spraynpray said:
Thanks guys. I visualise using a magnifying headset

My local Nikon Dealer uses a Lyco Task Lighting Illuminated Magnifier ( or somthing very similar )

Thanks guys. I visualise using a magnifying headset That I have for close work, then cleaning in the sequence that seven said but with a thorough blowing out and inspection then if necessary a dry clean to remove any particular contamination before the wet wipe.

Rx4 said: "Sure, mistakes may happen but doing this has a lot to do with a persons handiness and self confidence. IOW, it's not for everybody. It's just my style of doing things. I'd be Pi$$ed if I screwed up myself - but I'd probably be homicidal if the guy that I handed my camera off to screwed up."

Absolutely how I think too. +1

Wow, this video says nothing about blowing away the dust or other particles before applying the swab with the cleaner liquid. It would seem to me, if a microscopic piece of dirt which is extremely hard, may indeed scratch the sensor filter unless blown away by a previous air cleaning with the quality bulb described above....? Maybe there is another video about blowing dust off.

I also thought he replaced the lens while the camera was still powered up.

However, on their website, they give explicit instructions to blow the dust away.

http://www.sensorswab.com/documents/s1_clean_ccd.pdf

These products are available through the various sponsors of NR.

Spraynpray, interestingly in the first several months of owning my D7000 I had a lot of dirty sensor issues but I've not had those problems with the D800. With the D7k I ordered the Eclipse kit that came with a small spray bottle of Lens/Filter/Screen cleaner, a tiny bottle of sensor cleaner, flat swabs for sensors, a few Q-tip type swabs, lens tissues and a couple of other things for keeping your camera clean. I first aggressively blew the sensor several times w/ a Giottos Rocket blaster (red) and carefully cleaned the sensor using the same technique described here:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WV_DT2kEEsI

I had to do this on 2 occasions with the D7000 but so far never with the D800.

Sure, mistakes may happen but doing this has a lot to do with a persons handiness and self confidence. IOW, it's not for everybody. It's just my style of doing things. I'd be Pi$$ed if I screwed up myself - but I'd probably be homicidal if the guy that I handed my camera off to screwed up.

"I have read horror stories of people who have scratched their sensors from cleaning. From what I have seen, If you are asking the question, you have NO BUSINESS CLEANING IT YOURSELF. My local store will have sales on cleanings and it costs less than $40 not on sale. They said they average about 1000 a year. That's 3 a day from a trained tech, not some kid. I have read replacement front filters can reach the $400 mark depending on the damage."

I will be doing it myself Tao. This thread was started to poll the members on the system/products they use. The club I am in has an equipment officer who cleans other peoples sensors for them and has done hundreds with no problem, I am confident that the amount of care I will take is going to result in a clean, unscratched sensor filter. If it was that difficult, I am sure that a/ there would have been more threads covering the problems on here and elsewhere, and b/ Nikon would have a higher profile cleaning service with offers etc.

FWIW: My D7000 is a year old (only 3k clicks surprisingly), I never change lenses in anything other than windless conditions using a prepared method, I don't change lenses a lot, the lens is off the body for no more than a second and I don't pointlessly 'fiddle' with my zoom like some do. All that said, I do have enough crud on the sensor to make me think of cleaning it.

So other than Paperman saying he had never heard of it, nobody this far has jumped in and talked about this film that is said to build up on the CCD? It does make sense to me that it would happen gradually, as the air around us these days is pretty polluted. Since moving from French countyside to England (London surrounds), I have been coughing a lot so I am sure this smelly air carries a fair bit of soot at least.

@ TTJ

This is the best advice so far. But, it is always a risk/benefit decision. For most folks cleaning their own sensor is potentially a disaster. I am not certain but the "oil" spots seem to be a ring with a dot in the center. On my D4, the lenses have been changed fifty times since cleaning, but no more spots since my cleaning.

In the final analysis, if one cannot afford the potential cost of repair from a scratched sensor filter, it is always best to have a qualified service center do the cleaning. And, by qualified, i mean a Nikon Service Center, not a local camera store.

I am not a "cleaner" of lenses. I have cleaned the rear element of a lens possibly one time when some how a smudge got on it from a finger. The front end is cleaned only if the venue was "dirty" and junk is on the front filter. And this is with about 15 lenses, over 50 years.

I_Said_Sit_Down said:
I'm pretty new to photography and was wondering could an O2 hurricane canless air system be used instead of a rocket blower to remove dust from the sensor? I know that canned air has chemicals that san "spit" out onto the sensor, but the canless system doesn't have any chemicals, so I was just wondering.

NEVER NEVER USED CANNED AIR TO CLEAN A SENSOR OR A POWERED BLOWER! It is the just like putting your camera in-front of a sand blaster. It's not necessarily the the chemicals but the force that hits the sensor. Canned air will freeze the sensor and will more than likely cause major damage. Can-less air, is like a sand blaster.

