Cleaned my sensor last week, great results

[eurotrash]

So I had this coming for a long time. After my sunset picture taking in the middle of Spring, I had accumulated a lot of pollen on my sensor from swapping out lenses all the time. So I picked up a Giotto Rocket Air blower and another LensPen (ended up losing the first in Baltimore last year)

The results were spectacular. My pictures seem to look better than they did for a long time. Weather that's a placebo effect I'm unsure, but to me they look crisper. Could be my new glass playing tricks on me..

In my case, I shot sunsets at between f/16-f/22 and discovered the pollen AFTER the fact which sucked! I couldn't edit the dust out perfectly because of the gradual nature of the coloured skies, so do yourself a favor and at least check your sensor every three to six months. Imagine shooting something important and realizing after the fact that the shot is covered in dust!

 

[eurotrash]

I still unfortunately have a little spot present, but you can only vaguely see it at f/36 so I doubt it will be of any relevance at 'normal' apertures.

 

[FastGlass]

I hear about people cleaning their sensor. I dread the day I need to. Seems like a awefull lot can go wrong. I take every procaution to minimize the risk of dust getting in. Glad to here your experiance went well.

 

[eurotrash]

I was scared too, honestly. But now, it's just the easiest thing in the world. I can't imagine how people can mess it up, really. You'd have to be somewhere else mentally, just not paying attention I guess.

I suppose I should edit the post to outline the process I used..I will do that now, haha.

EDIT: Well, I guess you can't edit blogs so I'll outline it here. (That's freakin' weak, by the way!)

First I did this in a controlled environment (i.e., my kitchen with hardwood floors, away from air vents)
Pointed the camera mostly downward for the entire procedure, mounted on a sturdy tripod. I positioned mine so that I could also sit down on a chair next to the camera while performing the work.

First thing you want to do is locate and spay your body cap with the air from the rocket air and also remember to use the lens pen to brush it off and spray it again. You need to make sure that it's clean as heck throughout the process as you'll be removing/unscrewing it a little bit.
I took off the lens that was on the camera and set it aside. Then, I blasted the curtain with air from the rocket air blower, pretty close to the curtain, but not NOT touching it. I also went at it with the lens pens' 'brush' side very softly, and sprayed it again afterward with the rocket air once more.
I put the body cap on the camera to prevent dust from entering again.
I locked up the mirror for cleaning. Then, I sprayed the sensor (well, really, the glass in front of the sensor if you wanna be technical about it) with a series of really good bursts with the rocket air just like I did with the curtain. I then used the rear of the lens pen, the charcoal element to wipe the sensor, moving from centre to the outer edges. I applied a soft amount of force while slightly twisting the pen back and forth in a horizontal motion. It's difficult to explain, but I'm certain that if you just wiped it it would have the same result. Blasted it again with compressed air. I did this several more times after the stubborn spots wouldn't go away. After the third time, all were gone and my camera was testing fine at f/22 and f/36. Except for that one spot, but it's insignificant at normal apertures.

Looking at it now, after it didn't work the first time, I probably should have wet cleaned it, but again, if you maintain it in this way every few months, you shouldn't have to wet clean every year I don't think. Mine was somewhat of an extreme case because of the resilience of the sticky pollen and dust that had coagulated on the sensor. Most won't have that issue with normal dust. I was just stupid and careless when changing lenses is all.

Hope that helps, and don't be too afraid. I didn't mess anything up that I have noticed yet, so it's probably OK!