Sensor Clean - How Much Are They?

Kintarō Hattori

Hey Folks,

After six odd years out of the game I've gotten a DSLR again. I haven't been keeping tabs on things and I'm curious as to how much a sensor clean costs these days? I seem to have picked up a stubborn piece of dirt that the camera can't shift and which an air blaster doesn't seem to do much good either. Or are sensor swabs/other sensor cleaning kits ok to use these days?

Many thanks.

CabanSail

Have been using a wet clean kit for years now. Use due care and it will be fine. Remember you are not actually making any contact with the sensor itself, what you are cleaing is the filter which sits over it. If you treat it with the same care you would any other piece of expensive glass.

A bottle of cleaning fluid and a set of swabs will do many cleans and cost less than taking it in to be done.

Kintarō Hattori

Many thanks. Is there a particular kit you would recommend?

CabanSail

I cannot recall the name of the kit I got. It was a special at Photovision quite a few years ago and only €70. It has a small USB powered vacuum and a sensor scope.

Except I got that bargain I would have bought some fluid and swabs. Then just checked my sensor by taking an out of focus shot of a light surface with the aperture shut down.

Sheeps

This is the kit I recently purchased to tackle a bit of dirt that had been on the sensor for a while.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B019T27Q42/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
These swaps come sealed and you get lots of them, useful to keep a couple of these in your camera bag, and they can be used on your lenses also, but probably best to discard after use.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00DP8FIC4/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
This kit I got mostly for the blower for less stubborn dust, but the magnifying glass with light fits right over the sensor and exposes everything so you don't have to constantly have to reattach the lens and take a shot to see if you got the dirt you were hoping to get.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B013EBVAA0/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Using this in conjunction with the swaps is a winner because this thing will pick up dust like a vacum. Requires some AAA batteries to get the motor spinning but works OK with out the motor.

Don't use compressed air what ever you do and I wouldn't put fluid on my sensor. If you don't clean it properly it can leave residue or swipe marks.

You can bring it to a camera shop either. I think Birmingham cameras do it for about €60 I think, so it's quite expensive, where as if you buy some kit (above works out at €86.45 at today's exchange rate, and im sure you could probably pick some of it up cheaper) it'll be cheaper by almost 50% the second time you have to clean your sensor.

pegasus1

I got Vdust swabs and a delkin sensor scope from the states..
If you do a lot of long exposure's or live view the dust will stick to the sensor and needs a wet clean with a swap..

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pegasus1 wrote: »

I got Vdust swabs and a delkin sensor scope from the states..
If you do a lot of long exposure's or live view the dust will stick to the sensor and needs a wet clean with a swap..

Where did you get it from?

CabanSail

This is the Delkin Sensor Cleaning System which I have. Works really well.

pegasus1

Camron Yellow Vagrant wrote: »

Where did you get it from?

B&H...

uck51js9zml2yt

CabanSail wrote: »

This is the Delkin Sensor Cleaning System which I have. Works really well.

I got the inspection device for £26 on amazon ..thanks