SL3 Automatic Sensor Cleaning?

[Jonathan Levin]

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Has anyone used this? Does it work? I have a few spots I notice when shooting blue sky or some solid color. Not bad enough to make me want to do major swab type cleaning. Spots easily removed in Photoshop/Camera Raw.

[Ning Ning]

Just give it a try. It just feels like starting an old tractor.

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[Jonathan Levin]

Hhmmm…not to reassuring. Did it work???

[Ning Ning]

So at least I don't have any lint or spots on the sensor at the moment. However, I always take care, switch the camera off when changing lenses and try to change the lenses as quickly as possible.
I have used the automatic sensor cleaning function twice so far, more out of curiosity.
If I were you, I would just do that too. You'll see if it helps. It won't do any harm.

[Jonathan Levin]

Thanks Ning Ning.

i just didn’t want to make things worse if all the shake rattle and roll produces MORE spots. I just have one lens and I rarely take it off for reason you mentioned.

so I know one person has tried it on this forum.

Edited July 24 by Jonathan Levin

[SrMi]

I have tried it several times, but not because I had dust. If I have dust, I still first try the blower, and that takes care of it most of the time.

[Jonathan Levin]

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SRMi.

 

Can you elaborate on results? Did you have an issue and did the Auto Sensor clean help? If not, I'm guessing that's why you went the blower route.

[jaapv]

Why would you get more dust? 

[Jonathan Levin]

23 minutes ago, jaapv said:

Why would you get more dust? 

I don't know. Have you done this.

I don't want to turn this into a huge issue (though I suppose it's to late) but my really hesitancy is because I am heading to Europe in a month and fear that whatever I do will be worse than how it is now with just a couple of spots. I know, I know. Sensor swab, cleaner stuff. Haven't done and admittedly am a wimp about doing it myself, at least until I get back from trip.

So bottom line, is I can leave as is, knowing others have stated that it is next to impossible to get a perfectly clean sensor and do some quick touch up in post.

I am thinking of sealing my lens to the camera using some kind of caulk to prevent as much dust as possible. (Just kidding, of coarse.)

[jaapv]

Well I have cleaned sensors for twenty years and it is a five minute job, I have done it sitting in my car during travel. I even have wiped condensation off my sensor in a tropical rainstorm with the tail of my T-shirt… And in my experience a sensor is totally clean after swiping 

[FlashGordonPhotography]

Sensors need to be cleaned. It’s a routine and practice does indeed make perfect. But really it’s trivial. Every digital photographer should have the basics. A rocket blower, clean brush and swabs/fluid. You can get fancy with the brush part and get an Arctic butterfly, which I think is absolutely brilliant, despite being seriously expensive. Most use a new small makeup brush and store it in a ziplock bag. Note. Things you use for sensor cleaning are ONLY for sensor cleaning. Don’t use lens cleaners etc as they’ll be full of stuff that’ll just end up on your sensor.

Using any cleaning technique short of the swab (final stage) you should have the sensor facing downward. Gravity and all that. Same with a blower or Arctic butterfly. Then the dust simply falls away as you blow/brush it off the sensor. Camera needs to be off so there’s no static charge in the sensor.

I have gone away from the sticks as even the *Sony* ones (regarded as safe for IS sensors) occasionally leave a residue.

The automatic vibration cleaning will work well for anything that isn’t sticky or damp. Hold the camera face down, lens off (use a body cap if it’s outside in the field) and away you go. Then a blower, which we should all have in our bag or hotel room or office. Then a brush/butterfly. Finally a wet swab. When I travel I’m stunned by the number of people who don’t have a $5 blower, even. I routinely use a rocket blower when changing lenses, even if i don’t *see* dust spots. I use my cleaning kit more often on other peoples gear when I travel. Come on people. Be prepared!

A wet clean is really only required for the sticky things. If you live in the tropics you’ll do more wet cleans. The big one is pollen. Pollen is evil.  But you learn to deal with it pretty easily.

While Japp is absolutely correct, I’m not going to recommend using your t-shirt. I have, many times until once I made it much much worse because my shirt hadn’t been rinsed properly. Lost half a days shooting with that camera. But I have done a sensor swab clean in a car, many times, with no issues. Just carry the rocket blower. I also don’t recommend *canned air*. It has a propellant which can end up on the sensor and it’s too powerful and may push the dust further into the camera, where it’ll just be attracted back to the sensor.

Gordon

[FlashGordonPhotography]

2 hours ago, Jonathan Levin said:

I don't know. Have you done this.

