How Can You Clean a Camera Sensor Without Paying a Camera Specialist?

Have you ever thought about removing the most stubborn stains present on the lens/sensor of your camera and to clean a camera sensor by yourself? If not, then you must consider it as you can save the money that you are going to pay to an expert for the cleaning of the camera sensor.

In the case of cameras that come with interchangeable lenses, it is more probable that unwanted dirt, stains, or debris will accumulate on the sensor of your camera. Then cleaning that sensor would be the only solution to get rid of those stubborn stains. If you want a professional clean-up of your camera, it will be quite expensive, so you must focus on cleaning it by yourself.

By observing the following tips and techniques, you can easily clean a camera sensor at home. You just have to be sure about some important equipment and have complete knowledge of the entire procedure as well. The rest, you will learn from our detailed guide right here.

How To Clean a Camera Sensor? The Most Convenient Method With Step By Step Procedure

Different stains (oil-based and water-based) require different practices for effective cleaning. So here we have described a general procedure that you can adopt for cleaning the sensor of your camera. Cleaning the camera sensor makes the result highly appealing and definitely boosts the life of the sensor as well.

There are a lot of techniques for cleaning a camera sensor. The method to clean out the sensor of your camera that we have described in our article is the easiest and most convenient method. Let us look at this step-by-step guide to clean a camera sensor yourself in case you want to save your money.

1. Check Out The Sensor Of Your Camera

By taking a picture of a white and plain sheet of paper, you can easily determine whether your camera sensor requires cleaning. The shallow depths of the fields can make the dust spots blurry in obscurity. So you should use the narrowest aperture of your camera for best results.

So, to throw the captured image out of focus, select ISO 100, and obviously, select the manual focus mode. Then, to identify any dust spots or other stubborn stains on the sensor of your camera, review the captured image on the screen of a monitor or your computer screen.

2. Prepare Your Camera For Cleaning

If you have got a DSLR camera, then you have to flip the mirror up so that you can get easy access to the camera sensor for proper/precise cleaning. It is very amazing that most DSLR cameras have a cleaning mode, so first, from the settings menu, select the “Lock Mirror Up for Cleaning: option to clean a camera sensor.

Then, by pressing the shutter button, you see that the mirror of the camera will get flipped. But keep in mind that it will only happen if your camera is powered on. So make sure that you have got the battery of your camera fully charged before cleaning it, so that you will not face any kind of hassle during the cleaning process.

3. Filtered Blower Is Quite Efficient

Using a filtered blower to blow the dust particles off of the deck or the sensor of your camera is the most efficient method. So to practice this, hold your camera facing downwards. Then, by using a filtered air blower, fire some blasts of air into the body of your DSLR camera.

Next, if you notice some suspicious particles on the sensor of your camera, you can simply repeat step one to clean a camera sensor. It will be quite sufficient to remove the loose dust particles easily. But if there are other stubborn stains or marks that are still present, then you will require a liquid cleaner for proper cleaning.

4. Choose The Required Swab

There are different swabs present in the different camera sensor cleaning kits on the market. Selecting the appropriate swab is a critical step that must be done with care. The sensor of the camera is a sensitive portion, and for its proper and careful cleaning, a finely manufactured and completely delicate swab is required.

You can use VisibleDust’s MXD-100 Vswabs that are green in color and the DHAP Vswab (orange swabs) as well. The orange swab is manufactured from high-quality, delicate material and can clean a camera sensor that does not have low-pass filters. For DX and FX sensor cleaning, 16 mm and 24 mm swabs are present on the market.

5. Use Appropriate Cleaning Solution

Just like Smear Away and VisibleDust’s Sensor Clean, many other camera sensor cleaning solutions are present. You can buy different solutions from the market and even from online platforms as well. The above-described solutions are used to clean oil-based and water-based stains, respectively. The VDust plus solution is used more preferably by different experts as cleaners as well.

The usage criteria to clean a camera sensor by using these solutions is quite simple and easy. You only have to put about 3 drops of this solution on one side of the swab. After putting three drops on the swab, you now have to wait for about 10 seconds so that the liquid might get absorbed perfectly onto the swab. Now your swab is ready to perform the next step.

6. Get The Deck Cleaned By Using Swab

This step requires the most care and attention. Now enter the swab into the mouth or opening of the camera with great care. You should enter the swab in a horizontal direction and make sure not to touch anything that is present in the path (both inside and outside). Place the swab in such a position that it becomes completely parallel with the edges of the sensor of your camera.

Now, to clean a camera sensor, start from one end and then gently sweep the swab to the other end, exerting no kind of hard force on the sensor. The motion should be very fluent and it should be done precisely in a single stroke as well. If you feel that a second slide or pass is required, then rotate the swab and use its clean side. However, keep in mind that sweet from the same side should be practiced.