How do you clean your camera sensor? In this video I'm going to show you exactly
how to do it and it's much easier than you think. I'm going to be using this, the
SensorKlear Loupe kit for DSLR sensor cleaning, it's super easy, you can do it.
Don't...go....away
Hi there! Barry Callister for Barry Callister Photography, giving you hints tips and
tricks for better nature photography. Welcome to my channel.
Here I do camera tutorials just like this one,
Lightroom and Photoshop tutorials, gear reviews, and other nature photography
related stuff. So if that sounds like it's something that you're into, please hit
the subscribe button. Let's get straight into this video on how to clean your
DSLR camera sensor. Now first up, I know you might be sitting there saying to
yourself "But Barry, I've been told not to clean my camera sensor because I might
damage it. I might ruin my camera, therefore I can't take photos, it's gonna
cost me a lot of money to replace it blah-b-blah-b-blah-b-blah" There's a
whole lot of negatives running through your head, and I understand it because I
was preached that stuff too. But the only people who are telling you that you
can't clean your DSLR camera sensor are people who are going to earn money from
you bringing your camera in to them so they can clean your camera sensor. Ok?
It's easy to do, it really is. You can do it yourself so let go of all the fear.
You do have to take care though because remember, your DSLR sensor is your
camera's heart. It's what captures the light and gives
you the photos that you love. So without it your camera is dead, and you will not
be able to use it. So you do not want to scratch it. So you have to take care.
So relax. Yes you can clean your sensor, but you do have to take care. Just quickly
make sure that you hang around to the end of this video as I'm going to give
you information on how to access a link where you can get two free PDFs
that relate to my videos "How to take photos of birds" and "Aperture what it is
and how to use it" Two great PDFs full of fantastic
information all for free, so hang around to the end of the video for that.
So today, as I said, I'm going to be showing you how to use the SensorKlear Loupe
cleaning system. It's fantastic! It's from a company called Lenspen, so let's have
a look what comes with kit.
Okay, so here in front of me I have all the items that are included
with the Lenspen SensorKlear Loupe cleaning system.
Of course you have the loupe itself, which has a snap, on snap off
cover up the top there which reveals the magnifying lenses that are inside of
there that will help you see any dust and grime on your sensor. It has this
slide-off cover. And this part of it here will sit down inside your camera (you
take the lens off quite obviously), this will sit where your lens sits, and it
will show you all the dust and grime on your sensor. And it has eight LED lights
in there which light up and give you a really clear view of what's going on
with your sensor. And the two AAA batteries that you need to power that
are included with the kit, so that's good. This is the Elite kit by the way so I'm
not sure if the batteries and this nice, handy velour bag are included in the
other types of kits but the elite kit does have them in it. You also get the
Lenspen Hurricane Blower. That is used obviously for going up inside the
camera when the lens is not on there and blowing out any dust and grime that's up
inside your camera there, and on your sensor. And then you have the SensorKlear
II pen which has the angled head on it here for easily getting inside of the
camera. And so it fits down in this hole in your loupe there and you can get down
in there and still access the sensor, which is a really great. Really good idea.
And it has Lenspen's patented carbon-infused tip on the end there which picks
up any dust and grime and takes it away from your sensor, so that is good.
And every time you put the cap back on, it re-infuses with carbon and you'll get
quite a lot of uses out of that.
Now of course I have my camera here..
We'll just put this to the side for a second. I also have a couple of other housekeeping
items that I want to mention before I start to show you how to use the kit so...
I've got the body cap for the camera to go on there when I take the lens off so
that dirt and dust isn't getting inside of the camera while I'm setting up to
clean. So what we'll do now is we'll take the lens off...there, we'll put the cap
onto the camera so that's protected - no extra dust is getting in there. We'll pop
an end cap on that lens there too so it doesn't get any dust on it either.
Now, I suggest that you use a nice soft blanket or a rag or something if you've got a
hard bench, like I'm doing this here on my kitchen bench, to put your camera on
because you will need to lay your camera flat on its back and you will need to
rotate it to get to different parts of your sensor with the pen. So I suggest,
if you don't want to scratch the back of your camera, then use a soft blanket or a
rag underneath it.
Alright, let's show you how to use this thing. Let's clean our sensor.
