How often do you find that your sensor needs to be cleaned (if at all!) When your "out in the field" switching lenses, how do you avoid the dust thing? Do YOU clean it or send it in for cleaning? Some of the Olympus DSLR's E300/E500 have a feature that vibrates or pulses the sensor,which supposely eliminates the need to clean it! Apparently, this happens every time you turn on these cams! (Slows the startup time though!) Anyways, I would like to get some REAL world feedback from you DLSR peeps on this! Just so I know what to expect and am potentially getting into here! Thx! Joe

I have had my D70 since about March or so. A few "dust bunnies" have shown on images but not persistently. Some appear to have been eliminated by cleaning the lens and not the sensor so maybe spots on the lens were the cause but I am not certain on that. As for cleaning the sensor, I have not done that and haven't needed to. I use a "rocket blower" 2 out of 3 times when changing lenses. When the blow isn't handy, I do the job quickly with camera facing downward when naked. Personally, I would hesitate to do the job myself simply from lack of expertise and would rather have someone else responsible for any damages.

Personally, dont have a real problem with dust...not saying that I dont any, i do and have done!...just need to that extra careful when changing len's...first time is nerve racking I must admit...but after a while, comes second nature. I use a good Rocket Blower brush. Best time I do it (if its major dust)...is first thing in the morning when the sensor is not too highly charged! Some cams attract more dust than others, but imo, nothing that Photoshop Healing brush cannot handle. One way of checking is to take a shot of a blue/clear sky. But really, imo, nothing to get too paranoid or worried about. Just wish there was a thing called Dust Free Earth..lol

Tom, you do it the correct way...body facing down! Also remember, when you look via the viewfinder, you might see dust...could be three things: the lens, mirror or the sensor!

Body down....camera off, and have everything all in place on top of something dust free. The quickly undo one and blast the other on. The make sure the lens you are putting away has been blown off of dust. Insie my house I have a vacumn nozzle by and do a quick suction before changing. Good idea to always try and keep the outside of your camera body clean too.

There are tons of threads on this issue, here and on other sites. The bottom line is...if you have a DSLR you will eventually need to deal with dust/crap on the sensor. Actually, as I have stated before the dust does NOT reside on the sensor itself but, on the filter in front of the sensor. It is a myth that some "attract" more dust than others...and also still somewhat in dispute is the theory that the charge from the sensor is actually strong enough to hold dust. The reason dust shows up more on some camera images is primarily due to the distance between the filter (where the dust sits) and the sensor itself...the closer the two the more the dust will show up. Also, as Fstop moves up....dust becomes visible. Many ways to deal with it currently; 1) Live with it and clone out 2) Blower method 3) Static brushes 4) Wet wipe sensor 5) Send in for service With regard to a few issues raised here; 1) On the "vibration" clean DSLR cameras...a couple of things to consider...Will the sensor/filter assembly fully and most importantly ACCURATELY realign itself distance/orientation wise after every vibration cycle? Check other forums, there have been some problems. Do you want your sensitive electronic components to suffer an ultrasonic "shakedown" on every power up? 2) Sensor/filter dust can NOT be seen through the viewfinder....the mirror reflects what is seen through the lens into the viewfinder. If you see debris in the viewfinder it could be from debris on the lens, mirror or on the viewfinder screen itself. Sensor/filter dust will only show up on the image after the mirror lifts and the CCD/CMOS is exposed. 3) There are things worse than dust....shutter fluid...esp with new cams. If that happens to get on...go immediately to steps 4 or 5 above. 4) From my experience, your brand new out of the box DSLR will already come "prepackaged" with a few dust bunnies. @L8RDAZE: I hope dust will not scare you from the DSLR world...but be fully aware it IS an issue and one that you will have to deal with at some point.

As far as I'm concerned, its only a real issue if ya wanna make it one!

gradient said it well. Dust does come from lenses too while they zoom in.I thoughtt I had a worse problem on the my sensor, but it was just a bit of dust on the viewfinder. That shakes off after awhile. I'm not a huge fan of blowing dust. I have found a good strong vac is best. Look at it this way. Blowing a particle against some fragile surface in my opinion is wrong. Sucking it away seems more logical. Just be very gentle lifting the mirror up and letting it back down. Never let it shut by itself.Don't use anything inside to lift mirror that can scratch or drop particles itself IE: Q-tips. Better to make up something similar using a rubber tip. Anyways I don't lose too much sleep over the dust anymore.

Doug, I believe the D70 has a 'mirror lock up' function in the menu system, used for that purpose only, to clean the sensor. Crikey, never touch my mirrors on my cams!

The mirror lock up function is a scary one to ge into.If I reember correct, having the power come on...or off while in that mode can result in taking it to the shop for a really expensive service. I would have to read that article again. Don't let all this scare you Joe...it's not really as bad as you might be thinking.

Just make sure you have a decent charged battery...it really is a simple procedure and one most use!

This is gonna creep ALL of you out, I'm sure: I've had a Nikon D100 for 2 years for my product photography (as well as the occasional event shoot and portrait sittings). I was always careful switching lenses but lets' face it, "dust happens". It had accumulated SO much dust in that time that I was spending more time with the clone tool and healing brush than I was with scanned medium and large format film for my product shots. Soooo.... Based on some basic advice from a friend who still handles the camera repairs at a shop I used to work for, I turned the camera on, activated mirror lockup, and fired the shutter on bulb - holding the shutter release down to be continually open with the filter and CMOS sensor exposed, and shot canned air in there (couple of short bursts - otherwise you might get a "squirt" of liquid coming from the compressed air). About 90 percent of it is gone! Still have to spend a bit of time in Photoshop correcting it, but it's a LOT better now. Going to have it professionally cleaned as soon as I think I'll have a break in shooting, or can get another body to use in the down time. -Lew ;-)

Like gradient said, the dust is on the (IR) filter not the sensor. (almost) all digi-cams come with a filter in front of the sensor.

the essential things have all been said: - you'll see dust on images with homogenous areas and small aperture only (blue sky at f/22...), to be cloned out - be cautious changing lenses outside- but you can't avoid dust - never do the cleaning yourself, better give it once a year to the service guys I actually can perfectly live with 13 spots on my Fuji S3...

Have had a D70 for sometime now. Yes, one needs to be careful when changing lenses. Facing the camera down is one way of avoiding it. If you are paranoid about it, then covering your head and the camera with a towel is another way. :)) I have found that the worst environment to change lenses is on the beach because of the salt spray and in windy conditions because of the dust flying around. If the spots are minor then it can be corrected by PS. I do not dare to clean the sensor myself. I just have no experience in the process.