How to Clean Your DSLR Sensor and Mirror

[@celicagtca]

THANK YOU! I did as you displayed with locking up the mirror and blowing out the dust. WORKED LIKE A CHARM! You just saved me $250 from a local camera shop for them to do the same thing. The "dot" has been on every one of my white pics for 3 months and now I can finally enjoy a nice clean white background again! Thank You!

[@remcovan]

I am saddened where people give up their time to share their expertise and experience, and others contribute nothing other than some (trite) criticism. Well done PhotographersonUTube! Thank you

[@tonycool100]

mirror is safe to clean with almost everything, it has nothing to do with the image directly, just don't scratch it, you can apply everything on it and it's fine. Sensor is what should be careful for.

[@CragScrambler]

Nice tutorial and pretty much spot on, when I worked in a Fuji lab we had all kinds of people coming with broken sensors because they had "brushed" them clean, all we used was a hand blower with a static brush for use on the mirrors pretty much how you have used. We didn't used to charge for the service, but we refused a good few because people would bring in cameras with scratched or broken sensors asking us to clean them lol we didn't fall for it tho.

[@bobbyhunt100]

Thanks mate! As someone new to DSLR photography I have found your videos tremendously informative, and I appreciate the time and effort you've gone to in posting them. Any clown who is critical, would do well to remember the old adage of not looking a gift horse in the mouth. A big thanks from Australia.

[@ChristopherTrott]

Super helpful video! I purchased a used Nikon D800, and and sensor dust all over my images. I was worried I needed to have it sent out to be cleaned. Nope! I followed your mirror lock up suggestion, and held the camera upside down. Blew a little air in and did not touch the sensor. Presto! No more sensor dust! Thanks!

[@LewisAvinash]

I cleaned My Nikon D7000, exactly followed your Detailed Tip, Thanks for the wonderful video

[@infallibleghost]

I just throw mine in the washing machine with some detergent

[@ChasAmericanMade]

2 funny :)

[@PAchiefman]

+infallibleghost Humor is also best left to the experts.

[@Unputonombre84]

+infallibleghost Yep. Mine always comes out sparkling clean out of the dishwasher -- best method ever. Or I just deep it in the pool.

[@khosrow]

+infallibleghost That only works with the 7D.

[@whatchpesca9576]

Nikkor

[@reginaldwalton]

Nice video and great advice on not attempting to clean the sensor with a q-tip. However, I always clean my own sensor, rather than sending it off each time. I get dust particles quite often and the blower itself just doesn't do the job of removing all the dust. There are great kits out there for cleaning the sensor, however, I would suggest that if you're not comfortable with cleaning the sensor yourself, then by all means, take it to a pro. But that can get expensive over time, especially if you need to clean your sensor more than a few times a year like I do.

[@ianstone3289]

FINALLY! Sane, experienced wisdom on cleaning your camera. I can't believe how many crazies I went through to get here. But, I think the best advice is to never get it dirty. How? change lens only when needed, I don't take a lens off until I need another lens. When changing, I make sure that i'm in a dust free area, OR i shield my camera when I VERY QUICKLY change the lens. Cleaning the mirror is one thing, the sensor is another matter, as mirror up can do more harm by introducing more dust, skin, hair, or fibres. Holding the camera upside down is a little ridiculous as dust isn't heavy enough o be effected by gravity, in my humble experience. ( Just look at the dust in a room) I would be very careful about blowing air with a bulb type blower, and wouldn't recommend blowing several times quickly, as this can also do more harm, introducing more dust, and or it getting into other areas IE: the prism, curtain, sensor, and moving parts. I blow once carefully, and hard in a direction carefully chosen, or blow softly only 2 or 3 times. I have worked in Scientific Photography and this was done very carefully. A dry Q-tip is better than using liquid and very lightly wipe the mirror, prism, or sensor to dislodge any remaining dust if blowing did not remove the speck.

[@FumfieCameras]

Cleaning a camera may look daunting for some but with this video, people now know the proper way of doing it.

[@kayaar4048]

Basically the same question everyone's asking what do you do if the sensor doesn't get cleaned by blowing air on it? if it has sticky spots on it. As you say take it to the company, but they charge you for the whole thing. Also for the mirror would the lens pen carbon tip part work for cleaning ?

