Dust cleaning – P365 Aug29

My camera's sensor was filthy: Note, I said *was*: And this is the piece of magic that achieved the above results: The sensor of my Canon 350D DSLR (technically the protective cover in front of it) has been accumilating dirt and dust over the last couple of years. Whenever I change lenses, the interior of the camera is exposed, and dust can get in. This dust shows up in many pictures, especially those with even backgrounds, like the sky. You may have even occasionally seen large darkish blobs in some of my photos. Incidentally, if you want to see how bad the dust is on your DSLR's sensor, you can take a photo like the one I took above. Here's how to do it:

• Put any lens on, and set the focus to manual.
• Focus to the minimum distance and point the camera to an even white surface a couple of meters away, like the ceiling.
• Close down the apeture (f ratio) to the smallest you can. Something like f32 or higher.
• Take a photo of the blank surface and the dust should stand out.
• You can even set manual exposure so the sutter speed is a second or so, then move the camera a little during the shot. This will blur out any detail in the background so the dirt shows up more clearly.

I've been reluctant to clean the sensor, as it is the single most important part of the camera, and if you screw it up, you can effectively destroy the camera. Most sensor cleaning techniques involve wiping expensive specialist swabs over the sensor, using expensive specialist fluid. The best price I could find locally for such a cleaning kit was $88AUD. Naomi, the online research wonder, wasn't content to leave it at that. She jumped online and did some research and discovered another option - a blower. I had been unconvinced by this method, because I thought that most of the dust would be stuck, and wouldn't be removed simply by moving air. After all, if others use swabs and solvent, surely blowing on it wouldn't be good enough. However, Nomi found a blower available for $14 including shipping from Adelaide. I thought at least it might get rid of SOME of the dust, so we decided to order it and give it a try. BOY was I surprised! The results speak for themselves. Sure, not all of the dust is gone, but most of it is, including the largest, darkest pieces! And they're the most obvious ones. The dust that's left will probably only show up when I shoot with a very small apeture - which generally only happens in macro shots. Thanks Nomes!! :)