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Many things are told about image sensor cleaning. If some of them are true, many others are dangerously wrong. Here the most important thing to consider is that the sensor surface is an optical surface, and therefore should be treated as well. In fact, this is the surface of a band pass filter which stops the excess or infrared radiations, and then only the visible light waves are able to reach the sensor. The sensor is made of millions of phototransistors initially far more sensitive to infrared than visible light. So, this band pass filter is used to bring images to natural colours.


Below, the sensor of a Hasselblad camera, a second one from a bridge camera, and a smaller one from a standard video camera, a handheld of
about $ 40,000.00 !

sensor



Some advice:

Compressed air:
First thing to know about cleaning is to avoid the use of any compressed air or compressed gas canister of any kind, whatever anyone tells you. In fact, the very high velocity of the gas mixture will, by ventury effect, bring close particles in air to propel them at a very high speed to the surface, acting as a sandblast to your optical surface, and therefore doing unrecoverable damage.

Dry cleaning:
Never ever try it. Obviously, we can understand that when two surfaces are touched together, they have (at the least a molecularly) abrasive effects to each other. For optical cleaning work, we always need to use a gentle solvent such as isopropyl alcohol which will act either to dissolve the dirt as well act as a lubricant between both surfaces. Do not use methyl alcohol or methyl hydrate; this solvent may damage the multi coating on the optical surface.

Reusable tools:
Some techniques involve to reuse the cleaning swab many times, also, some kind of pencil are sold on the market which have a brush on a end and a kind of leather pad at the other end, this is the worse case because when the leather swab being contaminated by dust or sand by a previous usage, theses particle will scratch and damage the optical surface on future uses. It is exactly like reusing your toilet paper!

On all of your photo equipment, your image sensor is the optical surface on witch a mistake will have the worst consequences. Unlike some of our competitors, our proficiency was not acquired by luck or by chatting on the internet; our skills and competences are acquired from technical training at the head offices of great manufacturers such as Hasselblad and the Carl-Zeiss factories, making our expert advise the most reliable at the same cost. So, when you hear weird comments, don’t hesitate and contact us for our opinion, it is free

Where are those dusts particles?
As we can see in the drawing below, there is the lens on far right which, on it optical axis, will produce an image to be reflected toward the focus screen by the mirror. When we take a picture, this mirror will move up as the shutter opens, allowing the lens to project its image on the image sensor after being filtered by the band pass filter which will stop the excess of infrared light.

When the observer is looking through the eyepiece and sees some dusts, theses dusts particles are not on the image sensor but on the focus screen or on the reticle or on both and therefore won't be visible on pictures. If you think that theses dusts particles are on your pictures, this is because, by accident some dusts particles are also at the same time at a geometrical similar place on the image sensor but they are not the same. Same thing for the mirror, dust on the mirror cannot be seen either by the observer or by the image sensor. So, if they are dust on your pictures, theses dust particles do not come from the eyepiece or from the mirror. They are located directly on the image sensor, in fact on the band pass filter which is directly deposed and sealed above the image sensor and that is this surface we are cleaning when needed.

Auto and self cleaning sensor:
Manufacturers have  recently introduced self cleaning sensors which mean that every time you replace the lens, or simply activate this function by menu, a device produce ultrasonic vibrations onto the filter on the surface of the sensor. This system work well with a dry surface but after a while you still need a manual cleaning due to the surface to become sticky with dust. It is like your house windows, after a recent clean, a slight blow can remove the dust from it but after a many months however you would shake your windows or blow air on it, the dusts particles will still on the surface.

Cost:

For sensor cleaning, it cost about $20.00 and the job is done in about 5 minutes. But, if you have just purchased your new DSLR camera from within the last 6 months, then, we will do the first sensor cleaning for free just bring your proof of purchase. However, it’s a good idea to call before coming to our office to make sure a qualified technician is available. Also please be sure the battery is fully charged and your camera is at room temperature and not frozen. Coming from a cold car in winter time the dew forming on the cold sensor and mirror will make it a lot more difficult to clean we’ll just have to wait till it warms up.

exp.view
How do theses dust particles can get in my camera?
Can you immerse your camera under water? No? It is because your camera is not water and dust tight. In fact, if you take off the lens and gently blow air by the data card compartment, you will feel the air with the back of your hand placed at the front of the bayonet mount. Also, any movements of the lens for focusing or zooming involve a front and back displacement of many lens elements inside the objective, acting as a bicycle air pump, blowing air from outside to inside and vice versa.

So, you can find some dusts particles even a few minutes after a clean. Just the action of taking a picture will make the shutter's blades shake and cause some of remaining particles between them to be released and cause theses particles to fall on the sensor. Of course at each cleaning we do many shutter releases to remove as much as possible the remaining particles from the shutter we also verify our work with white defused light.

We do not recommend that you try to clean a sensor by yourself. Bring it to us, for professionally executed and carefully done job, you and your camera will be happy you did.