[@JaChamp78]

Thank you for posting this video. I had dust problems for a few months now. My dust problems are over today. I thought something was wrong with my camera and that I would have to get another one. Thanks Again!!!

[@roofortuyn]

Glad i saw this this video first and not anything else.... Im a 17 year old guy with little knowledge yet acquired about DSLR's and who knows what kinda shady tutorial i couldve ran into causing me to clean the sensor with a paintbrush or something....

[@Reid32935]

This video just saved my ass! I was getting an Err 70 code and my camera wouldn't respond. I took out and reformatted the SD card and voila! No more error code! Thank you so much!

[@paulshoopman6395]

Thanks for the instructions. I appreciate the video unlike some of the clowns below. The one thing I hate about KZbin is all the negative comments even when you're trying to help other people.

[@maureenfanning]

thanks, found a spot just before shooting a wedding and no time to take camera in to be cleaned. got the spot out right away!

[@michaelnetto2378]

Thank you, thank you, thank you… :) I have been struggling with dust on my sensor, and after many articles and videos, yours was the first and only to explain, in detail, what I needed to do. After a few blows from the hand held blower, I was able to rid myself of that stubborn dust spot which prevented me from using F/11 and down. Amazing, thanks, and keep up the great videos! - a happy Canadian!

[@ZennmasterZ]

This video saved me probably two weeks of down time, thank you very much!

[@ellisjohnson948]

Thank you so much! I was thinking it'd be a long, expensive process to clean, but this saved me a whole load of trouble

[@ChumyMototo]

Great tutorial tips, but I guess, in my own opinion of course, you don't need to be so much paranoid about the sensitivity of you camera sensor. Always remember that they're made by very good companies like Nikon or Canon, and they made it to be strong and tough. Image sensor is actually covered by a "GLASS" on top of it (I'm not talking about the mirror). The sensor is actually what's inside the glass, and basically when you clean your sensor, you're touching and cleaning just the glass on top, so your sensor is very safe sitting behind that glass.

[@sharpnup]

Just got back from Wedding in Las Vegas and Honeymoon is Cabo...Cabo photos have dust spots all through images :-( Photoshop them out ok, but definitely following this clear easy to follow tutorial. Thank you!

[@AllFair4H]

Thank you, I was finally able to gently remove a persistent small hair on the upper part of the inside of my camera. Now it can focus on my subject. :)

[@SLRHUT]

This is helpful. Cleaning the DSLR requires careful attention and the right procedures.

[@cvb456123]

you've been great man. All this time I thought the speck on the viewfinder was because of the dust from the sensor. the q-tip worked really well.

[@stefaniebaldwin5747]

Oh my gosh.. Thanks so much! I couldn't figure out why my mirror wouldn't lock up.. I changed my battery and blew off the dust and it's like new again! Thanks so much!

[@erawhincat9407]

awesome man! i was about to do a shoot then i seen dust and i nearly cried, this video saved me! thanks so much

[@lacrymist1976]

Your videos are the bomb man. You have taught me so much in just a few days. Did you finish the lens cleaning video yet? I don't see it listed?

[@GowriGoli]

Thanks a lot for detailed video on cleaning the Sensor, a must knowledge for all DSLR users

[@sujoyurs]

Very good demonstration. I liked it very much.

[@ssquiffy1]

Thanks Jibran, Great tutorial. I look forward to the one on cleaning the lenses :)

[@kathygeiger4899]

You are my Hero I am waiting for my new camera for Christmas!Now I know so much thank you !

[@mlsauron]

Cleaning starts 04:50

[@annettemunroe2696]

Thanks! Very helpful video, didn't know the mirror could be locked - there was a hair on the corner, resulting in a rounded line across the corner of my photos. Carefully used tweezers and removed it!

[@James_Lavery]

you touched the q-tip then used the same qtip to clean your sensor? are you trying to get oils on your sensor?

[@missyglittervlogs3543]

Wow,thank you so much for your help! I got a Canon a year ago! And there has been dust on all my pictures and this video helped me get rid of it!

