Cleaning your mirrorless camera sensor is an important step to continue your photos looking professional. If you lot accept whatsoever photographic camera with an exposed sensor, it's inevitable that y'all're going to become dust or dirt inside. When I look at some of my older photos, I notice so many ugly sensor spot marks in skies and inside other lite parts of the images.

For mirrorless cameras, the 2nd you accept off your lens, the sensor is exposed. For DSLR cameras, you lot accept a mirror to protect your sensor.

Spot removal tool in Adobe Lightroom Spot removal tool in Adobe Lightroom for cleaning camera sensor dust spots

Why is cleaning your camera sensor important?

The sensor is the most important role of your camera. Information technology's of import to take care of your sensor so that you can continue to take great photos. Without cleaning your sensor, your images can appear spotty because of the drove of dust on your sensor. With a mirrorless camera, your sensor will become dirtier than on a DSLR camera if you're changing lenses often.

If you lot have a fixed-lens camera, you might not actually e'er need to clean your sensor because you won't be changing lenses and exposing your sensor to dirt and dust elements.

How to clean your mirrorless camera sensor

  1. Most cameras have self-cleaning modes. Search your photographic camera menu and give it a try. This is the easiest style to clean your mirrorless camera sensor. You won't take to get most your sensor or even take your lens off!
  2. Use a rocket blower and gently force air into the sensor area. Hold your camera upside down and so that dust and other stuff falls out. Yous'll want to blow air in multiple directions to make sure anything loose will fall out. Exist careful non to concur the front end nozzle too close to your sensor.
  3. Apply sensor swabs and gently pass a swab over your sensor. Make sure you are in a clean room. Bathrooms are usually a great place for sensor cleaning! If you take prototype stabilization turned on or enabled on your camera, turn it off so that the sensor is locked. You don't want to harm your paradigm stabilization by manually moving information technology effectually. If you accept a DSLR, yous can enter into self-cleaning fashion, which will flip the mirror up and betrayal the camera sensor. Too, make sure your photographic camera is off when cleaning your sensor. If the camera is turned on, information technology might concenter more dust to the sensor considering of the electronics.

Tips and tricks for cleaning your mirrorless photographic camera sensor

  1. Do non affect your sensor with anything other than a make clean sensor swab.
  2. Exercise non utilize compressed air near your sensor or camera. This will damage your sensor and could damage other internal parts of your camera.
  3. Do not milk shake your photographic camera. If y'all have any prototype stabilization, it could throw off the calibration.
  4. Practice non keep your sensor exposed for too long. While you're waiting to clean the sensor, you chance getting more things into or on your camera sensor.
  5. Do not splash water on your sensor. This will damage the internal parts of your camera and won't be adept for annihilation.

What you'll demand to make clean your mirrorless camera sensor

You'll need a rocket blower, sensor swabs and sensor cleaning solution. They've helped so much when I find sensor spots on my photos and when I want to clean my camera sensor. This is all you demand to have for cleaning your sensor and all these items are small-scale, affordable and easy to apply.

I travel a lot and unremarkably for extended periods of fourth dimension. Near every time I alter my lens, I do a quick pass with the rocket blower to make certain no dust gets in. Information technology's been a powerful and effective tool. I couldn't travel and shoot without information technology!

Camera sensor sizes mean different sensor swab sizes

When it comes to cleaning your sensor, information technology's important to know your right sensor size. If you're getting whatever sensor swabs, something too large or too small won't be every bit effective and may not actually clean your sensor. Take a look at this chart to decide your photographic camera sensor size.

You'll need to know this information when yous buy your sensor swabs. Nearly sensor swab brands will probable tell yous which brand of camera work with their swabs. For example, my Sony A7 III camera sensor uses the 24mm (Type 3) sensor swabs. The 17mm or 20mm swab wouldn't fit the sensor and wouldn't clean it all with the laissez passer-through method.

How to check for dust on your photographic camera sensor

Sensor spots are dust, clay and other random particles that stick to the sensor inside your mirrorless or DSLR camera. Luckily, with mirrorless cameras, you get a alive preview directly from the sensor. Whatever your camera sees is what you too see with aid from the EVF (electric viewfinder). Because of this, yous as well get a live preview of your sensor spots, if you have any.

You can point the camera at a bright part of the heaven or at a lightly-colored wall to make up one's mind if you have sensor spots.

Make sure your aperture is high when doing this initial check. When yous close downwards your aperture (for example, moving from f/1.8 to f/22), the sensor spots get more than visible. Pointing your photographic camera at a consistent colour and at a bright light source will assistance pick out the spots. If you lot're looking at grass or at a brick wall, the texture from those elements will block out any of the sensor spots.

The easiest way to check if you take any dust or dirt on your sensor is to change your aperture to f/22 and take a photo of a white wall. You lot can zoom into the prototype and pan around and see exactly how much stuff is on your sensor.

The second-easiest way is to edit a photo into Lightroom. Yous tin adjust dissimilarity, tone curve and exposure to find all of the imperfections.

