Thanks for a very well produced video. I would add one thing. Everybody says hold the camera upside down when blowing it out. I would say that the particle size is so small that gravity would have a negligible effect on the direction in which the displaced particles would move. To those particles, the air is like thick soup. They are more likely to be carried upwards in the warm air currents from your hands or lights. Because of the danger of damaging the sensor with the blower I suggest holding it in whatever is the best position for you to handle it and see inside and get the most light into it so you can see what you are doing.
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 :)
I would suggest checking with the camera manufacture's guide on cleaning the sensor. While this may work for some/most mine says do not use cleaning solutions, may cause fogging and damage. Also only one direction and change the cloth each pass. That is just mine, I'm sure others have different approaches. Great video on how to do the general procedure and taking the test shots. Thank you.
Only issue I will add to this video is that each time I remove a lens I hold the camera upside down. When replacing a lens, I also hold the camera upside down. It is important to remember that dust is always floating around in the air and that it is crucial to keeping it out of our equipment. Many thanks for the video, enjoyed it very much. Regards, Tony
As a novice to photography and new to dslr cameras i thought it was an eccelant video as i had noticed small marks in photos and wondered how to clean it myself excellent and saved me some money .Scotland
I was afraid to touch the thing until you mentioned that the front of the sensor is glass. I got a cleaning kit and now my D70 shoots like new again. I love that old camera and now I can take her out for a spin again. Like driving a classic car :)
Don't blow air on the swab, it will NOT have any lint on it right out the package it comes in. Blowing air can blow particles away OR introduce new particles on the sensor. Don't whack the electrostatic brush over a table edge, find a clean, smooth, sharp edge like a blade to scrape some of the particles off the brush. In this entire process, it is difficult to achieve 100% zero defects. Choose some threshold you can live with.
Good video. Thanks. I use a nice Sensor Loupe to see the the dust on the sensor. It saves me tons of time rather than shooting a photo to see the dust.
I know a lot of camera assistants who simply use lens tissue and a cleaner like Pancro to clean camera sensors on studio cameras with great success and without damaging the sensor. However, I've noticed everything on the web says to use special swabs and cleaning solutions to clean much cheaper dslr sensors. Is this because dslrs have a different coating on the sensor or is Pancro actually a suitable replacement for eclipse cleaning solution? Hard to believe you'd have to baby a $2000 dslr more than a $30000 studio camera.
very detailed! ty so much! im a horse trainer / riding instr and have taken thousands of jumping pics over the yrs and this was so helpful! I like to call myself an amateur photographer as I take what I do seriously, I dont mess around lolol
Hi Doug! I looked through 10 videos, before I found one that was specific, to my camera that went at a speed that allowed me to understand, and follow along. Kudos to you I do have a question though. in using a high magnifier and looking in my camera the mirror appears to have some dust underneath it. I'm not able to get it off what would be recommended?
Interesting that I had just finished watching a digital camera cleaning tutorial produced by Canon. The instructor very much stressed that when cleaning, we must never directly touch the sensor with anything, not even swabs, fingers and blower tips. Also never to use canned air because it is under a great deal of pressure and can therefore damage the sensor. Any thoughts on this Mr. McKinlay? Thanks, Tony
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.
Canon is very specific about not using compressed air. The photo shop I used had been using it routinely, on my camera. Every time they cleaned the sensor with compressed air, by the next day, there would be loads of sensor dust. What the compressed air was doing was overriding the way the sensor had been designed. And Canon's Dust Delete Data does not seem to work at all. So, I am needing a for-sure method to rid my camera's sensor of ever- present dust. I may have to get over the fear of using swabs on the sensor.
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
Did i hear that right wet clean once every month or two? Bit excessive isnt it. I check for dust on sensor like every time i shoot. I clean like once a year. The auto sensor clean on the 5Dmkiii does a good job at keeping dust off. But i always blow back off lens when changing.
This isn't a sensor related question but I was cleaning the mirror with my lens cloth and it's left with a smear like oil. In through my view finder there is grey dots which I assume are dust or dirt. I used a blower like yours but these dots in the viewfinder is this there.
