Some time ago I finally had the courage to clean the sensor of my Nikon D70 digital SLR. In the end it was a very successful experience and I think some of you might find useful the following notes. But let’s start from the beginning…

After a trip to Namibia at least 12 spots appeared on all my photos: dust from Namibian 4×4 tracks and above all the terrible sand of the Namib desert were not easy on the sensor. Returned back home, I sent the camera to an official Nikon Repair Center for a full cleaning operation. The results were not really satisfactory: the biggest spots had been removed but several small ones remained and, above all, the viewfinder was all dusty (apparently they had carelessly blown air inside the camera body!). The whole operation costed me around 100 Euros…

Later, I lent the D70 to my father for a trip to Guatemala. This time a bug had entered the body and landed on the sensor (!). Instead of going back to the Nikon center, I made some researches over the Net and found several techniques and products to clean digital sensors.

In the end I bought Photographic Solutions’s Sensor Swab (type 2 for the D70) and Eclipse cleaning liquid. Following all the hints and tips found in forums and technical articles, I then cleaned the sensor. I won’t explain the full technique I used (refer to the numerous resources available on the Net) but here a few tips. First, it’s very important to remove all dust from the body’s interior and from the sensor prior to the cleaning: use a powerful blower (like Giotto’s) or even better one of those new systems that suck air instead of blowing it. Second, practice the movement with the swab on a glass surface or something similar to get skilled: a precise and regular movement over the sensor is key. Third, I find it better to clean the sensor with the swab starting from the side where electrical contacts are placed in order to correctly place the swab before performing the sweep (the issue is not leaving residues at the beginning or the end of the sweep like when you use a broom). It took me three sweeps to get it done but in the end I had a perfect result: zero spots on the sensor!.

Finally, maybe you are wondering how to detect all the little spots over the sensor. Simply take a snapshot at a bright white piece of paper at the highest focal lenght using the smallest aperture possible (highest F number). In this way the spots will appear at maximum contrast and you can verify the results before and after the cleaning.

In my case, after a careful preparation, all went well but remember that cleaning the sensor is at your own risk: if you mess up it could be very expensive!