Sensor cleaning tutorial.
You asked for it and I deliver.
After our last video about how to change lenses
without getting sensor dust onto your camera,
you asked me for doing a sensor cleaning tutorial.
My name is Wolf Amri, wolf.amri on Instagram
and I do what you say.
First of all let me tell you how to find out
that you have dust on your sensor.
One way is of course checking your images.
In this image you can easily see those ugly
black stains.
That was shot at f/22 – so a high f-number.
If you reduce the f-number to f/11, it gets
less visible.
And if you shoot wide open, it may not be
visible at all, like here at f/4.
So if you are out and about, and cleaning
is no option, you can choose a low f-number
if that works for the kind of shooting you
are doing.
Another way is editing it out in software
which is pretty straight forward in uniform
areas like the sky, but can get tricky in
other situations.
So best is of course to not have dust on your
sensor at all.
How do you know if your issue is sensor dust
and not dust on your lens?
Let's do a test.
I will sacrifice one of my last hair, put
it on the front of the lens and take a picture
of a white piece of paper.
Then I put it on the back of the lens 
and now I drop it directly on the sensor.
I'm using an older camera body btw – so
don't get a heart attack.
Can you see a difference?
I bet you can.
Sensor dust is much sharper than dust on the
lens.
The hair on the front is visible, on the back
of the lens it is hardly visible.
If the hair was somewhere in the lens, it
would be somewhere in between those images.
Why do I tell you that?
Many people think they have dust in the lens
that is causing issues.
That dust would be tiny compared to this hair,
so you would not realize that at all, unless
you are shooting against the light because
then it might create lens flare.
I once wanted to have my lens cleaned from
Canon service because I had a tiny dust particle
in it.
They recommended not to do it because it won't
really affect the image.
Another option to check for sensor dust would
of course be to just change your lenses.
If the stain stays at the same spot, it is
sensor dust.
If it is suddenly gone, it is dust on your
lens.
And another solution would be to directly
check if the sensor needs cleaning with a
flashlight.
There are sensor loupes available, but for
me a bright flashlight works just as well,
sometimes even better.
Unless you are long-sighted, but then you
probably have glasses anyway.
First step on DSLRs we need to make sure to
flip the mirror up so that it doesn't block
the sensor and we get a free view of the camera
sensor.
On this older canon I need to go into the
menu choose sensor cleaning and then clean
manually.
Check the manual of your camera – I recommend
downloading a pdf, because you can then use
Acrobats search function.
OK, the sensor is now fully uncovered and
using our flashlight, I am able to see sensor
spots.
Now that we know that, it's time to show you
my exact procedure of sensor cleaning.
First I take an image to see if there is sensor
dust and where it is on the sensor.
Search for a white wall or door, or anything
that is uniform and rather bright.
Then I take the camera, set it to the highest
f-number possible and a loooong shutter speed
because I need the image to be rather bright.
Bright, but not really white – that will
reveal the sensor dust on the image best.
Then I press the shutter button and move the
camera up and down and rotate it for the time
the shutter is open.
Why do I do that?
Because if there would be a stain on the wall,
and I would not move the camera, I may have
difficulties distinguishing between the stain
on the wall and the dirt on the sensor.
Moving the camera will blur that stain and
the sensor dust will stand out much better.
Then I check the image on the computer – and
I see we have a bit of dust.
One here, one there and a few smaller ones.
To avoid having to clean the complete sensor
all the time, you need to locate the dust
particles on the sensor.
That might sound super easy, but the tricky
thing is: the image that our lenses project
onto the sensor is upside down due to physics
(I'm pretty sure you don't remember that from
school, right?).
But let me proof that to you.
I'm out here in the wild and I hold this lens
in front of a piece of paper.
As you can see, the scene is upside down.
But it is not flipped horizontally – only
upside down.
So if you have dust on the bottom right of
our test image, I need to search for it at
the top right of the camera sensor.
And what a surprise, there it is.
Now that we know where the sensor dust is,
we need to get rid of it.
In the years I have used all kinds of sensor
cleaning solutions.
The very expensive visible dust brush, that
rotates and will electrostatically charge
itself, which is said to kind of suck up the
dust.
That works OK, but I have introduced other
issues in time, like some kind of oil or something
that had to be somewhere in the housing and
was then smeared onto the sensor.
That's why I threw it away and only have the
box.
I also used these sensor swabs for wet cleaning.
And of course this rocket blower that airport
security pretty much disliked in the beginnings
and I always had to get it out at check-in.
The blower by the way would always be my first
choice, because if you can get rid of the
sensor dust with the blower, that's the easiest
solution.
But if the dust is a happy camper and likes
to stay for another few days or weeks, you
need this tool.
You can get that from Eyelead or Pentax.
I will link you to both in the description.
What's the secret behind this tool?
That gel works similar to the gels you may
know from cleaning your keyboard.
It is sticky and the sensor dust will adhere
to the gel.
So all you need to do is gently – and please
do it gently press the gel stick onto the
sensor.
You don't have to be afraid, to destroy your
camera, but you also don't have to push as
hard as you can as I have seen on some other
youtube videos.
Just gently make sure the surface of the gel
lays flat on the camera sensor and remove
it again.
In most cases one single touch will already
get rid of the dust.
If not, just repeat a few times until it is
gone, but again, don't push and pull like
crazy, that is not needed, even though your
camera might take it.
Particularly with mirrorless cameras that
have an image stabilizer, I like to be gentle.
On a sidenote: I have heard some critique
that somebody with a Sony camera had issues
with the Eyelead leaving some residue behind,
which he then had to clean with wet cleaners.
I didn't have any issues – not even with
the blue gel version.
But there is a red version particularly for
Sony, that is not always available.
If you want to be on the safe side – get
the Pentax.
OK, the first sensor dust particle is gone.
You can now do the same with the other dust
particles, or just clean the complete sensor
if you wish.
WAIT – HE IS NUTS you may say – he has
to get rid of the dust particle on the gel
first.
Not really.
I have cleaned 4 camera sensors without ever
cleaning the surface of the gel stick.
But talking about cleaning the gel.
You might not have expected that, but this
thing is reusable.
All you need is one of these sticky papers,
that are even more sticky than the cleaning
gel itself.
I will remove the cover of the paper and then
I just push the gel onto that cleaning paper
(this time I can push hard).
The dust will be relocated to his new home
- the paper.
There are quite a few papers in the pack.
I usually use them more than once and put
the cover back onto the sticky part once I'm
finished.
What you see here is the dirt of 4 Sony sensors.
But it doesn't stop there.
You can even use the gel stick to remove dirt
on your lens.
I don't use it on the outside of the lens,
because a little warm breath, kitchen paper
and then the blower does the trick, but I
don't want dust on the inner side of the lens
because it will end up on the sensor sooner
or later.
I use one of the sticks for the sensor and
one for the lenses – if you want to be on
the safe side, that's what you can do too.
That's it - don't forget to subscribe to help
feed this little sensor dust creator, we both
see you in the next video!
