Anyone done their own sensor cleaning?

[CuriousMike]

I'm seriously leaning towards having a local shop do the job for me, but I'm curious to hear if any of you have done it and had super-duper-easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy success.

This is an example of an image ( f/16, but they're almost as visible at f/8 )

Not sure I'm dealing with dust - this could be oil-spots ( it is a D610 that is claimed to be fixed compared to D600 )

The fact that it might be "oil" makes me more apprehensive doing a cleaning compared to if it was "just dust."

 

[corkyg]

A few years ago, the sensor on my Canon 5D needed cleaning. I examined all online tools, kits, etc., and studied what was involved. I then checked locally and found a Nikon dealer that did it. As I recall it cost about $35. I decided to just have it done and not be bothered. The result was excellent.

 

[Belegost]

I've not gone farther than blowing it off with a little compressed air, but that's managed to get the fuzzies off for me. If you've tried that already, then it's probably worth paying to have it done.

 

[ControlD]

I bought a used Canon 30D that had a filthy sensor. i ended up buying what I believe was called a sensor pen. It has a triangular pad of some sort at one end that you run over the sensor. That got pretty much all of the gunk off but it took a few tries.

 

[corkyg]

BTW, a good check for sensor dirt is to shoot plain blue sky - no clouds, birds, etc.

 

[CuriousMike]

Well, I just bought a cleaning swab set and a loupe.
I have a great history of buying the tools to do the job, flubbing it, then paying yet again to have it done by someone else. Why stop tradition.

 

[EOM]

Well, I just bought a cleaning swab set and a loupe.
I have a great history of buying the tools to do the job, flubbing it, then paying yet again to have it done by someone else. Why stop tradition.

We have a similar tradition! Though, sometimes i can pull it off. "Don't worry honey, i saw a youtube video, i can fix that!" :whiste:

 

[CuriousMike]

$40 worth of sensor cleaning stuff ( it would have been $45 to have it done for me), and I'd say ... after using 3 swabs... it's 85% better.

The loupe thing is pretty cool - it seemed to indicate that there existed a small scratch on my sensor which was disconcerting -- but I suppose it hasn't hindered me up to this point.