Keeping my DSLR camera sensors clean.

You've been busy swapping lenses to capture that perfect composition, you're outside, and it's windy. Chances are some dust will make it into your camera and attach itself to the filter in front of your dslr camera sensor. This is a little extreme but you can end up with shots that look like this!
Dust on your sensor shows up in your photos.
Where I'm based, you can take your camera in to a camera store who offer a sensor cleaning service. Some of them can even do this for you within half a day. The cost, approximately $60 each time.
I quickly learned to clean my sensor myself! 

I was using a wet cleaning method and even though I'm quite adept at it now, there's still some slight anxiety every time I'm in there cleaning the sensor. If it gets scratched or damaged, basically my camera instantly becomes a paperweight. And even though it's cheaper than going to the store, it still costs me almost $50 for a packet of 12 cleaning swabs plus the liquid cleaning agent. 12 swabs will give me 6 cleanings.

Then I found the Eyelead.
It's a german product and there are various claims that this is the product that Leica technicians use in the Leica laboratory when they do sensor cleanings. 

It consists of a plastic tool with a tacky gel pad at one end. To use it you simply put your DSLR in cleaning mode and place the gel pad down on your sensor wherever the dust appears to be. Then you lift the tool out of your camera and press the pad down against a sticky receiver tape that comes with the kit. The receiver tape is stickier that the gel pad so it removes any dirt that has been lifted off the sensor by the pad,  making it ready for further applications.

I find it really quick and easy to use and it doesn't give me any anxieties. 

I've been using it for about 4 months now and haven't needed to do a wet clean yet even though I've been doing lots of outdoor shooting and making lots of lens changes. It cleans my sensors really well and there is no residue or anything left on my sensors.

I paid $40 something dollars and it came with 10 cleaning (receiver) pads. I've seen cheap copies around for as little as $15 dollars but I don't want to be jamming cheap alternatives onto my sensor to find out if they work or not!




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