Pixiq

I just got back from spending the weekend at my sister's house in Austin, TX. It was a family filled weekend packed with 3 very cute little girls running around the backyard hunting for Easter eggs and between myself, two grandfathers, and my sister's husband there were enough cameras to start a camera store!

When my brother-in-law started chimping his camera extra hard I asked if there was a problem he was having with his Nikon DSLR. There was. He had acquired a nasty bit of sensor dust right smack in the middle of his camera's sensor. We tried blowing it out with a small, and inadequate, blower but to no avail. Unfortunately I hadn't brought my sensor cleaning kit [Amazon] (or my Giottos Rocket Blower [Amazon] pictured below) with me so he was kinda stuck. Don't ask why it wasn't in my bag. It's always in my bag. I'm ordering another one.

Basically, I'm writing this article for him. Of course, many of you should also find this very helpful as well.

The first thing I did was search the Pixiq archives and found a great article on cleaning your camera sensor. So I'm emailing him the link to that article to get him started.

But cleaning your sensor shouldn't have to become a regular part of your picture-taking life. Hopefully, if you are careful, you can push those maintenance times farther apart by following a few simple steps to avoid gathering sensor dust to begin with.

The Problem: Removable Lenses!

The reason DSLRs accumulate sensor dust to begin with is those darn removable lenses. Don't get me wrong, we all love the fact that we can change lenses, that's why we bought DSLRs to begin with. But you don't get sensor dust on compact digital cameras because those lenses don't come off. They aren't open to the real root of the issue: air! Air, of course, carries dust and other nasty little particles and every time you change lenses you're opening up your sensor to those particles that float around aimlessly looking for a problematic place to land.

While almost all new DSLRs now come standard with some sort of "self-cleaning sensor" technology it's still a problem that can come up from time to time. Besides, many of us are still using older DSLRs that don't have camera sensors that shake and shimmy every time you change lenses.

The Answer: Change Lenses Like A Pro!

I live in the lovely deserts of West Texas so I'm constantly on the battle against sensor dust in my DSLR. Here are the steps I take to keep dust out of my DSLR sensor:

1. Keep it ready - I tend to think ahead of time about the shoot I'm heading to. If I know I'll be changing lenses in the field I'll plan ahead, as much as I can, by putting on the lens I'll likely use first. This cuts down the number of lens changes thereby cutting down on the number of times the camera sensor is exposed to possibly dustier environments.
2. Keep it clean - the environment that is! If at all possible try only changing lenses in clean environments. If you're out in the field this can be difficult to avoid but try your best. It isn't uncommon for me to run indoors or to a car for a lens change if time is not of the essence. If I'm stuck in the open air I consider using my body or anything I can to block the wind.
3. Keep it fast - Speed is your biggest ally in the fight against sensor dust. In order to keep the amount of time that the sensor is exposed down to a minimum I prep my camera and lens for a fast change. I'll loosen the incoming lens' protective cap but don't remove it. I'll loosen the outgoing lens on the camera but won't remove it quite yet either being careful to hold it in place. I have my camera hanging from my neck by the camera strap for full use of both hands. I try to remove the outgoing lens and insert the incoming lens in as fast and smooth of a motion as I'm comfortable with while holding the outgoing lens' back element facing down.
4. Keep it prepped - Here's where an extra couple of steps will further aid in keeping the sensor clean. I've just removed a lens but before I put the cap on it I'm going to give the back element of the lens AND the protective lens cap a quick cleaning with my rocket blower. These extra steps help keep me from transferring dust from a dirty lens to the sensor in future lens changes!

The simple truth is that if you learn to change your lenses quickly and cleanly you'll minimize the times you'll have to use a sensor swab or similar product and will likely be able to get by with just a rocket blower.

Your turn: What do you do to avoid camera sensor dust? Do you have any tricks or tips to share?