Okay so here we are with everything that we need setup. I just
want to mention one very important thing. This only applies for cameras that
have mirrors, if you have a mirrorless camera you don't need to worry about
this.....but... Make sure that your battery is fully charged, or at least 2/3 like mine
is because in order to do this you have to lock your mirror up. On a camera
with a mirror you have to lock the mirror up so you can reveal the sensor
and you don't want to do that with a flat battery. So I'm using a
Nikon D5200.... a very dirty one as you can see!
I'm gonna do a video about cleaning the outside of the camera next. So for me I
hit the Menu button. I go into to lock... into the Setup Menu , the little spanner
there. Across and down to Lock up mirror for cleaning. Hit the Ok button and then
it says when the shutter release button is pressed, the mirror lifts and shutter
opens, so that's what we do. We press the shutter button and you'll hear the
mirror lock-up, and then we can open the front of the camera and you will see in
there that the mirror has locked up and the sensor is revealed. So what we can
then do is take the cap off our loupe, take the protective cover off. That sits
down in there where your lens was. Make sure it's seated in there comfortably.
Switch on your LED lights and then you can see down in there and have a look at
your sensor. Now if you find you're having trouble seeing your sensor,
because as we know different cameras have different size sensors, the loop
comes with this rotatable collar here and as you can see the top will lift up.
That will help you to not only focus the view that you're seeing through the loupe,
but it also adjusts for different sized sensors. And you can see inside here it
has the 4/3 so if you've got a camera with a micro 4/3 sensor
what you want to do is dial that right up until the arrows match with the 4/3
mark there, and you will be good to go with your Micro 4/3 sensor.
And you can look all around....
and as you can see, there are a few dust spots in there
So if you find dust spots on the sensor, the first thing to do is
to grab your Hurricane Blower, take the loupe off...we'll just turn off the LEDs to
save the battery. Now tip your camera upside down and pop the blower just
inside the cap there please don't push it right up in and contact the sensor
that will damage your sensor. Make sure you're not touching any of the insides
of the camera. So place it in there just like so, tip your camera upside down and
just blow a few blows in there all around. Moving it around....So the reason we
tip the camera upside down is obviously so anything that blows out will fall out
and away from the camera and not just float up in the air and back down into
our sensor. So then you can pop your loupe back on....have another look
And if you can still see any dust spots on there, that's when you need to
grab out your pen. Pop the cap off. Make sure it's on a good angle that you can
get down inside the camera with. And you pop it in there....
and look through the loupe,
and just find any dust spots that you can see and just lightly dab them.
So you just, ya don't want to sort of smear it across the sensor,
just lightly dabbing for starters will remove any tiny spot. And if you find any
stubborn spots or smears in there, just drag the pen lightly across them, don't
apply too much pressure. So if you need to access different parts of the
camera just turn it around, turn your loupe "access door"we'll call it around and
then you can get into the parts of the sensor that you were missing.
So that's it. Done! Replace your cap, that re-infuses
your carbon tip and you're done.
So when you're done cleaning your sensor pop
your lens back on, or your body cap here as I've done, and then all you need to do
to pop the mirror back down is just switch the camera off....and you can hear
the mirror fall back down there. And you're done, you have a clean sensor.
So there you go, that is how you clean your DSLR sensor and as you can see it was so
so easy and it's really simple, and you don't have to worry about it. You don't
have to stress that you're going to damage your sensor and that you can't
do it yourself - it's fine. And using the Lenspen SensorKlear Loupe kit it
just makes it so incredibly easy. So remember there's a link in the video
description below where you can buy yourself one of these kits and I really
suggest you follow that link and get yourself one because as you can see,
they make cleaning your DSLR sensor so easy! If you liked this video, please
hit the like button. Make sure to share it with anyone you think might be
interested, and if you liked this video and want to see more stuff like this -
please subscribe to my channel by hitting that subscribe button.
And ding the little notification bell too, yeah? Now remember, I did promise you at
the start of the video that I would give you a link to where you can get two free
pdf, so I have popped that in the description below.
There is a PDF from my video "How to take photos of birds" There is
also one for my "Aperture - what it is and how to use it" video, and they are full of
great info for you so you can get those by following that link below.
So until next time. I'm Barry Callister for Barry Callister Photography. Get out there.
Take some wicked shots....and I'll see you soon