Is it unrealistic to expect no dust bunnies?

anonymouscuban

I don't think I've ever had a camera that didn't have at least 1 dust blob on the sensor. However small, they're always present. Saturday, I finally sat down with my sensor loupe, swabs and air bulb blowie thing and went to town on my sensor. I worked on it for at least an hour. Blow, loupe... blow, loupe... swab, loupe... blow, etc. Went through this exercise until I thought I got every little last booger off my sensor. I stop down the lens, go outside and take a photo of the bright sky. Come inside, upload the pic and what do I see....

A FREAKING DUST BUNNY!!! :cry

SO.... is it unreasonable to expect to get every little booger off your sensor? Is this something we as photogs just have to live with?

basflt

depends om how you use the camera
with normal aperture setting , an average dust fiber will not be visible
there is allways dust in the air , and it enters the compartment before and after you mounted the lens ,
the camera is not air-tight , so there will always be dust

so , my idea , you have to live w it

tip for those who use LR
remove dust from one image
hit copy , deselect all but dust-removal
copy on all pics of same session

ziggy53

I don't use a "bulb blower" (typically these are the "rocket" or "hurricane" type blower) because it has to suck air from outside the camera to blow into the camera body. You actually introduce new dust into the camera body with every use.

If you must use a bulb blower, the Koh HEPA Jet Air Blower seems to be the best of this kind.
http://www.adorama.com/CPKHJDB.html
http://www.amazon.com/Koh-HEPA-Jet-Air-Blower/dp/B001WAVTB6
(B&H no longer carries this blower)

I greatly prefer a charged brush for removing dust and fibers from the sensor. This device actually attracts loose particles inside the camera body.

http://www.visibledust.com/products3.php?pid=3

I built my own from these instructions:

http://www.prime-junta.net/pont/How_to/a_Brush_Your_Sensor/a_Brush_Your_Sensor.html

Read those instructions carefully and be diligent with cleaning. Test any DIY brush on a clean mirror first.

anonymouscuban

Thanks Zig. Great info. I was thinking of getting one of those charged brushes but maybe I will make my own like you did.

I do see your point about the blower. I used it because I had a lot of fibers stuck on the sides on that felt like material in the sensor compartment. It just kept getting on the sensor when I'd swab it. Once I blew most of it off, I then swabbed the sensor. I like the idea of that dry brush since it would be reusable. The swabs are really expensive.