to acquire dust. I became very adept at sensor cleaning when I owned the 5D! I wonder if you could clean the brush with some alcohol or similar? I suppose it might be worth a try, though getting a new brush might be the safer bet. And don't worry, once you start doing your own cleaning and succeed a couple times, the whole idea becomes a lot less daunting. (Witness my willingness to try it in Death Valley!) Dan I had my own dust issue while in Death Valley this past week. I was picking up a spot that was noticeable even in the LCD – fortunately very near the edge of the frame where I could crop if necessary. I decided to clean it there while “on the road.” Death Valley is not exactly a dust-free “clean room” environment. (The understatement of the century, right?) So I gathered my camera, my brush, and my blower and got in the front seat of my car and waited for things to settle. Fortunately, a couple shots of air from the blower followed by a couple of iterations of the “clean” cycle on the camera, and the spot went away.

I get my Nikon models confused, but the D3 is full frame, right? We had the same issue when the 5D became so popular. It seemed like a regular dust magnet compared to some of the earlier cameras. My theory is that it is primarily just that the full frame sensor has more surface area and is therefore that much more likely to acquire dust. I became very adept at sensor cleaning when I owned the 5D!

I wonder if you could clean the brush with some alcohol or similar? I suppose it might be worth a try, though getting a new brush might be the safer bet.

And don’t worry, once you start doing your own cleaning and succeed a couple times, the whole idea becomes a lot less daunting. (Witness my willingness to try it in Death Valley!)

Dan

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