SL3 Automatic Sensor Cleaning?

[jaapv]

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 No they don’t wear out but the surface of the rubber will deteriorate over time, causing the blower to disperse small rubber particles onto the sensor. 

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The Leica Q3 is available for pre-order at B&H Photo Video and Adorama

[BillCB]

On 7/24/2024 at 6:08 PM, FlashGordonPhotography said:

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

+1 for the Arctic Butterfly - but don't have the brush revolving during cleaning, as I saw somebody attempting one day! That is only to create static so it attracts dust from your sensor.