Dust spots on sensor suck, sorry but after coming home from a week of backpacking and having to delete a pesky dust spot off of nearly every image is a real pain in the you know what! I didnt even change a lens in the field, where do those little buggers come from ?
Posted by John Mumaw on August 6, 2012 at 11:27 PM
Don't you ever change lenses? Even if not, a camera is not airtight. Solution(IMO) = arctic butterfly.
Sandy
Posted by Jim Bennett on August 7, 2012 at 12:42 AM
If it's like my Nikon D7000, it's not dust, but oil being flung off of the shutter. I've read that this is a common problem and I've had to clean oil off of my sensor after about every thousand shots.
Is it dust or a spot? I have found that a humid area tends to attract moisture to dust which dries to small gray spots. Where I live we have two seasons, winter and dust. Cleaning after every shoot helps but I have resigned myself to the healing brush.
Posted by Brad Mangas on August 7, 2012 at 7:57 PM
I would say the dust had to already be there before your trip. Dust will get into your camera it's just a fact of life. I would recommend cleaning the sensor with one of the available products on the market as the Very "Last" Resort. Once you start using these products you will be then forced to use them more and more.
I have never used a purchased sensor cleaning product or apparatus and never plan to. The exception to this is of course an actual spot of some foreign substance literally stuck on the sensor, in that case you have no alternatives.
Here is what I do and it works great. Keep in mind I photograph mainly on the prairies of Kansas where the wind is always blowing and the air is always filled with dust. I do change my lens in the field if I feel it is necessary and really don't hesitate doing it. Besides using proper technique such as always pointing the camera body down when removing and installing a lens and making it as quick as possible I also do a cleaning before each outing.
The cleaning technique I do is simple. In my home I mount the camera on the tripod point it down (lens aiming towards the floor) and remove the lens. Then I turn the camera on set the exposure time to 2-3 seconds and taken a half dozen exposures or so while using a Giotto Rocket Air Blower ($10 -$15) during the exposures to blow the inside out. This gets the mirror and the sensor and the internals of the body. I have done the for years and never had major dust issues even with older bodies that get lots of use.
It's cheap, easy and I have had great success at keeping the dust under control.
Artic Butterfly, test at f16, learn to accept a certain amount and get on with life. The peck pads usually make it worse but are sometimes neccesary if the brush doesn't work, then the brush as a final stage. The brush often takes 10 times or more to make it work. Blow the brush off as you are spinning it. Never use canned air inside the camera.
I've had the 1Ds Mark II for years with no internal vibration cleaning option. I now have it on the 1Dx and hope I do not have to clean it myself near as often.
And again , accept a certain amount. I only spot cleaning or clone the "hero" images that are going to be fine art prints, the rest do not matter enough to worry about.
i know of people working in dusty areas in east africa who resolve to have one camera body to each lens - i.e., never change lenses and then they pipe silicon gel around the lens-body joint to further seal the joint ...
Discussion
7 repliesSandy
I have never used a purchased sensor cleaning product or apparatus and never plan to. The exception to this is of course an actual spot of some foreign substance literally stuck on the sensor, in that case you have no alternatives.
Here is what I do and it works great. Keep in mind I photograph mainly on the prairies of Kansas where the wind is always blowing and the air is always filled with dust. I do change my lens in the field if I feel it is necessary and really don't hesitate doing it. Besides using proper technique such as always pointing the camera body down when removing and installing a lens and making it as quick as possible I also do a cleaning before each outing.
The cleaning technique I do is simple. In my home I mount the camera on the tripod point it down (lens aiming towards the floor) and remove the lens. Then I turn the camera on set the exposure time to 2-3 seconds and taken a half dozen exposures or so while using a Giotto Rocket Air Blower ($10 -$15) during the exposures to blow the inside out. This gets the mirror and the sensor and the internals of the body. I have done the for years and never had major dust issues even with older bodies that get lots of use.
It's cheap, easy and I have had great success at keeping the dust under control.
I've had the 1Ds Mark II for years with no internal vibration cleaning option. I now have it on the 1Dx and hope I do not have to clean it myself near as often.
And again , accept a certain amount. I only spot cleaning or clone the "hero" images that are going to be fine art prints, the rest do not matter enough to worry about.