Sensor cleaning EOS R

[Fishrrman]

I've got either an area of dust or something else on the sensor of my Canon EOS R:

The camera is still under warranty and I'm wondering whether I should send it to Canon for a cleaning, or try to clean the sensor myself.

I've never tried that before with a digital camera.

Can anyone recommend what I should look for in a cleaning kit?
Any other advice?

 

[maflynn]

This is a good guide, though there's a ton of others available on google.

 

[mollyc]

It well may need to be cleaned professionally but your camera ought to have a self cleaning option in the menu. I find it helps if you do it with the camera facing down so the dirt falls away from the inside.

 

[Ledgem]

The easiest thing to do is to get one of those rocket blowers - a little nozzle with a bulb attached that you squeeze to shoot air - and puff at your sensor, holding the camera such that the sensor is not angled up, and doing it in an environment that isn't too dusty. There are rocket blowers with fancy filters and all sorts of things that you can get, but I don't know that it's ever been proven that they provide benefit over the standard, cheap rocket blower.

Usually, forcefully puffing air at the sensor is enough to dislodge specks of dust and other debris. As long as you're not shakey, the nozzle of the blower won't touch the sensor so you're not at risk of ruining anything. This is the cheapest and lowest-risk thing you can do, and it's usually all you need to do.

Wet cleaning is the bigger deal. It's more likely to fix your problem than the rocket blower, but it does involve coming into contact with the glass filter that resides over the top of the sensor. That scares a lot of people off. I admit I haven't done it, partly because I haven't needed to but also partly because I'd be afraid of ruining something.

My advice? Get a rocket blower, if you don't already have one, and give it a few puffs. If the dust hasn't cleared after that effort, consider either wet cleaning or if you're worried about ruining something, professional cleaning.

 

[Fishrrman]

I sense that what's on the sensor is something more than a "loose" piece of dust. Perhaps a "dried spot" of something. I ordered a cleaning kit from amazon and will give it a try:
https://www.amazon.com/Altura-Photo...+cleaning+kit&qid=1567625459&s=gateway&sr=8-3
Used up some points and got it cheap.

 

[anotherscotsman]

I’d suggest a staged approach.

Use the built-in cleaning function a couple of times and recheck for the dust.

If still present, use a rocket blower as suggested above. Put the camera into manual cleaning mode and turn it upside down whilst puffing the affected part of the sensor (remember the position on the sensor is reversed wrt the image). Do this in a dust-free location - I tend to do it above a kitchen countertop that has been wet-wiped. Check again.

Only if it still persists go for the wet sensor wipe method.

Hope this helps.

 

[Strider64]

This is a good guide, though there's a ton of others available on google.

Don't pay attention to the can of compressed air that is sitting in front of Tony Northrup as that would be a bad thing to do to your camera sensor. Use a rocket blower! I don't know why Tony has it on there in the first place as I don't think he even mentions it? Though I haven't watched that video in a long time, but how he explains how to clean the camera's sensor is excellent in my opinion. I seen long posts on how to clean your camera's sensor where they go into depth using alcohol and diluting it then they have other long drawn out instructions which is pure hogwash. Buy a cleaning kit (I use the one Northrup recommends) for about $20 and be done with it then simply follow the cleaning tips in the video. It's not rocket science on how to clean a camera sensor. Like even Northrup says in the video there's nothing wrong in getting the sensor cleaned if you are really unsure of yourself. However, I find doing it yourself is easy once you get over doing it the first time as that is when you are the most nervous.

 

[anotherscotsman]

I recently bought the RF35mm f1.8 and after a fair few lens changes I noticed dust in the images even at moderate apertures. Did my sensor cleaning but dust still there. It turned out that the dust was actually on the rear element of the lens rather than on the sensor. I’ve never had that happen on my EF lenses. Could be the lack of fluorinated coating on the RF lens but more likely the fact that the rear element of the RF is more exposed being closer to the rear of the lens. Easily cleaned with blower then lens cloth but worth watching out for. If the closeness of the rear element to the sensor is a mirrorless feature then it might be a more common phenomenon.

 

[Fishrrman]

A followup:

After getting the cleaning kit as I mentioned in reply 5 above, I first tried the "blower bulb".
A few blasts of air dislodged the dust (as revealed in followup test pics of a white screen).
So... didn't need to actually "wipe the sensor" after all.

Thanks to all who replied above.

 

[OldMacs4Me]

Mine happened within 2 weeks of purchase. I took it to the dealer who showed me how to clean it. Once I learned how, it was easy. As mentioned above buy the cleaning kit and keep it on hand.

I've only used the kit once but given that it costs $70 for a pro cleaning it more than payed for itself. Not to mention that there was no downtime, nor did I have to entrust it to the mail twice.