[@n1ghtm4r3z]

honestly had no clue what to do thank you so so much for posting this!!!

[@kathleenmcgowan5779]

Thanks so much I'll be sure to check it out. This is all so new to me, but I want to be able to use my camera to it's fullest potential.

[@jamesneil]

Awesome video. Complete newb here to cameras and you have fixed my image issue. Thanks.

[@babylenggogeni1502]

thank you very much... I was to afraid to clean inside the camera, but now I know how....

[@razcheedmohamed9219]

thanks for the info its a big help but i just like to ask how often we should clean it as a maintenance procedure regards...

[@Kumachanchan]

great video! just used it to clean mine. First time and NO WORRIES! thanks!

[@zaynegoodwin]

i have a Nikon D3100 and it worked for me, i am guessing these 2 cameras are similar, so I pressed the menu button and scrolled to the SETUP MENU, (the one with the wrench or spanner icon) and went to Mirror lock-up. That is where you can lock the mirror and you should get the same message as shown in the tutorial. Good luck

[@143moon1]

Hi there. Thank you for your videos as they are really very helpful for someone like me. I have been very interested in photography lately mainly outdoor, landscape, scenery etc. I am waiting to purchase a nikon d5100.

[@andrewnagengast2349]

So if the air blow tool doesn't properly clean the sensor...what then? the sensor wipers + cleaning solution were made for cleaning the sensor. Why wouldn't you use them?

[@PAchiefman]

+Andrew Nagengast Sensors are sensitive. You may get away with cleaning one yourself but you risk trusting a cleaning agent that may or may not be appropriate--some are designed for this but you need to find the right one. Applying too much pressure or antagonizing the surface by dragging the cleaning brush without enough angle. It can be done but research it first: www.the-digital-picture.com/Photography-Tips/sensor-cleaning.aspx

[@khosrow]

+Andrew Nagengast He said you should rather have a professional clean it.

[@goyoucotube]

The sensor is very sensitive and you can scratch it permanently. Every photo is then affected.

[@Lon1an]

Because he is a noob.

[@TRNQUL]

Hey , I have a Nikon D50 (yeah...i know pretty out dated....) but there is no option of clean sensor or lift mirror in my menu..... what should i do ? should i consult a professional cleaning shop ? by the way awesome tutorial and awesome camera !!!

[@CrazyMike10]

I have no problems hearing him. Very clear.

[@ProcessingHelp]

Good advice to never touch your sensor, however if you do have oil on it, blowing will NOT remove all the dust. You can buy special cleaning brushes that are electrostatically charged to pick up dust off the sensor. Just be sure to carefully follow the instructions. Wipe in one direction very carefully!

[@chingac]

Thanks for the q-tip tip! Just what I needed.

[@sudhirpv]

Please ignore him. I followed your technique and cleaned my D300. Just took a shot of white A4 sheet @F/36 and it shows no spots! It had many spots starting @f/9 before. I used to spend $130 to clean this camera!! Thanks for your detailed video, I did it just with a Giotto Rocket blower.

[@solar4you740]

Thanks for taking the time to create this video, it is very helpful.

[@cornfused8752]

Very Much so , great directions how ever I used compressed air .At the time I could not find my Giottos Air Rocket , so I grabbed some compressed air . There were a few spots on the view finder but not on my pict . Thank you now spot free :)

[@victoriav4736]

Great video! I do have a question... my camera seems to be backfocusing and I contacted canon and they told me to try and clean the metal connectors between lens and camera with a soft lens cloth to see if it helps. Any tips on how to do that and where to start? Thanks!!

[@iinspiredmantic2301]

Thank you sooooooo much for this tutorial :) I thought my camera was broken,I had spot in my images. I did what you did with the sensor clean & the spot is gone... :)))))

[@triethuynh7630]

Great!!! I was confused with a black spot on the pictures. Your video helped me to resolve the issue with a Q-tip to dust off the dirty on the image sensor. Thank you very much :-).

[@naj7084]

Thank you, that really helped me, I had dust showing on the view finder but not on the images, it really annoyed me. But then after watching this you showed me that the dust was inside at the top. Thanks

[@gagandeep738]

Thanks a lot for sharing this video. I must for me because i carry my camera on different locations and regular cleaning is really important.