I have always used a Giottos air blower and it always works. Yes it may take 30 minutes of messing with it to get the dust off, but I have never had anything that it didn't take off. (There are horror stories of the cheap knock offs blowing the rubber mold dust onto the sensor.)

I have had my D300 for just about 4 years - 90k+ clicks last I checked, D50 IR converted for 3 years, and the D800 for 4 months and have NEVER used swabs to clean it. I have always used a Giottos blower and has always been just fine. The occasional stubborn dust, I carefully use a loop with a q-tip and just touch the dust and never the sensor. Usually static electricity just pulls it off. Hold the camera upside down and blow out the dust. If it is oil (quite frankly I don't believe 90% of the recent "oil" comments, and believe it is just dust and less informed people just repeat the worse case scenario) but if it is oil, send it to Nikon & let them clean it.

I have read horror stories of people who have scratched their sensors from cleaning. From what I have seen, If you are asking the question, you have NO BUSINESS CLEANING IT YOURSELF. My local store will have sales on cleanings and it costs less than $40 not on sale. They said they average about 1000 a year. That's 3 a day from a trained tech, not some kid. I have read replacement front filters can reach the $400 mark depending on the damage.

Also note that if you read your manual, there is a "dust" reference option.

Never cleaned the sensor on my D300 - must be over 3 years. I do have 3 spots near the sides that can be seen if I go smaller than f11 ( which I don't ). It takes me a second in PC to correct ( if still there after cropping ) so I don't bother having the sensor cleaned.

Not changing lenses often and never being in dusty environments surely helps.

Never heard of the contrast decreasing "film" being formed fortnightly on the sensor.

I'm pretty new to photography and was wondering could an O2 hurricane canless air system be used instead of a rocket blower to remove dust from the sensor? I know that canned air has chemicals that san "spit" out onto the sensor, but the canless system doesn't have any chemicals, so I was just wondering.

My D4 had 70 oil spots on it at about 10,000 clicks. I cleaned it using the Peter Gregg sensor cleaners, following the directions explicitly. Note: Nikon says NOT to breathe on the sensor...but the Peter Gregg method uses this method.

In any case with over 17,000 clicks, I have not seen an additional oil spot.

Blowing the dust off with a special bulb, being careful not to touch the sensor, may be required every now and then...dependent totally on the conditions under which one changes lenses.

I think cleaning the sensor with a cleaning kit may only be necessary if some liquid gets on the sensor such as oil from the shutter.
I guess I will find out.

Oh, the "film" might be what in cars is called "gas off" I believe and comes from keeping a camera inside a closed vehicle in hot weather. It is a chemical from the plastics used in the various components and is the same stuff which collects on the inside of the windscreen.

Interesting seven. I hear from some pretty active shooters in my club that their sensors attract crap out of the air that creates a film on their sensors that reduces contrast so they clean fortnightly. Not so much for spot removal, more for the removal of the 'film'.

What do you reckon?

D700 about 3 times year
have not had to clean D800 yet (got it when they first came out and used a lot)

sevencrossing said:
yes you blow any dust off the sensor first

but I do nor think I would recommend re using a sensor swab
No I dont clean the body that that often

How often do you clean your sensor?

yes you blow any dust off the sensor first

but I do nor think I would recommend re using a sensor swab
No I dont clean the body that that often

That is a logical flow, also a thorough and quite a cost effective way of doing it seven. I am wondering whether to add a step in there - to dry clean the sensor before the wet clean as the dry clean is just a 'dabbing' or 'picking up' action to get any hard stuff off before the wiping action - hopefully to avoid any scratches. It is (apparently) a slightly sticky silicon device which can be cleaned and re-used.

Have you have been doing the outside with foamclene for long enough to know it doesn't affect the rubber? Some cleaners can leave it quite matt black after use.

Anybody use a dry sensor cleaner at all?

It is important to first clean the outside whole camera
then the lenses
then the lens flange
then the mirror box
finaly the sensor

Outside body, I use foamclene or superclean Foam
Inside body, I use eclipse and cotton buds
for the sensor, I use Sensor Swap and eclipse
for filters, I use Pro Phot Tissues

I recently came back from a night shoot and was horrified to find the amount of crud I could see in sky of the pics when viewed on the screen of my PC. At one point there was a fly walking around on the lens but that can't be helped. So, lens cleaning removed 75% of it, now it is time for the sensor to be cleaned. I am pretty practical, and nobody is going to be more careful than me, so doing it myself is imminent.

My question is in the title really. How many here use the dry method on their sensors? It seems good, but also extra scary to me! One guy I know reckons to clean his sensor at least once every two weeks, sometimes more. Is that OTT?

For lenses, I used to blow with a rocket blower then huff and wipe with a micro-porous cloth but since I read here that huff can contain harmful (to the coatings) chemicals, I haven't liked to do that.

What do other forum members do?