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Keep your digital camera lens dust free

12.02.2008 · Posted in Home and Garden Articles

Fear of the dusty sensornnIf you’re using a digital SLR and begin to notice dark specks in your photos, don’t worry: this is not caused by strange ghosts appearing in your photos. It’s simply dust on your sensor. When you change the lenses on an SLR dust can easily get inside the camera and settle on the sensor, which in turns creates dark little spots in the pictures you take.nnYour camera may already have a built-in sensor-dusting function, but most cameras will still require a careful manual cleaning.nn1. Purchase a self-cleaning SLR.nnDust specks that collect on the camera sensor can create dark spots on your photographs. If you are unsure if you have this problem already you can enlarge your photographs or take a picture of a white wall.nnThere are currently two cameras which have a built in feature to clean the sensor, the E1 and Evolt E-300, manufactured by Olympus. Every time you turn the camera on or activate the filter, a Supersonic Wave Filter vibrates the sensor which shakes the dust off. Included are adhesive strips which run along the sides of the sensor to collect the dust. From my experience the system works pretty well. It’s unfortunate that other manufacturers don’t offer something similar.nn2. Clean your camera with care. If you don’t have an Olympus SLR (or even if you do but are in a very dusty environment), sooner or later you’ll have to clean the sensor. If you’re nervous about doing it yourself, you can send it to the manufacturer for a professional cleaning. However, that’s not a very practical or affordable way to handle the situation every time a new little spot shows up. Although you should take the utmost care, the best solution is probably to clean the dust out yourself.nnMost sensors have a protective glass covering and you want to be careful not to scratch or damage it as there’s a good chance the manufacturer’s warranty will not cover repairs. Be careful about what you put inside your camera. Also, never blow compressed air inside the camera. Compressed air uses propellants that can leave a residue and create a film over your sensor.nnUse products that are made specifically for sensor cleaning. A number of companies make them, including Photographic Solutions and Visible Dust. Kinetronics’ Speck Grabber is useful for getting at particular bits of debris, since it has a little light built in. And Kodak sells its own sensor-cleaning kit and provides detailed instructions on how to clean its cameras’ sensors.nnWhen you’re chosen your product and are ready to clean the sensor, put the camera into sensor-cleaning mode so that the sensor is exposed (check the manual about how to do this with your particular model) and remove the lens. Use a bulb blower to blow dust off the sensor; you will want to make sure you hold the camera up so that the dust falls out instead of settling inside again. Follow the instructions of the cleaning product you’ve chosen. Usually this involves carefully swabbing the surface of the protective glass over the sensor.nnTo check that you have gotten rid of all the dust take a picture of a blank wall or piece of paper. Look at it at full size on a computer monitor and see if you can detect any remaining specks.

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