For Christmas my wife gave me a great stocking stuffer - Photographic Solutions Digital Survival Kit 2. This wasn’t on my list, but it has already earned a spot in my camera bag.
I hate dust spots on my images. They aren’t hard to remove with Aperture or Photoshop, but that’s an unnecessary extra step. I’m very meticulous about keeping the sensor on my camera clean since it saves me editing time. I never take my lens off in a dusty or windy situation if I can help it, I always clear the rear element of my lenses before putting them on the camera, and I always store my camera in a bag. These things all help, but inevitably dust will find its way in if you use your camera regularly. Occasionally, when I notice dust on the sensor, I use a small Giottos Rocket Air Blower to remove the dust. The blower is easy, takes very little time, and has completely cleared my sensor in the past, until yesterday.
After shooting winter landscapes I noticed several annoying dust spots on my photos. I was able to clear most of the dust with the blower, but there were a few particles that I couldn’t seem to get rid of with just air. So, after a few attempts, out came the new Digital Survival Kit. After reading the short list of directions that came with the kit, and the long list of instructions in the Nikon D200 manual, I mustered up the nerve to try cleaning the sensor myself.
I’ll admit that I’ve avoided sensor cleaning because of the horror stories I’ve heard about people ruining their cameras. I envisioned the shutter blades closing on me, or worse yet, scratching my sensor beyond repair. It quickly became clear that I needed something to help calm my nerves. Thank you Makers Mark. Much to my relief, the process took less than five minutes, my shutter didn’t explode, and my sensor is now dust free. The swabs worked exactly as advertised, in fact the whole process was so easy that I plan on keeping the kit in my camera bag at all times.
Here’s few tips if you decide to try this yourself.
Make sure you’re in a relatively dust free area.
Make sure you have plenty of light. I used my Petzl Zipka headlamp to make
sure I could see the sensor clearly.
Make sure you are using a fully charged battery or connect your camera to its
AC adaptor. This will prevent your shutter from closing during the cleaning
process.