[reknelb]

I wanted to start sending my cameras out to be cleaned on a regular basis. Any thoughts? Any east coast recommendations?

[Peter Zack]

On a regular basis? It shouldn't be necessary to do that at all. I've cleaned mine several times without any issue and a proper brush as well as good blower will most often do the job. You can search the forum for several threads on this subject. Unless you have a particular troublesome issue then you should always be able to do it yourself.

[reknelb]

I have one camera with a ton of dust. Not sure what happened but I can't get it clean.

[Miserere]

I have one camera with a ton of dust. Not sure what happened but I can't get it clean.

It resists the mighty rocket blower? Wow, that's some annoying dust...

Giottos Rocket Air Blower and Q Ball

[jfdavis58]

Stick it in the dish washer--pot scrubber cycle. Works like a charm! For the baked-on stuff a few minutes pre-soak, some Bon-Ami or a bit of steel wool and some elbow grease.

Seriously, cleaning a sensor is a five second to five minute job: rocket blower, sensor brush, sensor swab. In that order, of increasing dust removal.

You can get all three kits for the price of one service call. So they can do the same thing, same order, same tools.

I wanted to start sending my cameras out to be cleaned on a regular basis. Any thoughts? Any east coast recommendations?

[aerodave]

Cleaning your own sensor is so quick and easy that it makes almost no sense to pay to have it done. A blower, some Eclipse, Pec Pads, and a Sensor Wand will do wonders, and the risk of damage is low if you follow the directions and use common sense. It's not completely fool-proof, but it's far closer than most people think. The filter that covers the CCD is fragile, sure, but it's a little tougher a lot of people give it credit for. My contact lenses are fragile by most definitions, but I have little problem handling them with my bare hands every single day without damaging them.

You may prefer to let someone else have the accountability, so they have to pay for it if they break it. But consider that paying to have your sensor cleaned ten times is probably more expensive than a new body. As soon as you've paid more for cleanings than a new body would have cost if you broke it, you've made a bad investment.

Plus, why do you need it done so often? Simple common-sense lens changing habits go a long way to keeping dust out of your body. Move quickly and keep the body facing down. Get your back lens caps loose or off before yout open the body so the new lens can go right on.

[pentaxbling]

please don't spend the cash to let someone do such an easy task! do a little research on google about the subject. in the end a simple wet cleaning is very easy to do. make a cleaning tool out of a popsicle stick, or something similar, order some pecpads, or kimwipes, both work... and some eclipse fluid. a blower is nice to have as well. the thing with sending your camera off is this, they will clean it for you, and it will be clean when they box it up. but if there is any microparticles of dust still in the camera it will get shaken around during shipping and more than likely some will end up landing back on your sensor, so you don't have a "perfectly clean" sensor when you get it back, and you would think that you should when paying for this... most people that ive talked to that have sent there camera off for sensor cleaning were not happy with the results when they got them back.... its cheaper to do it yourself, and your results will be as good if not better than having it done by someone else. Cleaning Digital Cameras - Introduction is a great site, read though and think it over. i have cleaned quite a few sensors and they are not as fragile as most people make them out to be. if you are careful you have nothing to be scared of.

[digitaldevo]

Get a rocket blower, like others have mention, and pick up a LensPen (either the SensorPen or the minipen) and you will always have a clean sensor with very little effort and it takes a whole 2mins. tops.

[joele]

I use a blower and VERY occasionally I clean the sensor with a swipe (copperhill kit).. I really feel with the K10d I haven't needed to swipe the sensor anywhere near as often as the DS or even K100d. In fact I have only done it once so far compared to monthly with the other cameras (I bought the K10d on release so had it a while now)..

The blower seems to work much better on it than previous models, maybe the non-stick coating does work?

[Miserere]

The blower seems to work much better on it than previous models, maybe the non-stick coating does work?

I don't know, but I've yet to find a dust bunny that can resist the blower.

[Bramela]

Perhaps this website may be of assistance as well:

Cleaning Digital Cameras - Introduction.

[reknelb]

I know all about the kits, I have a blower and a wet kit. I'm talking about cleaning and maybe some repairs. I've got about 50 pieces of dust showing up on test shots stopped down all the way. I have never had more than one or two pieces of dust before. Not really sure where all this came from. I've tried the wet kit and it just moves the dust around. Blower is useless.

[baw]

I know all about the kits, I have a blower and a wet kit. I'm talking about cleaning and maybe some repairs.

?? A blower and a wet kit are used for cleaning.
If you can move the dust around it's very easy to properly clean your sensor.
Only problem is the so-called "welded dust". I had one particle that was impossible to remove, even with a "wet" washing. Camera is now with Pentax.

[baldeagle21b]

Sometimes static electricity can be a problem, causing dust to be attracted to the sensor/filter and resisting attempts to remove it. If you have a nylon sensor brush, try charging it by blowing canned compressed air through it before applying it to the sensor. That will give the the bristles a small electrostatic charge and help remove the stubborn dust.