How to avoid dust on your DSLR’s sensor

Sensor dust is a real pain for many owners of a digital SLR camera. Most new DSLRs now have some form of sensor cleaning built in that has reduced the problem considerably. But none is a 100% solution and because of this it still makes sense to avoid getting dust on your sensor in the first place.

Here are some tips to avoid dust on your camera’s sensor:

Avoid changing lenses in a dusty environment

Of course this is not always possible but sometimes you can find a place less dusty to change your lens.

Avoid strong wind

When photographing outdoors, you often have to change the lens under windy conditions. If you can’t avoid that (for example when photographing birds at the coast), try to stand with your back against the wind and hold the camera close to your chest when changing the lens.

Hold your camera downward

This will cause the dust to fall out of your camera instead of falling on the sensor.

Switch off your camera when changing lenses

The electrically charged sensor will attract dust. You can avoid this when you turn your camera off before changing the lens.

Keep your camera clean

It’s a good idea to keep your camera clean and in clean room where there isn’t too much dust. If your camera get’s dirty, clean it.

Clean the lenses before mounting it on the camera

Always clean the rear end of the lenses (for example with a blower bulb) before mounting it on your camera. If the lens mount is dirty, you might get the dirt in the camera. Take care of your lenses and avoid dust setting on the lens mount.

Use the sensor cleaning system of your camera

Most recently introduced new digital SLR cameras have a sensor cleaning system. Switch it on and use it. After changing the lens, I always switch on my Canon EOS 40D, even if I don’t plan to use it. This causes the sensor cleaning system to clean the sensor once and helps get rid of dust that has just settled on the sensor.

I use all of those measures and together with the very good self cleaning system of my Canon EOS 40D, I rarely have to clean my sensor. If I do, I either use or SensorKlear or the sensor swaps from VisibleDust. So far, those tools have worked without problems. For a more detailed overview of ways to clean your sensor, I recommend reading this article by E.J. Peiker on Naturescapes.Net.