Leaving the caps off during a shoot could be the end of your shoot if the location is windy and dusty, something I would not recommend personally. I take my cameras in for cleaning but its always better the more you can do yourself, that way your never stuck! good tutorial.
Thank you for your detailed and helpful explanation. However I have one question. Is there a risk that by using mirror lockup with the shutter open you will allow dust to fall on the sensor? If so, is there any way that this can be prevented? I tried your test by taking a picture of a white reflector at F22 and I could only find 3 tiny specs of dust on my sensor so is it really worth the risk of making it worse by leaving the shutter open with the mirror locked up?
SL1 Good Afternoon Sir; I am having the most awkward moment. I cleaned, the prism, mirror, and sensor. What A Beautiful Difference........BUT. Looking rhrough my viewfinder, i still see all the speckles, but much much clearer. It looks as if i had used an electric beard trimmer, and all the tiny shaving landed on my sensor. Dry cleaning, nor Wet cleaning did anything but give me much more beautifully clean photos, BUT with "beard trimmings". Would this be the moment to consider a professional cleaning? Thank You For Your Help in Advance 😊
I would recommend doing this in the bathroom, run the shower as hot as you can for a good 10 mins before to get it steamy so all the dust in the air will settle to the ground after run your bathroom fan to take the extra moisture out of the air
Hi, I took glass before sensor, to shoot infrared. Would I damage sensor if I clean it? I'm talking about actual sensor not the glass/filter in front of it. I'm having some kind of white shodow when I'm zooming in and it disappears when I'm fully zoomed out. Did I du something with sensor or just lenses needs to clean as it is old canon sx50. Thanks
Well he called f22 a small aperture and he is actually telling you that you want a large depth of field. So that part could be confusing if you don’t know that aperture is reversed when considering the f stop.
Sir i have Canon 5dm iii i clicked around 10000 images i have a big issue of grainy images and foggy image so which technnique i have to use wet or dry ???
Thank you for this video, Specially you showing how good and effective Photographic Solutions cleaning supplies are! Kudos
Thanks for a very well produced video.
I would add one thing. Everybody says hold the camera upside down when
blowing it out. I would say that the particle size is so small that
gravity would have a negligible effect on the direction in which the
displaced particles would move. To those particles, the air is like
thick soup.
They are more likely to be carried upwards in the warm air currents from
your hands or lights.
Because of the danger of damaging the sensor with the blower I suggest
holding it in whatever is the best position for you to handle it and see
inside and get the most light into it so you can see what you are
doing.
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 :)
Thank you! This is one of the best and well explained and narrated videos!
Claude A
This guy knows what he's doing.
Good info. My favorite part of the video was the hand washing demo using dramatic tilted framing.
Thanks for that very comprehensive tutorial. You gave me the confidence to try cleaning my camera's sensor myself.
I would suggest checking with the camera manufacture's guide on cleaning the sensor. While this may work for some/most mine says do not use cleaning solutions, may cause fogging and damage. Also only one direction and change the cloth each pass. That is just mine, I'm sure others have different approaches. Great video on how to do the general procedure and taking the test shots. Thank you.
Only issue I will add to this video is that each time I remove a lens I hold the camera upside down. When replacing a lens, I also hold the camera upside down. It is important to remember that dust is always floating around in the air and that it is crucial to keeping it out of our equipment. Many thanks for the video, enjoyed it very much. Regards, Tony
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.
A UV flashlight is cheap on ebay and makes a huge difference in what you see on the sensor
Excellent presentation and explanation, thank you.
thank you Sir for sharing
Thank you! I thought I would have to send my camera in to get professionally cleaned but this worked! Much appreciated!
I agree with everything in this except leaving all the caps off in your bag. But that's a choice.
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.
Greetings from the Sahara, my camel didn't hold still but I got it done. Thanks.
RIP I’m actually in the Sahara rn
Awesome explanation
Thank you very much! This will help in cleaning my sensor for the first time. Thanks again!
enjoyed the video, this worked well for me. cameras all clean now and ready to shoot
excellent video. Well explained, so now I'll get the kit and have a go.
Thanks for sharing your thorough technique. 💯
just done the dry method and it worked perfectly! thank you so much and I will subscribe to you! all the best, John.