While yous may see the imperfections, they won't always be 100% visible. If you lot're printing an image, you lot'll want to ensure that it's every bit clean equally possible!

1:1 close-up of sensor spots how to clean your camera sensor 1:one close-upwards of sensor spots

How can I prevent sensor spots on my photographic camera sensor?

The best communication that I tin can give for preventing sensor spots on your sensor is to be really careful when yous change your lens. Effort to alter your lens in a room where the air is "notwithstanding" or where there isn't much current of air. Like I mentioned in a higher place, bathrooms are an excellent place to practice this, as they typically are low on dust.

Another good preventative measure out is to make sure that the dorsum of your camera lens is totally clean before putting information technology on your photographic camera. You can utilize your rocket blower or a microfiber fabric to gently remove any dust in the area.

Rocket blower on a white background

Equally an added bonus, you'll make clean the contacts on the back of the lens and that is good for the overall lifespan of your lens.

How to clean your camera sensor without sensor swabs

Tips for cleaning a camera sensor with no sensor swabs or rocket blower

And then, now you should know what sensor spots are, how to go rid of them and how to forestall them. What if everything fails? What if you lot accept sensor spots, simply you don't have annihilation to clean them with? What if your sensor and lens are really muddy (mine usually are 😬)? Don't worry! I take three quick tricks that tin help you exit of a bind.

Find where the grit is on the sensor

If y'all have a actually big piece of dust, await at your sensor and carefully (like, very carefully) inspect where that dust is. Gently give a quick blow (recall like a whistle without making whatsoever sound) with your rima oris or a moving ridge of a piece of paper over your lens mount.

You'll want to use the same principles as when using a rocket blower. Don't get besides close to your sensor, and proceed your camera turned upside down. I'll practise this from time to time if there'due south a big spot and if I left the house without my trusty rocket blower. Be actually careful when you do this!

Shoot at lower apertures may help reduce sensor dust spot visibility

Shoot at lower apertures to limit the visibility of grit. This is my favorite trick, equally I often always shoot below f/iv anyway. This will limit the sensor spot visibility in your photos or videos, but volition not eliminate them entirely. It'll assist yous become cleaner photos if you're shooting the heaven or something with unproblematic backgrounds.

If you're shooting video, this won't be possible unless you have a neutral density filter to proceed your aperture depression. Or, you could conform your shutter in order to get the discontinuity low.

I normally endeavor to keep my shutter speed at 2x my frame rate. So, 24 frames per 2d would exist a 1/fifty shutter. Adjusting your shutter would work, but the motion blur wouldn't be as natural.

Depending on the amount of dust, you'd have to evaluate if the sensor spot is better than the lack of motion blur.

Morning fog in San Francisco with girl sitting on a cliff rock Image shot at f/two

Girl sitting on a rock on top of a hill during morning fog in San Francisco Image shot at f/18

How to ready sensor dust spots using Adobe Lightroom

Prepare them in Adobe Lightroom with the spot remover tool! I by and large don't like doing this because it becomes very time-consuming if you have a lot of sensor spots. I've also found that it slows downward the other edits on your photo if you have too many corrections. This is the best and quickest way to remove the sensor spots if yous weren't able to clean them before.

If you're like me, and you lot sync edits across multiple photos, brand sure to conform the spot remover location so that you're non irresolute the epitome in a way you lot were't expecting. I've done this a few times by accident and accidentally shuffled effectually different parts of the image. Oops!

Adobe Photoshop can exist a powerful tool in helping to remove your sensor spots from your images. You tin apply the content aware fill tool, clone stamp them out, use various patch and healing brushes and blending modes. Photoshop can particularly exist helpful if you have a sensor spot on a portrait shot or in a catchy spot where a simple spot remover from Lightroom wouldn't fix.

Last-resort effort in cleaning your camera sensor

You can have your sensor professionally cleaned. I avoid this pace mostly because I travel so oftentimes and for me, finding camera shops is sometimes a claiming.

A professional person volition clean your sensor much ameliorate than I tin. A professional person's tools, rooms they use and their methods are meliorate than what most people can do themselves. I practice recommend this if you're shooting lots of portraits or if you are changing your lenses in dusty environments very oftentimes.

You can go along an middle out for events held past your camera manufacturer or events like Photo Plus in New York City. Y'all'll be able to make clean your sensor for free! Nonetheless, the lines get pretty long if you want to arrive and out quickly.

Now that you lot have a clean sensor, enjoy shooting!

I hope you were able to acquire something from this commodity about easy ways to clean a camera sensor. These are the methods that I use when cleaning my own sensors on my cameras.

Travel photographers have it tough considering we're shooting in harsh atmospheric condition and don't ever take admission to the best tools and resources. I recall my major advice is to not exist afraid to clean your sensor.

If you do clean your sensor yourself, I strongly propose: Be very careful cleaning your sensor. Don't permit your sensor come up in contact with anything other than the sensor swabs. The sensor swabs should lightly pass over your sensor and y'all shouldn't put too much solution on the swabs.

✌️ Dan

Last updated on December 1st, 2022