I don't want to turn this into a huge issue (though I suppose it's to late) but my really hesitancy is because I am heading to Europe in a month and fear that whatever I do will be worse than how it is now with just a couple of spots. I know, I know. Sensor swab, cleaner stuff. Haven't done and admittedly am a wimp about doing it myself, at least until I get back from trip.

So bottom line, is I can leave as is, knowing others have stated that it is next to impossible to get a perfectly clean sensor and do some quick touch up in post.

I am thinking of sealing my lens to the camera using some kind of caulk to prevent as much dust as possible. (Just kidding, of coarse.)

For what it’s worth, my sensor is 99% clean, 99% of the time because I do preventative maintenance like using the blower when changing lenses. If I see it in the VF then I use a blower immediately. I shoot a lot stopped down and I don’t need the hassle. I usually need to be around f16 on a clear wall to see anything. I rarely shoot at f16. I might spot 1 shot in a thousand in post.

Gordon

[jaapv]

26 minutes ago, FlashGordonPhotography said:

While Japp is absolutely correct, I’m not going to recommend using your t-shirt

I had no choice - It was pouring with tropical rain all day, Landrovers got stuck in the mud -fortunately we had a little light Suzuki Mahindra, I was traveling light with a CL and the sensor kept fogging up - and we had a fantastic Wild Dog sighting... so I used the only dry thing I had, the hem of my T shirt, to wipe the sensor, multiple times.

[FlashGordonPhotography]

1 minute ago, jaapv said:

I had no choice - It was pouring with tropical rain all day, Landrovers got stuck in the mud -fortunately we had a little light Suzuki Mahindra, I was traveling light with a CL and the sensor kept fogging up - and we had a fantastic Wild Dog sighting... so I used the only dry thing I had, the hem of my T shirt, to wipe the sensor, multiple times.

Absolutely, You do what you need to do.

Gordon

[SrMi]

6 hours ago, Jonathan Levin said:

SRMi.

 

Can you elaborate on results? Did you have an issue and did the Auto Sensor clean help? If not, I'm guessing that's why you went the blower route.

Never had any issues with Auto Sensor Clean, but I typically use a sensor loupe to check for dust preemptively and then blow it if I see any.

If I notice dust while shooting, I would use Auto sensor clean to remove it until I have access to loupe and blower.

[Jonathan Levin]

Thank you Flash Gordon SrMi and jaapv. Since there is next to nothing about this in the manual about ASC, this info is great! I would never have thought to turn camera sensor face down, but makes sense. Do I understand correctly that you remove the lens and then do the ASC? I would have left lens on camera, probably another mistake. I have an old bulb blower and will get one of those rocket blowers.

[Jonathan Levin]

And of coarse there are three sizes: small medium and large. Your preference or recommendation?

[SrMi]

24 minutes ago, Jonathan Levin said:

Thank you Flash Gordon SrMi and jaapv. Since there is next to nothing about this in the manual about ASC, this info is great! I would never have thought to turn camera sensor face down, but makes sense. Do I understand correctly that you remove the lens and then do the ASC? I would have left lens on camera, probably another mistake. I have an old bulb blower and will get one of those rocket blowers.

Leave the lens on the camera, and there is less chance for new dust to get into the lens chamber.

I use a battery-powered Nitecore Baby Blower. Some people have reported issues with the latest version, though.

[Jonathan Levin]

The shirt cleaning method...I don't think I'll try that. It's kind of funny my Nikon D850 had  a clean mode on it as well. Never used it. As a matter of fact I don't think I ever did a major cleaning of the sensor the years that I owned that. Dust spots were somehow not a real problem for me, and I tested to see how bad they were: small aperture, close and  far focus wide tele, against sky or something light. A few spots here and there, but I just spotted those out. And I was switching (very carefully) between 3 zooms for assignment stuff. Just lucky... I also found it really helps to have a clean monitor screen. A few times I thought I had a serious problem until I moved an image around the screen to find a bunch of crap my cat or me  had  sneezed up.

 

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Hallo,

Look here: Leica L-Mount

[FlashGordonPhotography]

For preventative cleans just leave the lens on. If you have visible dust I’d prefer to use a body cap so the dust isn’t just transferred to the rear element (it’s less of an optical issue. More that it’ll get back to the sensor.). I keep a large rocket blower on my office desk and carry a medium when I travel. I just gets crushed into any old spot in the bag. with a few cleaning cloths etc. Current one is about 10 years old. They don’t wear out so get the one that won’t fall apart.

Gordon

Edited July 25 by FlashGordonPhotography
correcting errors