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View Full Version : Frustrated with D40 Sensor Cleaning



polvadis
07-27-2009, 11:27 AM
About a week ago I noticed that my photos had a few blurry spots on them. I cleaned and then swapped the lens and nothing changed, so it's the sensor. I bought cleaning supplies from Samy's Camera; got the rocket blower and a set of cleaning pads with cleaning solution.

Took off the lens, blew everything out first, then cleaned the sensor per the instructions. "A couple of drops of the solution on the swab, pass over the sensor once with one side, and back with the other, discard the swab". No problems there. The spots on the photos disappeared only to show up somewhere else. So at least I'm on the right track and keep cleaning. After 4 more tries I finally had no spots at all last night. BUT just to check I took some photos this morning and BAM, a couple of spots again somewhere else on the photo.

Does this mean my camera is just really dirty inside and I will keep playing this cat & mouse game until I get it all out? What frustrates me is that what if it's clean today, I take the camera out and shake it around a bit and stuff gets on it again. Then my pictures will have those spots.

I'm new when it comes to DSLR, so I'm also new to maintenance required. The cleaning supplies cost quite a bit, Rocket Blower $19, 10 cleaning pads $39, and cleaning solution $10, that's in-store price and I probably should have done this online. But now I wonder if I should just have the store clean it for me for $35...

Cleaned the sensor again this morning, so far no spots. But for how long?

TheWengler
07-27-2009, 12:01 PM
You have to be careful where you open your camera up. Try to avoid changing lenses where a lot of crap is floating around in the air. I haven't had to use more than a rocket blower in the 2 years I've had my DSLR. Occasionally there are some faint spots at f/16 that I need to clone out in pp.

K1W1
07-27-2009, 03:53 PM
Two other things.

Never take the lens off when the camera is turned on (the sensor is charged and will attract dust particles).

Always hold the camera body with the lens opening facing down while you are changing lenses so nothing can fall into the body from above.

If you want a video demo go to Dtown TV and look at the latest video (episode 22). The guys discus lens changing and how to do it.

Tomcat
07-27-2009, 04:14 PM
What KIWI said.