Keeping the Camera Sensor Clean

One of the things that come up often in Digital Photography is cleaning of the camera sensor. Many products are offered by many different manufactures all with their claim of superiority in the field. And the expenses vary widely. Adding to the confusion, the camera manufactures provide different information on what is essentially the same sensor concerning how and when to clean it. Let’s take a look at this area of photography to see if we can develop some clarity.

The problem is dust is attracted to electro-static charges. And since the sensor is an electronic device any dust in the vicinity of the sensor flies to it and attaches itself eventually adhering to the sensor. And, over time, non static sensitive debris also attaches to the sensor. So we need to attack the problem on two fronts; keeping the sensor clean and judicious cleaning.

First, keep your equipment impeccably clean. I shoot desert trucks and motocross events that needless to say kick up a lot of dust and dirt. I also spend a lot of time camping in the desert which is a dirty activity to say the least. Two things I always have with me are an antistatic brush and a lint free, static resistant cloth. Wiping the body of the camera and lens are continuous actions with the cloth and the brush is great way to remove debris from all the cracks and crevices. A plastic disposable rain sleeve works great for keeping dust and dirt out too. After returning from shooting I do two things before I do anything else; I download and backup my files and I clean my equipment. Regardless of how tired I am I push through and do this every time.

Second, keep a lens or lens cap on your camera at all times. This may seem simple enough but many do not adhere to this simple step for numerous reasons. Additionally, I can not tell you the amount of times I have walked into a camera store and found numerous DSLRs’ sitting there with absolutely nothing covering the lens bayonet. If the lens bayonet is covered dust has a hard time getting in there.

Third, I use gravity to my advantage when changing lenses. I always have the LCD pointing skyward when I remove and/or mount a lens. This is tricky to accomplish when in the field and I have nothing more than rocks or dirt to set things down on. I can easily clean the front of the lens though and I always have the lens cap on prior to setting it on the ground. The bigger, more complicated, and riskier job is cleaning the sensor.

Those are the basic preventative measure we can take to keep our sensor clean. And if we do it perfectly our sensor will still have to eventually be cleaned. After all, the shutter and mirror move. They rub against things and dislodge coverings, lubricants, and wear materials. All things that collect in the camera body and some of it make it to the sensor.

So how do we go about cleaning it? All camera manufactures provide cleaning services of their systems and guarantee their work. The downfall is this service is expensive and you will be without the use of your camera for the time it takes to ship and their turn around time. Many local camera stores provide the cleaning service also but you should be clear about their warrantee. Since a sensor repair is almost as expensive as the camera you want to be sure they are willing to back up their work. There are numerous do it yourself systems out there but you will want to do plenty of research prior to taking this task on. I did a Google search for “Sensor Cleaning” and came up with plenty of independent websites that provided clear, concise instructions on how to do it and critiques of different systems. I also found information that suggested I use Scotch Tape to clean my sensor! I’m sure it would pick up the dust and dirt but doesn’t it leave glue behind? So make sure the information passes the smell test so to speak before committing to a method.

So I hope this article has cleared up some of the confusion regarding sensor cleanliness. By developing good habits and procedures we will maximize our utilization of our camera and equipment. Happy shooting!

Doug Loman

Check out Doug’s photography at http://douglomanphotography.com/ or catch up with Doug on Facebook. He’s the one in Las Vegas.