Out damn spot! Out!

A couple of weeks ago when I was looking through the images that I had just taken on my X-pro2, I noticed that I had some spots on the sensor. I used a rocket blower to see if they were just dust, but they weren’t.

Those of you who have been reading this blog for a few years know that I had my fair share of sensor spot problems when I had the Nikon D600 camera. The mirror box on it was flicking enough oil on to the sensor to supply most of the power stations in the UK. I got quite adept with cleaning the sensor on it but eventually got rid of the D600 for a D800. Even that excellent camera though needed cleaning within a year as did my Nikon D7100.

With my Fuji’s particularly the X-Pro2 which I have had now for about two and a half years, this problem seems almost non-existant, and indeed a dirty sensor has only just come to light.

I had a decision to make, clean it myself or take it to London Camera Exchange where they did a good job on my Nikon D600 and D800? I decided to go it alone for two reasons. The sensor on the X-Pro2 is smaller than the full-frame Nikons and so should be easier to clean and the second reason is that the sensor on the Fuji is closer to the throat of the camera and so is easy to reach with the swab. The Nikon’s mirror box was so far back, I had to virtually climb in to get to the sensor. Furthermore, as the mirror box was a moving part and needs lubrication, it was all too easy to put a fraction of lubricant on to the swab as it was pushed through the throat to the sensor, so adding more oil to the problem. There are virtually no issues with lubrication in the Fuji as it doesn’t obviously have a mirror box.

So, although I had some Visible Dust cleaning fluid left, I needed to buy some 16mm, APS-C swabs. Phew! I forgot how expensive they were, nearly £35 for twelve. I did, however, get the Visible Dust CurVswab handle and some corner swabs free.

So, to work. I first took a photo of the sky at F/22 and 200 ISO to see where the marks were. I then took the lens off, took one swab, put some SensorClean fluid on it and pulled it gently across the sensor(so easy to get at) turned the swab around and went back across the sensor in the same direction.

The lens went back on and I again took a picture of the sky at F/22 and 200 ISO. Checking in the LCD it looked like the marks had gone, but to check I put the images in Lightroom. The marks had indeed been cleaned off. Success!

Both of these photographs are from the same area on the sensor, the first before cleaning the second after.