[BethC]

Just picked my K3ii up from the camera shop where I had the sensor cleaned. It's my first time having a camera cleaned. I've had it 3 years and I've posted about some focus inconsistency and many recommended I start with a cleaning. anyway, the lady at camera shop said they recommend a cleaning once a year. She has hers cleaned 4 or 5 times a year!! I am such a slacker!! So, the K 3ii is done, now i want to take the K5 in. and I"m going to try to get them in once a year for a good cleaning. Curious if you all take your cameras somewhere or clean them and how often.

[pakinjapan]

I used to do one a year with a professional cleaning service. but I currently haven't done it for some years already.

I've posted about some focus inconsistency and many recommended I start with a cleaning.

Do you see / feel any difference on your K3II autofocus after the cleaning? I am wondering if I should get my K3 clean up too.

[BethC]

I used to do one a year with a professional cleaning service. but I currently haven't done it for some years already.


Do you see / feel any diefference on your K3II autofocus after the cleaning? I am wondering if I should get my K3 clean up too.

I quickly fired off a few shots when I got it home, right before my son left for football practice, so it literally was the 2 of us passing at the front door and me snapping a few shots of him. they are all tack sharp. However, I've seemed to always get very sharp test shots when taking it out to check focus, but when using it in a shoot, I seem to get far to many back focused, front focused and not focused shots. So, tomorrow I have a High School Senior photo shoot and I'm torn between using the K3ii and seeing how it performs or sticking to my K5 which has been my go to camera since I've noticed the focus issues on the 3.

My K5 is going in next for a cleaning, so I'm leaning towards putting my K3 to the test at my shoots coming up.

[pschlute]

Had digital camera since 2005. Never had a sensor cleaned yet. Occasional going over with a rocket blower, that's it.

Unless you exclusively use Live View, cleaning the sensor has zero effect on focus.

[patrick9]

Out of 6 DSLR's I have only had 1 sensor cleaned once. That was because there was a piece of dirt/r dust That would not shake off or blow off.

[tvdtvdtvd]

the lady at camera shop said they recommend a cleaning once a year. She has hers cleaned 4 or 5 times a year!!

Of course she did. I'm sure sensor cleanings have a very good profit margin, much more so than a lens CLA.

I've never had a digital SLR professionally cleaned. A rocket blower is all I've ever needed and even that is only
infrequently used. Day to day, Dust Removal on startup keeps my sensor clean.

All of this has much to do with how and where you use your camera. If you regularly change lenses in a dusty, grimy
environment then you might have regular need for a more thorough cleaning. But 4-5 times a year would be excessive
in most cases and sounds like a sales pitch.

[dms]

Moderate usage of/changing lenses for a decade and never cleaned the sensor. Regularly used the Giotto rocket blower. Unless there is (visual) dust/artifacts on the sensor that cannot be removed by the air jet, cannot see a reason for cleaning, and on the other hand the possibility of damaging the sensor suggests one should not physically touch it for no strong reason.

[SSGGeezer]

I have a bunch of sensor wipes and liquid that I bought when my K-50 would show dust spots but after 5 months and 5700 images with my KP, I have not even needed to use my rocket blower with the wonderful ultrasonic sensor cleaning.

[kiwi_jono]

Definitely depends on the camera and how fussy you are about dust. When I had a K-x, the sensor would stay clean for about 6 months or so. With the K-5 the sensor shaker did a better job and I got over a year.
With the K-1, I have had it nearly 2 years and have not wet cleaned it yet. I did have some spots show up but a blower dealt with those fine.

I'm not super fussy on sensor dust (at least I think I'm not) as I figure its best not to clean the sensor more often than you really need to. Generally if dust starts becoming consistently obvious at f11 I will do something about it.

[photoptimist]

There's no good rule for scheduling cleanings because sensors don't get dirty over some set time or dirty over some set number of shutter actuations. They get dirty from lens swapping and fast zooming in dusty environments.

I clean the sensor when it gets dirty (which is easy to check by shooting a picture at f/22 of a blank sky that is out-of-focus). If there are spots, then I use the rocket blower and then check for dirt again. If two or three rocket blower cycles can't clean it, I use one of those wet-wipe sticks.

[mikeSF]

never taken one in for a cleaning, ever, but once a year sounds reasonable.
I do use a rocket blower weekly and have also use the sticky wand style sensor cleaning devices periodically with fine results.

[BrianR]

I clean when an annoying amount of dust shows up during my normal usage. The meaning of 'annoying' and 'normal usage' may vary over time and by person.

[Just1MoreDave]

I used to clean my sensor a lot, when I lived in Hawai'i and had a *ist DS (no camera sensor cleaning mode on the DS). About 3 times a year. That changed to annually when I moved here. When I got the K-7, I have only cleaned it maybe twice, and once with the K-5 IIs. So I think the top-tier sensor shake helps, but environment helps too. Don't move here, housing is outrageous.

[ramseybuckeye]

I've only cleaned them when needed, I do shoot outdoors a lot, and it is humid here quite a bit too, I think a dust particle needs a little moisture to stick. Autumn seems to be the most common time that I'll get spots, probably because between farming and leaves falling, there is more dust in the air, which is also why you see oranger than usual moon rises in the fall, Anyway when you see dust spots in pictures and the rocket blower doesn't get it, that's when to clean it.

When you get it done in the shop, do they clean the whole camera?

[bhbrake]

I take my k3 in annually, but I tend to change lenses out in the field frequently and often have trouble avoiding wind and dust. Also, the k3 and some other models have a feature that allows you to check the sensor for spotting.