Sensor Cleaning: Stay Focused with Doug McKinlay 

Claude A

Worcester Exchange Valid point and it also prevents you from accidently hitting the sensor with a blower, I always put my camera on the table sensor facing foward when cleaning the sensor. A modern idea and something that was never done with chemical film cameras obviously :)

RIP I’m actually in the Sahara rn

By this do you mean holding it facing the ground?

Yes

Why would you expect him to hold the camera down in a demonstration video? it's pretty hard to film that way.

Even these sensors have an InfraRed filter that sits in front of them

Everything is a choice

Exept for taxes and death.

I stopped watching at that point. Makes little sense.

@@577buttfan taxes and death are still a choice

Though I cringed at such an idea, each to their own.

Yeah, the swabs actually have small fiber tendrils that attract the dust off the sensor itself with a charge, and the moisture helps the dust get stuck to the swab. You're told never to touch the sensor at all. And it makes sense, because there are tons of microscopic structures that can easily get scratched up, even if you're using something soft. Wet cleaning does add lubrication to help things glide across more smoothly along while picking up oils. Over time, this could become an issue with enough scratches though. So no matter what, once you touch a sensor, it's getting scratched. It's just how bad the scratches get that determines if you've done enough damage to be considered damage. Automatic cleaning sensors use 100hz vibration and negatively charge the sensor to repel dust, but that doesn't work with things like oils that dust can bring, which causes dust to stick to the sensor no matter what you do, and large pieces of dust that may have a sticking force greater than a static charge can lift them off with. And since oil won't lift off with vibration or a negative charge, there obviously needs to be a physical contact to absorb the oils from the sensor. It can also depend on what the sensor is to begin with. Older sensors usually recommend to never touch the sensor with any kind of brush. Whether this is just a precaution or a hard limit due to the fragility of the sensor, isn't really clear. But I would say that to be on the safe side, a dry brush should never ever be used on the sensor. Especially since brush bristles are typically cut to a hard edge, which means the edges will be microscopically sharp. Unless you're in a clean room and your camera is air tight, it's basically impossible to really clean all the dust off a sensor. The moment you're done cleaning a sensor, dust in the air will come into contact with it. It's actually better to clean a sensor outdoors than indoors, because indoors usually have more dust because most of the dust in a home is dead skin, and your home acts like a dust trap, catching every bit of dust that seeps through the smallest cracks....and once the dust is inside your home and settles, there's not really any strong enough wind indoors to remove it. Thankfully, camera's can still perform fairly well even with a fair amount of dust on the sensor.

Good battery, and BULB mode.

Using rubber blower is much safer . Never use compressed air. It may damage the sensor. Ask them to use only blower for your camera. Swab is next step to clean and this is preferable by professional.

Ms. Serio, you can easily clean the sensor as I have just done. First, I run the camera's dust removal feature up to four or five times, then use the blower without the brush while holding the camera upside down. I then take a Q-tip and apply two drops of Isopropyl Alcohol on the cotton tip and gently move the swap over the sensor until the sensor is dry. I then use the dry end of the Q-tip and again apply gentle pressure on the sensor, being careful to cover the entire area. I take a few shots, upload them and check for any signs of dust or debris. It worked out fine for me and my Pentax k-50 and I saved myself approx., $100.00 in the process. Hope this helps. Tony

I noticed that.

I would recommend you don't make claims without proof. Geez Louise.