Keep hearing on some of the photography podcasts that you should send your camera back to the factory, or qualified service center, for cleaning and calibration at least once per year. ; Does anyone do this?
I only send my camera to the service centers when I know they need a repair. ; Like Tim, I do my own cleaning
I cleaned the sensor myself, not sure there is anything else to clean. I used Eclipse E2 sensor cleaner with the swabs to match. ; You need swabs that correctly match your sensor size. ; Some sensor type use different solutions. http://www.photosol.com/eclipse_e2product.htm
James! ; You totally crack me up. I don't, but I was just thinking the other day that mine could use a cleaning...
Another self-cleaner here. ; Service centers are for broken cameras...dust on sensor is for 5 minutes of quickie cleaning at home and getting back out in the field!
I clean the sensor myself. However, I do send in my bodies and lenses to have them calibrated from time to time.
put me down as a self cleaner too. I use the same e2 solutuion Paul uses. I only clean when stuff starts showing up at f11 and only when its in the top part of the frame.
I use Visible Dust products for sensor cleaning. http://www.visibledust.com/products.php I use their green series sensor swabs and their Sensor Clean and Smear Away cleaning fluids. ; All of which are available from B&H For the outside of the camera I use the "pink juice" as Moose Peterson likes to call it. ; Its otherwise known as Lens Clens No. 1 http://www.lensclens.com/products.html
Didn't someone around here use to blow into their sensor chamber with a blow dryer??? [nb]cough cough wink wink[/nb]
Here's a good 4 part series on camera cleaning by Moose Peterson using the Visible Dust products: http://moosepeterson.com/blog/?cat=114
I like the idea about throwing them into the washer (warsher here in IN) but my wife gets upset so I just use the Visible Dust products to clean the sensor. ; Couple more questions though. ; Can they do a better job of cleaning the sensor? ; Sort of like spring cleaning at home. ; You clean it throughout the year but every once in awhile need some really deep cleaning. ; Also, what about calibrating the light meter? ; Does it need calibration once in a while?
I've never heard of that, and I don't think they actually test it when the camera is sent in for "cleaning and calibration". The calibration has to do with lenses; Roger @ lensrentals had a post a few weeks ago about it - professional cine companies have a lens specialist on staff to actually calibrate the lenses onsite to the camera, each day I think....of course their lenses are designed to allow someone to do this unlike the newer fully electronic ones.
I don't expect they can do any better a job cleaning than you can at home if you really put the care and effort into it. ; If you just are doing a quick-n-lazy cleaning, that's a different story. ; Personally, I have a 3-step cleaning system, of which 75% of the time, I use only step 1, 20% of the time I go to step 2, and only 5% of the time do I use the full 3 steps. Step 1 - Bulb blower. ; Hold camera facing the opening down, insert blower tip without touching the sensor, give some nice strong squeezes to the bulb, with a little time in between each blow for the air and any removed dust to settle out. ; Works most of the time for light dust. Step 2 - Sensor brush. ; Fine soft bristle brush designed for sensors. ; Spin or shake brush before use to 'charge' it. ; Brush gently across the sensor, brushing in the same direction. ; No pressure needed - it picks up any dust from a slight charging of the bristles. ; Works most of the time for the more stubborn dust that wants to cling to the sensor and resists the bulb blower. Step 3 - Wet swab. ; Not necessary too often. ; Swab and cleaning fluid plus some form of applicator wand. ; Wet swab with cleaning fluid (using the more sensitive E2 fluid usually is best). ; Swab should either have a dry side, or a second dry swab ready. ; Swipe wet swab across sensor face with light pressure. ; One swipe only. ; Then reverse swab or get dry swab, and swipe across sensor in the same direction as the wet swab. ; Should get the last of any stubborn dust and any wet or sticky dust or specks that have gotten on the sensor plate. As for calibrations/adjustments/etc - I suppose those could go off after a while, but I would think you'd only need to worry about it if you had reason to suspect your camera wasn't metering properly anymore. ; Personally, I haven't had metering go off on a camera before. ; Focus too can go off, and if you don't have micro-adjust capability in body, that may need to be sent in for adjustment as well. ; Luckily, I haven't had that issue either with any bodies so far.
I'm not sure about the calibration, but I don't think it is necessary to send it in for cleaning. ; I think that as long as you do you best to minimize the amount of dust that you let into the camera body (don't leave the lens off the camera for long periods of time, keep the camera pointing down when changing lenses, etc.) cleaning the sensor is not a big deal. ; In fact, I have found that my cameras have less and less dust in them as time goes on, almost as if they had dust in them from the factory and I have eliminated most of it after a year of regular cleanings.