As a novice to photography and new to dslr cameras i thought it was an eccelant video as i had noticed small marks in photos and wondered how to clean it myself excellent and saved me some money .Scotland
Awesome tutorial - Thanks so much
Thx so much for this video. But just to clarify when you are either dry or wet cleaning the sensor is that with the mirror up? Thanks
I was afraid to touch the thing until you mentioned that the front of the sensor is glass. I got a cleaning kit and now my D70 shoots like new again. I love that old camera and now I can take her out for a spin again. Like driving a classic car :)
Don't blow air on the swab, it will NOT have any lint on it right out the package it comes in. Blowing air can blow particles away OR introduce new particles on the sensor.
Don't whack the electrostatic brush over a table edge, find a clean, smooth, sharp edge like a blade to scrape some of the particles off the brush.
In this entire process, it is difficult to achieve 100% zero defects. Choose some threshold you can live with.
And dont prepare the tools over the open and exposed camera sensor 🙄
very helpful...thank you
Thankyou so much will give this a try
Great job explaining each method!
Good video. Thanks. I use a nice Sensor Loupe to see the the dust on the sensor. It saves me tons of time rather than shooting a photo to see the dust.
good video, what about the canon 7d dslr that does not have a manual cleaning option?
Good battery, and BULB mode.
thank you doug for this you really help my
Thank you Doug! Super informative!
Excellent Video...I am going to have a go at cleaning my sensor. Thank you.
I know a lot of camera assistants who simply use lens tissue and a cleaner like Pancro to clean camera sensors on studio cameras with great success and without damaging the sensor. However, I've noticed everything on the web says to use special swabs and cleaning solutions to clean much cheaper dslr sensors. Is this because dslrs have a different coating on the sensor or is Pancro actually a suitable replacement for eclipse cleaning solution? Hard to believe you'd have to baby a $2000 dslr more than a $30000 studio camera.
very detailed! ty so much! im a horse trainer / riding instr and have taken thousands of jumping pics over the yrs and this was so helpful! I like to call myself an amateur photographer as I take what I do seriously, I dont mess around lolol
Thanks Doug... big help. Thumbs up...
Hi Doug! I looked through 10 videos, before I found one that was specific, to my camera that went at a speed that allowed me to understand, and follow along. Kudos to you I do have a question though. in using a high magnifier and looking in my camera the mirror appears to have some dust underneath it. I'm not able to get it off what would be recommended?
what kind of camera bag is that at 2-44?
Your're a good teacher fella!
Interesting that I had just finished watching a digital camera cleaning tutorial produced by Canon. The instructor very much stressed that when cleaning, we must never directly touch the sensor with anything, not even swabs, fingers and blower tips. Also never to use canned air because it is under a great deal of pressure and can therefore damage the sensor. Any thoughts on this Mr. McKinlay? Thanks, Tony
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.
How can aperture in any way affect visibility of sensor dust? (5:35)
Nice one Doug, thank you.
Thank you!! You just saved me $100!!!
I never know about that thank you so much for teaching!
useful video!
Hi Doug. I have a Canon 5D4 and need to start doing the cleaning myself. What brush can I use for the dry cleaning part. Do you have a preferred name?
In the Dry Cleaning method, do I have to use a special brush?
Thanks so much!!
Newbie question, *is it safe to use a dust blower can at the sensor*? I really thank you for your time!
Not safe. The pressure can do damage internally.
have the camera on while cleaning it?
yes because the shutter will close if its off
Thank you doug I had a commercial clean once and found that when I got it back it still had spots.
Canon is very specific about not using compressed air. The photo shop I used had been using it routinely, on my camera. Every time they cleaned the sensor with compressed air, by the next day, there would be loads of sensor dust. What the compressed air was doing was overriding the way the sensor had been designed. And Canon's Dust Delete Data does not seem to work at all. So, I am needing a for-sure method to rid my camera's sensor of ever- present dust. I may have to get over the fear of using swabs on the sensor.
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
Did i hear that right wet clean once every month or two? Bit excessive isnt it. I check for dust on sensor like every time i shoot. I clean like once a year. The auto sensor clean on the 5Dmkiii does a good job at keeping dust off. But i always blow back off lens when changing.
Good tips... I thought my sensor smudges but actually the LCD screen got dead pixels.