[@evg_lf5415]

Thumbs up for making tutorial using Nikon :D

[@lovegwaltney6875]

Perfect. I had a spot that was driving me crazy and now it's gone. Thanks for showing me how to get at it. :)

[@josiahwestfall9226]

Dude massive help to me thank you so much for this video keep going

[@xpsvas1967]

Worked for me just using the blower on the sensor...... Before i tried it i would have put money on the spots i was seeing in the photo's were oil, obviously not the case. Thanks for the tutorial ;-)

[@maheshholla8768]

Thanks man for this wonderful/simple tutorial

[@rumvodkaf1]

Use lens paper and cleaning fluid. Don't fixate on little bits of dust on your mirror once it's clean, you don't have to wipe it down everytime you spot a new spec of dust on it.

[@mbell390]

Fantastic help and thank you for the explanations. You should work for Nikon!

[@L0udSilence1]

I have a Nikon D3200 I couldn't see a way to do that..is there any way that I m not aware of Thank you so much for your support btw I love your videos provided so much help I didn't know anything before I started watching your videos

[@eccentricsmithy2746]

If you look a your sensor, it is protected by a thin sheet of glass. The sensor is behind it. You do not physically touch the actual sensor to clean it. Your sensor is not physically exposed to the elements, it is sealed behind the thin sheet of glass. I been using brushes and cleaning solutions to clean my sensors since dslr's first existed, never once damaged or hurt a sensor.

[@MohakAdav]

I just bought a new Nikon D200, Would like to know how frequently It would need cleaning like this? :)

[@bradleysnyder254]

i had issues with the q tip leaving little strands on my mirror. took my camera to a repair guy in denver and he advised wrapping masking tape (sticky side out) around a toothpick and then using that to dab any debris on the mirror. that seems to work better.

[@mpnl21]

That's why you need to roll around the q-tip, so the strands wrap around it and don't stick to the mirror themselves

[@mcszumu]

Hi great video and maybe you have any ideas on how to kill the fungus inside the lens?

[@ST-di5zp]

i would recommend using a cotton bud on the image sensor but if you do press really lightly be patient and have a area with good lighting so you could see what you are doing at first i had more than 20 dust spots and blowing only got rid of 2 spots so i tried using a cotton but and now there are not left but i took me about 5 - 10 mins to fully clean the image sensor

[@kathleenmcgowan5779]

Great video. Do you have any tutorials for beginners? I recently purchased a Canon T3 and feel kind of lost.

[@richierobbo]

A real positive help, many thanks.

[@dadautube]

fine job, but when you "touch the sensor", your brush or any device you're holding is not in contact with the sensor itself, but with the first filter on top of the many filters that are covering the actual sensor! and yes, you better not touch those filters either, but with stubborn spots that won't go away by just blowing them away, then there is no other way but to use some kind of 'soft pad' or other means of cleaning ... and this is the nastiest thing about digital photography, compared to film photography! we may get dust and things on or around the "film gate" in film photography too, but it's never as badly as when we get it with digital! damn digital, which is great in everything but in this particular point!

[@WilliamdiazUK]

Hi, I’ve upgraded from the D5200 to the D7100 but unfortunately the first unit I received came with a few oil spots on the sensor. Last week I received a replacement and realized that there oil spots on the replacement as well. Would you recommend sending it back or buying the Sensor cleaning kit and give it a shot? I’d really appreciate if you could let me know. Thanks in advance!

[@shibalik13]

Thank you Sharing this video on youtube. Very informative and easy steps.

[@quangsomit2490]

I have a 120 psi air compressor. I think the high pressure would blow out the dusts very well?

[@1970pizza]

Thank-you so much for you help ... you just saved me £20 to get 1 bit of dust out my camera

[@mayuresh511]

I was waiting to see more details on how to clean the mirror apart from just blowing the dust. Do you have any additional recommendations. I can only see lot of dust particles in the view finder but my images are fine. I used a microfiber cloth to clean the mirror before seeing this video and it added more lint/ dust particles. The glass on the top is where most of the dust is and it is difficult to get there easily.

