A7Rll Sensor Cleaning

[Guy Mancuso]

Funny this came up . So I'm processing my take from my trip close to 800 raws just finished it. The first night no issue with dust. i was clean going in. Midday images the next day i see 2 sensor spots that need a wet clean. Next day its up to four. And finally the last 2 hours I see 6. Weird how it just built up like that. Now I did change lenses a lot and in the field late in the day and night , early morning its kind of wet so anything flies in and being on a Wind Farm you guessed it its bloody windy. LOL

Honestly you just can't avoid it sometimes and than other trips or shoots you can go on forever without a wet clean. Like Graham said its actually pretty easy. Need to get that mindset its the sensor out of your head its really the cover glass. I think that sensor thought scares the crap out of folks. Now Graham and I come in from MF where its a BIG BIG surface just floating in the wind so I guess we are a little immune to it.

 

[GrahamWelland]

Graham, I guess it's all the horror stories we see on the net when they wet cleaned or used the wrong sticky tool that stops many from doing it. I have never wet cleaned myself as my eyes are not great and my hands are not too steady anymore. I guess if I had to I could do it but I can just call Sony, get a label, and ship it out and have it tuned and cleaned in 3-5 days for free. Seems like a no brainer for me.... I have plenty of backup gear to use while it's away.

Jim, you make a good point as to why doing it yourself isn't for everyone.

I admit that I'm a pragmatist in these matters especially after having lost my fear through cleaning $35k digital back sensors but I'll readily admit to still preferring to let my dealer deep clean my MFDB sensor on equipment tech days, especially if it needs the real deep clean (MFDB clean kits come with two cleaning sets - a detergent cleaner and a normal eclipse like cleaner - the eclipse like simple cleans I do myself but dealing with the blue cleaner residues I'll readily leave to the dealer tech, especially since I've never needed it!)

 

[Michael]

Eclipse and sensor swabs type 3 by photographic solutions works for me on all of the A7 series. I'd also use visible dust 1x swabs as an alternative.

no need to worry about the ibis just so long as you don't try scrubbing the sensor cover glass as if scrubbing the floor ... :thumbdown:

Was wondering if you have used Eclipse on the sensor of the A7RII? I have read from other sources that this is not recommended due to a special coating on the sensor cover glass.

Thank you in advance for your response!

 

[GrahamWelland]

The current eclipse fluids work fine with ITO sensor coatings and have for a while. If you're paranoid, ping them but they claim that it is ok on all current sensors, including Sony.

if your eclipse fluid is a few years old then please ditch it and replace it with ITO friendly fluid.

 

[Aaron]

You know, I've never quite understood the abject terror/paranoia that some people have about cleaning a sensor ... It's an admittedly small pane of glass covering the actual sensor and all it takes is the same level of care as you'd use washing a baby's head/behind ...

There are many many videos on the internet that show how to do it. Get yourself a rocket blower (and btw keep it clean), blow any dust particles off the sensor as the first stage - with the camera off and preferably with the lens mount pointing down so that gravity can assist. Most times that's all that is needed beyond the built in sensor cleaning mode.

If you need a wet clean then put a couple of drops of eclipse fluid on a sensor swab and as Guy mentioned, gently swipe across the sensor from left to right (or vice versa). If necessary flip the sensor swab and repeat the process in the other direction in a single swipe. Don't over do the amount of eclipse fluid. You may see it leave behind a very fine film after each swipe but that'll instantly evaporate off. Normally that's it ... If not, repeat with a fresh sensor swab.

I've been doing this for many many years with every camera system I've owned from the Nikon D1-D810 (the D3x was an uber dust magnet), through Leicas, medium format backs, Fujis, Sonys, crop frames, full frames, pretty much anything with a removable lens or body. Just make sure that you use the correct sized swab for the sensor. Heck, in an emergency I've even used a credit card/hotel room key card and a Zeiss eye glasses wet wipe ... (No, please don't take that as a recommendation - it was an emergency).

The good news is that with today's cameras with dust removal tech built in its not often needed to do anything beyond a puff of air from a rocket blower. I typically only have to wet clean if there are things like moisture artifacts and sticky dust spots.

I assume the question being asked is specific to the A7R2 as the sensor will move when you clean it, or is it locked in position when the camera is powered off?
If it's able to float then I'd be concerned about wet cleaning it or making contact with it at all for fear of damaging the IBIS system.

 

[GrahamWelland]

I assume the question being asked is specific to the A7R2 as the sensor will move when you clean it, or is it locked in position when the camera is powered off?
If it's able to float then I'd be concerned about wet cleaning it or making contact with it at all for fear of damaging the IBIS system.

If you don't feel comfortable, send it of to get cleaned professionally by one of the service companies or even IR filter conversion folks who also offer cleaning services.

Just apply common sense to cleaning any sensor cover glass but be aware that pretty much every camera comes with sensor shake mechanisms to shed dust and now increasingly with image stabilization. They all use magnets and a floating assembly. The sky hasn't fallen since they've been introduced ...