How to Clean Your Camera Sensor
In this video, I’ll be telling you all you need to know about cleaning your camera sensor. I’ll be showing you the equipment you’ll need, the best practices to use and giving you some tips on how to get your camera’s sensor clean without damaging it.
If you’re seeing little black spots or lines in your pictures and you want to get rid of them, this is the video for you!
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Links to sensor cleaning kits below:
Disclaimer – If you buy from these links we will get a very small percentage of the sale 😊
US Links
Full Frame sensor - https://amzn.to/2uA5KXB
Crop (APS-C) sensor - https://amzn.to/2KZDOGw
Micro 4:3 sensor - https://amzn.to/2uD3X33
UK links
Full Frame sensor - https://amzn.to/2uHDOAb
Crop (APS-C) sensor - https://amzn.to/2uHyhJE
Micro 4:3 sensor - https://amzn.to/2L0rxBQ
NB: These are paid links and TSoP will receive a small percentage of any purchases made.
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Synopsis of the video
Equipment
Let's talk about the equipment that you're going to need. Firstly, you’ll need a sensor cleaning kit that is specific for the size of your camera’s sensor. For example, if you have a full frame camera, you’ll need a full frame cleaning kit (see product links above). Next, you’ll need some sensor cleaning solution or fluid and a blower for blowing dust away. You may also want to get a can of compressed air and a cleaning cloth for more intense dusting.
Example of a camera sensor cleaning kit
Sensor cleaning solution
Camera blower for removing dust
Cleaning the Sensor
1. Make sure your camera is clean on the outside first, so that no extra dust goes inside. You can use a can of compressed air or your blower brush for this.
2. Blow off dust from the inside of your camera. Take off your lens or your cap that covers your camera, hold your camera upside down and use your blower to blow the dust out.
Use the blower to clean any dust from inside the camera
3. Find the manual sensor cleaning mode in your camera. Make sure at this point you have a full or nearly full battery – this is because your camera’s mirror will shut when the camera turns off and you don’t want that when you’re cleaning it. In my camera, I press ‘menu’ > go to ‘sensor cleaning’ > select ‘clean manually’ > then press ‘okay’. The camera’s mirror will lock up and reveal the sensor. If you have a mirrorless camera, you won’t need to do this as there isn’t a mirror anyway.
4. Hold your camera upside down again and use the blower to blow out any dust from inside your sensor. Do not use the compressed air here as it could damage your sensor or spurt some liquid out – just use the blower, it’s much safer.
5. You can choose a dry or a wet clean at this point. A dry clean being without using the solution, and a wet clean being with the solution. I recommend the wet clean, especially if your sensor is really dirty. Open your cleaning kit and put a few drops of cleaning solution onto the end of your swab.
Apply sensor cleaning solution to the swab
6. Lay your camera on a flat surface so you can look down on the sensor.
7. Put your swab onto one end of the sensor, apply a small amount of pressure, pull to the other side of your sensor in one smooth motion. Lift the swab out and put it back in on the other side of your sensor. Pull back in the opposite direction using the other side of your swab. You only need to do this in two movements, that’s it. Then put the swab to one side – you only use them once.
Clean the camera sensor with the swab
8. Check inside to see if there are any smears of solution on the sensor. Don’t worry if there are small smears, they usually dry themselves.
9. Switch off your camera and the mirror will shut back up.
10. Take your camera outside and take some pictures to see if the dark spots have gone. I recommend shooting into the sky as it’s easier to see dark spots that way. Take your photos onto a computer and look at them on screen.
And that’s it! If you still see spots, just repeat the process again.
Dirty sensor
Clean sensor
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