Sensor cleaning

I've yet to clean the sensor on my 350D after about 8 months of use and after shooting some snow scenes, I've noticed some dust. The camera shops want a fair bit of money to clean it.
This is my first DSLR and I'm wondering how people would recommend cleaning it or having it cleaned.
Also, is there a general time schedule that people maintain as far as cleaning sensors, or do you just wait until you notice dust?
Thanks in advance.

There is a great place in Vancouver WA to have it done. I took my 1D2 there recently and they also gave the camera a thorough going over - for $32 I believe the bill was.

http://www.knight-camera.com/servlet/StoreFront

I do my own sensor cleaning. I use a kit from Visible Dust. Some folks poopoo Visible Dust but I've yet to have any negative issues with it.

Larry if you are in the Seattle area I'd be happy to show you how to clean your sensor. It's not that difficult at all and is a good skill to have with a DSLR.

Doing it yourself makes the most economic sense. I use Dust-Aid in the field and the swab and liquid kit at home. For what I would pay for ony 1 or 2 cleanings at a shop I will get 12 or more doing it myself. Depending on your camera some need cleaning more than others... our 40D with the sensor cleaning built in I find needs much less cleaning whereas my 5D is a virtual dust magnet. The fact that you have gone 8 months without a cleaning is amazing and probably definitely needed by now.

I asked the same question a month ago, and Dust-Aid seemed to be the easiest and safest according to those who replied. I tried it, and it worked VERY well on my supercharged nuclear dust ball magnet, a.k.a., my Canon 5D.

I have used the Visible Dust brush on my Canon 30D and 300D for about a year or so. I had a lot of reservations on my first attempt, but was shocked at how easy it was and how well it worked (I could post some before and after photos of dust if you'd like). I believe the brush was in the $80 price range when I got it. I haven't had the need to venture into the chemical cleaners at all, and am probably just lucky in that regard.

Best regards,
-Brett

Dust-Aid works the best and is by far the easiest to use, although it will not remove welded on dust. For that you will need a wet cleaning kit (swabs & solution). I usually have mine professionally cleaned twice a year and try to keep it clean in between with Dust-Aid.

I'll second the Dust-Aid. It works really well, I've tried every other product on the market practically and nothing comes close to Dust-Aid. It's not hard to do it yourself with this product.

Thanks all for the good advice and thanks Rick, next time I'm in Seattle perhaps I'll take you up on that offer for a lesson in sensor cleaning.

Anytime Larry or anyone else who is gun shy about cleaning their DSLR sensor. Once ya know how it is pretty straight forward.

In my marginally humble opinion sensor cleaning is a critical skill to have for a serious digital fotografer - in my marginally humble opinion...

Just a ton of information here: http://www.cleaningdigitalcameras.com/

Oh cool! You guys just reminded me exactly why I should convince Rick to upgrade my wonderful 5d. What a great excuse! I can see it now: Honey, I need a new camera because I am allergic to dust! HAH! I love the camera but the dust is well, there! Always there.

Happy spring everybody! (Or enjoy the snow! ) Nancy

Oh cool! You guys just reminded me exactly why I should convince Rick to upgrade my wonderful 5d. What a great excuse! I can see it now: Honey, I need a new camera because I am allergic to dust! HAH! I love the camera but the dust is well, there! Always there.

Happy spring everybody! (Or enjoy the snow! ) Nancy

My simple technique is a hand blower bulb such at this http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/318545-REG/Giottos_AA1910_Rocket_Air_Blower_.html and a sable hair 00 sized spotting brush. Set to sensor cleaning mode, turn the lens mount facing down and blow it out with the hand blower. Then take a small flashlight and shine it across the sensor from each side and any dust specs left will show up. Flick them loose with the tip of the spotting brush and use the blower again. Repeat until clean. It takes me less than 5 minutes to clean my Mark II's.

Duane

Question for anyone with an self-cleaning sensor: both my DSLRs have these, and I've never had them cleaned, but maybe I should have? I had the entire interior of my older body cleaned as part of a repair last year, but I've always assumed that you only need to clean a self-cleaning sensor (or any sensor) if you see dust on your images..? It sounds like several of you are doing it routinely.

Here is a quick way to test for dust on your sensor:

Put a lens on your camera that has a high f-stop such as a macro that goes up to F/32. Set the f-stop to F/32 (or whatever the highest setting is...) and point the lens at a well lit white wall. Set your ISO high enough and/or shutter speed to get a bright exposure. Focus is not relevant here (well out of focus is BETTER!). What you want is an even/bright background. The dust will be the foreground.

Go ahead and expose a frame. If your camera can zoom into the image once exposed do so and pan around the image looking for black specs and such. Remember we actually do NOT want the wall in focus! What you DO want is the image well exposed and set to the highest f-stop. This will bring into focus any dust on your sensor which will be readily noticed as black bits upon zooming into the image.

If you find any then a cleaning is due. Use your preferred cleaning method...

This is an easy way to detect dust on your sensor other than a high f-stop value and a clear blue sky in that otherwise AWESOME image.....DOH! But most times that's easily fixed these days with Photoshop etc...

So yeah ONLY clean when cleaning is NEEDED. No sense in touchin that sensor needlessly!!! I don't recommend never cleaning your sensor. Dust that does accumulate on the sensor will over time get stuck on there and will be harder to remove once cleaning day does arrive.

As an FYI since I bought my self-cleaning Canon 1D Mark III a few months back I've manually cleaned it twice now after noticing a bit o stuff on the sensor.

Thanks, Rick - very helpful!