[@snipernicaragua]

Good video. Thanks man. I'll try it out 👍

[@y2ktube]

Dust on the sensor filter is defined & clear. But debris on the mirror or eyepiece can't be seen as sharp while you're viewing. The debris in close proximity of the screen is where debris may be CLEARLY seen. Screen material is hyper-soft; mirrors are front surfaced along with multi-coated, so I wouldn't attempt cleaning just because you think a few specks bother you. For these fragile areas, only clean what can be "puffed" off (canned air) - Working tech for over 30 years; I use the Eclipse products for the sensor cleaning procedure.

[@sharmadeepak8571]

Thankyou very much this is very very big help to clean DSL clean thanks again Sir

[@daneenroth8306]

Thanks for an informative and easily understandable demonstration.

[@wengersaphorism]

Oh shit! I wiped my sensor with a KFC wet towel, then dried it with a mircrofiber cloth. I now have a fuzzy image through my eye-piece viewer. HELP!!!!!!! Have i destroyed my sensor?

[@moritzchrist3748]

The sensor is not that sensitive, because it's protected by a glass plate. It's no problem to touch it, as long as you don't apply pressure and wipe very carefully :)

[@robrambilla]

Can I use a Q-Tip to clean my D7100 sensor, given that it doesn't have a low-pass filter over it? Thanks!

[@rippasnortus]

Some good basic info here, but I did notice you were a bit aggressive with the blower. Dust is not very heavy and can take a second or two to drop out of the camera, so you would actually be blasting it right back in there before it had a chance to drop all the way out, and good luck getting that off the sensor.. A well directed puff of air and a pause, would be a more sane way of doing it. Using "Dust Alert" will show you exactly where on the sensor the dust is, making the job much easier. Cleaning the sensor is easy, but you should know exactly what you are doing and how to do it before you begin.

[@tidetrogu3250]

You just saved my life. Thank you so much

[@iglooo102videos]

Took my camera in the rain. Took my Canon 70D while the weather was Ok and suddenly it started to rain. Not sure it will survive. I hope it does. do you think that Canon could help in way? servicing etc.. or it is hopeless to deal with them. Any other camera that is weather proof?

[@marions_reisetagebuch]

thanks, I just removed a dust particle from my sensor. Now it works perfect again!

[@Jiraister]

Dude no worries your a pile of awsomeness. Also once again tyvm for the awsome vids! ^^

[@DelcaX]

Thank you. It works for my DSLR.

[@bangbang42608]

Thank you for making this vid. I cleaned my mirror. I had a spot on it for a long time. Thank you again

[@basebilljr07]

I use the wet swab kit for cleaning the sensor if there's anything really stuck as link as you don't soak the swab its very easy and really no risk the main thing is just 2 drops on the swab

[@ronarmacost2981]

Nice tutorial, you recommend using a Q-tip, just a thought, would a foam Q-tip work as well or would it possibly leave traces or damage the mirror?

[@nAcolz]

Uhh okay, what are the main benefits of the D7000? I am really angled to the A57 as I am used to an EVF (From Panasonic GH1) but if the D7000 would be good I might try a traditional DSLR.

[@TravelOGraphyHD]

Ur sound is more than clear 5/5 :D Luv ur videos :)

[@mrgreenfox123]

Great info thanks, I have a question, When I went out today to take some photos I saw a dark line on my pictures. Could that be a hair or something in my sensor, I have a nikon d5200

[@Jiraister]

Im sry but im uberly slow. I need to try and get this straight one more time to make sure Im finally getting this correct. Use the Rocket Blower to clean your sensor and the Que-tip to clean off the Mirror? ( Just wanted to make sure I got this right) :D. Btw nice video with the epic explainings and all ^^

[@urmilasapre]

Hi I have Nikon d5300 and its my first camera.And Tomorrow I am going to travel so I just checked my camera abd I saw the Black thing When I take photos.How to remove that thing Its not in lens.The black thing is near the square.Please reply me.

[@remcovan]

OK re "trolls" but isn't silence, ie. no response, more disempowering? Keep up the good work and again, tx for generosity of spirit.