Dust Is The Enemy... Within!

This series of four apparent mistakes are captures of my 20D sensor before and progressively through sensor cleaning. The first is filthy, the second is the result of blown air only, the third shows results from a single-pass sensor swipe and the fourth of a second-pass sensor swipe. Click on the images to see the diminishing filth! YOU can clean your own sensor without fear of damaging it.

Tomorrow, I will post a short tutorial.  The process is [relatively] cheap, compared to sending your camera body to its manufacturer... actually, it's WAY cheap over the long haul because once you learn the technique, you can clean as often as you like.  Contrast that with a $150-250 one-time "pro" cleaning!  I'll demonstrate how to do it over and over again for a total expense of around 50 bucks.

Sensors are very sensitive to abrasive materials, including mere dust. However, let's consider your DSLR is "old" like my 20D that does not have an automatic cleaning function as with newer models (even the newer models with "self-cleaning" sensors need periodic manual cleaning as well). If you're considering on ditching it for a newer model because the cost of cleaning it is close to it's resale value, think again.

A good friend of mine who is very adept at repairing PCs once told me, "Don't kill the patient!"  You can easily fix your dusty sensor to almost new!  Stubborn spots are usually few and with today's software, you can easily create a dust 'profile' that will automatically mask out the offending spots in every image.  Stay tuned for the tutorial...