Ever clean your Digital SLR sensor?

[tashier]

My sis-in-law has a Canon digital SLR camera. She's been taking pics lately with tons of black spots all over the picture. I've read up on how to clean the sensor but just wondering if anyone on TRT has experience doing this? Thanks.

[Loverotties]

I clean them ,but don't know if that would cause the spots,more like the lenses or mirrors(in the body).

[Orient Master]

Originally Posted by Loverotties

I clean them ,but don't know if that would cause the spots,more like the lenses or mirrors(in the body).

Well that would be kinda hard for the camera to have spots on the lenses or mirrors.
Being that the camera is an SLR. "Single Lense Reflector" . So i would tend to think that either the single lense has dust on it or the actual sensor has dust on it or even the atachment lenses.

You should see spots on the actual sensor if there is anything. how big are the black spots in the pictures. considerable sized?

[tashier]

No, I believe the dust is on the actual sensor, no the lens. I've read instructions on how to clean the sensor but just wondering if anyone else has experience doing so on a regular basis.

[tabblet15]

SLR stands for Single Lenses Reflex (not reflection, even thou they mean pretty much the same thing lol), even though I havent had experience doing this on my own camera (im to afraid) I have heard that to first try to remove the dust with a quality blower (like a Hurricane) if that doesnt work you may need to use a sensor swab maybe even a wet one. Just continue researching and it may even be worth it to take your camera to a shop and see if they can give you a demonstration.

[tabblet15]

Just one other tip... when changing lenses do it inside or in a very wind free area. And tilt the body so the mount is facing the ground when attaching a lense. It keeps any heavier pieces of dust from falling into the body where the sensor is.

[FishDaddy]

The spots that appear on her photos are from dust or dirt specks on the sensor. Actually, the sensor has a clear protective glass coering. I use a bulb blower periodically to get rid of most of the spots. I've got a Copperhill cleaning kit, which uses the fluid and swabs, but haven't had to resort to that in 3 years using my Nikon D70.

When cleaning the sensor, whether with blower or swabs, the camera needs to be held with the lens opening down. Also make sure the battery is fully charged as bad things can happen if the mirror is locked in the up position and you lose power, or so I'm told.

Here's a site with links to the various cleaning methods.

http://www.cleaningdigitalcameras.com/

Hope this helps,

Dick

[tashier]

Thanks for the link. There's a lot of good info there.

[FishDaddy]

You're quite welcome, Tashier. Hope that helps.

Dick