Sensor cleaning

[CelestSpeed3]

Hey guys with those with DSLR's who use them outdoors, how often do you get your sensors cleaned. I have to get mine cleaned like every 6 months or so, but I'm not sure I want to take the leap and do it at home.

For those of you who do it at home what supplies do you need for good results I've heard all kinds of recommended tools and products bit I'd rather trust someone who doesn't have a sponsored photo website.

[Terrible3]

In all honesty I just find it a better option to let vistek in toronto sort it for me. Its so cheap and they do such great work I can be bothered to do it myself. I shoot two full frame bodies and they are far harder to clean than the more popular crop sensors, so your results may vary. At the end of the day I would much rather remove a dust spec in post than have to toss out a whole day of shooting due to a streak caused by a sensor swab that I goofed on trying to service my cameras in the field.

In terms of how often you need to clean your cmos/ccd really comes down to how often you shoot, number of lens changes and the conditions. I shoot motorsports a lot so that means crazy amounts of lens changes in very dusty environments. Since I am often panning at very high f-stop values you can see sensor dust like mad and means I have to remove every speck in post. As such I tend to get my cameras serviced roughly 5 times a year maybe more. Pretty much every 4 or so race weekends they will be sent in. For the average consumer with a single lens I cant see you needing anything near as frequent as that.

I have been a bit behind as of late, but most of my work has been autoshows. Under those conditions you are shooting mostly wide open so sensor dust is basically a non issue. For you DSLR video people out there... well dust can be a massive issue in any dynamic shot.

[aZuMi]

Hey guys with those with DSLR's who use them outdoors, how often do you get your sensors cleaned. I have to get mine cleaned like every 6 months or so, but I'm not sure I want to take the leap and do it at home.

For those of you who do it at home what supplies do you need for good results I've heard all kinds of recommended tools and products bit I'd rather trust someone who doesn't have a sponsored photo website.

I use Visible Dust (for FF) + Loupe (with LED light) whenever I clean my sensors. So far, for my D600 I've only cleaned it once since getting it and I'm at 37k actuations and I'll be cleaning it again soon before the wedding season starts.

With my D700, I'm only at 15k and I'll be cleaning it soon as well. I only clean the sensor in a clean environment and takes around 10-15 mins. Since you'll have the loupe, it'll help you know if you leave streaks or not.

I don't shoot motorsports, only weddings, events or family.