Thanks, great help!
Can't fault your vid, very informative. Cheers
Thanks for that... Good video.
This isn't a sensor related question but I was cleaning the mirror with my lens cloth and it's left with a smear like oil. In through my view finder there is grey dots which I assume are dust or dirt. I used a blower like yours but these dots in the viewfinder is this there.
Leaving the caps off during a shoot could be the end of your shoot if the location is windy and dusty, something I would not recommend personally.
I take my cameras in for cleaning but its always better the more you can do yourself, that way your never stuck! good tutorial.
do you do in store demo
Ur a lifesaver
Thank you for your detailed and helpful explanation. However I have one question. Is there a risk that by using mirror lockup with the shutter open you will allow dust to fall on the sensor? If so, is there any way that this can be prevented? I tried your test by taking a picture of a white reflector at F22 and I could only find 3 tiny specs of dust on my sensor so is it really worth the risk of making it worse by leaving the shutter open with the mirror locked up?
What kind of cleaning swabs are those?
Thanks you sir
SL1
Good Afternoon Sir;
I am having the most awkward moment.
I cleaned, the prism, mirror, and sensor. What A Beautiful Difference........BUT.
Looking rhrough my viewfinder, i still see all the speckles, but much much clearer. It looks as if i had used an electric beard trimmer, and all the tiny shaving landed on my sensor.
Dry cleaning, nor Wet cleaning did anything but give me much more beautifully clean photos, BUT with "beard trimmings".
Would this be the moment to consider a professional cleaning?
Thank You For Your Help in Advance 😊
Just starting out here...so can you use a NEW makeup brush for the cleaning...it is very fine bristle...
Thank you!
Thank you so much
Thanks a lot! Just what I was looking for. Finaly got rid of the dust :)
Great video! Thanks :)
I like how he blew the swab with the hand blower right over the open camera setting face up. Huh?
I noticed that.
Thank you, thumbs up..
What you going to if you find oil spots instead of dust
very helpful 👍
Won't the brush scratch the sensor?
I would recommend doing this in the bathroom, run the shower as hot as you can for a good 10 mins before to get it steamy so all the dust in the air will settle to the ground after run your bathroom fan to take the extra moisture out of the air
I would recommend you don't make claims without proof. Geez Louise.
thanks for the info
Hi, I took glass before sensor, to shoot infrared. Would I damage sensor if I clean it? I'm talking about actual sensor not the glass/filter in front of it. I'm having some kind of white shodow when I'm zooming in and it disappears when I'm fully zoomed out. Did I du something with sensor or just lenses needs to clean as it is old canon sx50. Thanks
I put my camera body on my tripod for hands free cleaning.
This is brilliant idea. Thanks!
You made it look very possible, even for me, thanks.
very good
thanks my friend
is it safe using brush on sensor?
Thanks
Is it safe to actually touch your sensor with the brush
What do you call the the clear thing above the camera sensor mirror that connects to the view finder it has mark that I want to clean but idk how
Well he called f22 a small aperture and he is actually telling you that you want a large depth of field. So that part could be confusing if you don’t know that aperture is reversed when considering the f stop.
I sent a camera back to the store because it had dust spots and now my second one is doing this maybe that brush method might help me
After choosing manual clicking.. how to turn it back? Thank u
how can I take a fingerprint off of my a6000 sensor? I was putting in my memory card and touched the sensor on accident
Jeremy Guzman Have you tried submitting an application at your local police station for fingerprint removal?
HA HA HA very funny, no but in all seriousness I did get it out fairly easy with a sensor cleaning kit. Thanks for your concern! Lol
Jeremy Guzman how did you even get your finger in there to touch it?
2:35 Nice, that looks like Ireland.
Thanks a lot!
will not dry cleaning sensor pen or q-tip create micro scratches on the sensor filter and show as small dots on the images
Sir i have Canon 5dm iii i clicked around 10000 images i have a big issue of grainy images and foggy image so which technnique i have to use wet or dry ???
thank you
AWESOME
Thanks for the Info...
Awesome
This video was intense !!!!
Was wondering what will happen to newer sensors that dont have filter on top, after several uses of wet solutions.
Even these sensors have an InfraRed filter that sits in front of them