Do you clean your own sensor?

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When I can I send my camera for cleaning. AUD about $250 not including postage, no local cleaning service.
$250 is Comprehensive , Clean and Check Package
I find it a very good service
If I go away I clean while I am away
I live in a very dusty environment just impossible to clean sensor at home, changing a lens is hard enough.
 
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Yesterday I noticed I had a couple spots showing during editing photos from my D6. I set the camera to clean sensor mode, then used a rocket blower to blow while holding the D6 with sensor down. No more spots. If i had seen spots after blowing, I would have made a single back-forth pass with a slightly damp swab. I use the VSGO products.
 
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Yes, I use gel pads pretty well exclusively. I generally don't bother with blowers as they just tend to move dust around (maybe in a field emergency). I don't seem to ever need to wet clean, but I have done it and will do it if necessary.
 
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This is what I used to learn how to clean a sensor. Looking at the YouTube link, they updated this stating:

DO NOT USE The SENSOR SWAB ULTRA. The Ultra Swab Ultra is a replacement for the swabs shown in this video but they are not the same and have reports of damaging sensor. The best swab currently on the market is the Alpha Swab by The Dust Patrol.
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Be sure the battery is at 50% or more - otherwise, you might not be able to access moving the mirror up. Not sure if the Z bodies have that restriction, but the Nikon DSLR's I've used mention it in the owner's manual. A loupe helps tremendously. Amazon and B&H carry the Giottos Rocket Blaster (and is probably available elsewhere). The Giottos brand has a rear filter so they won't suck in dust and blow it inside the camera body.

 
Does anyone else have the clean sensor on startup option turned on?
I do because we have a layer of volcanic ash where I hike a lot but I wonder what that little vibration is doing to things???
 
DRwyoming said:
Yeah, I have that option enabled on all my cameras. I'm not convinced it does much but I don't see any harm in it either.
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Same here, in theory it should help but also in theory vibration causes stress fractures....lol

Can't hear or feel anything so maybe it is fake. :LOL:
 
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Hut said:
Same here, in theory it should help but also in theory vibration causes stress fractures....lol

Can't hear or feel anything so maybe it is fake. :LOL:
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Yeah, it's really hard to say. I probably clean my modern sensors with the auto clean feature less frequently than I cleaned my older DSLR sensors that lacked that feature but maybe I'm just more careful about not changing lenses in dusty places. It's not easy to tell if it's making a big difference but I figure there's not much risk and potential reward so unless someone makes a convincing demonstration that it's a really bad idea I'll keep the clean on power down option active.
 
Hut said:
Does anyone else have the clean sensor on startup option turned on?
I do because we have a layer of volcanic ash where I hike a lot but I wonder what that little vibration is doing to things???
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Canon, just to be contrarian, has it on shutdown.
 
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I think the "auto-clean" options don't do much, or phrased better, they don't do enough. If you really notice that your sensor is dirty enough to need cleaning, the self-cleaning feature probably is not sufficient. Given the price of a professional cleaning, I have gone to using a purchased "sensor cleaning kit" including a wand and fluid, preceded by a blower-brush dust-off (not the aerosol can type). It's not rocket science to do an "ok" job, but I have found that I never get quite 100% clean when I do this myself. I am sure that the pros who get paid for this are more skilled than I am. But if I am down to one or maybe two mini-spots that I have to touch up in post-processing I consider it good enough.
 
Hut said:
(y) Nikon has startup, shutdown, both or none. I actually have mine set for both. and try not to change lenses outdoors
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Canon has a little windshield washer, but you have to refill the reservoir with the little yellow cap. Oh wait, is that Subaru that has that?
 
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I use to clean my sensors (D500 and Z7) whenever dark spots start to appear in bright backgrounds (i.e. blue skies) in my photos in a considerable number and at f/10 or lower (very rarely I go lower than this). Considerable number of dark spots means that it annoys me spend time (more than a few seconds), with the Lightroom "Spot Removal" tool (the easiest and faster post-processing spot removal method, in my opinion).
To clean the sensor I first try a rocket blower (NEVER USE A CAN AIR OR AIR COMPRESSOR EVEN IF HIGHLY FILTERED AND VERY LOW PRESSURE), if it doesn't work, I move on with the sensor cleaning solution and swabs.
The reason why I never use a sensor brush, a sensor pen or a gel sticker (the least recommended methods), is because if the dirt doesn't come out with the rocket blower, most probably it will not come out either with one of those accessories/methods. Thus, I save time jumping from the less effective method (blowing the sensor) to the most effective method (sensor cleaning solution and swabs. The method use by all professional sensor cleaning services).
Besides saving time, it also saves some of my money buying extra sensor cleaning stuff.
This is my way to go, I perfectly accept that others may prefer a different approach. I'm not the owner of the true ... ;)
 
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I had a black spot in the top left corner, when looking through the OVF.. I cleaned the lens, spot was still there.. I changed lenses.. still there.. cleaned OVF.. still there. So I took a photo of a bright sky, nothing there..

So I decided to air blow the prism / mirror.. and it was gone.. first time experiencing this. It was quite windy and dust in Mallorca, so that was expected. Just glad my sensor is still clean 😅
 
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