Dust be Gone! Ridding your Point and Shoot or SLR camera of sensor dust

Dust Be Gone!  Ridding your Point and Shoot or SLR Camera Sensor of Dust.

For traveling photographers digital camera sensor dust can ruin your day or your entire trip!  A camera image sensor is an electrostatic device and easily attracts dust  particles to its surface and if large enough can ruin your images.

When I photographed clear plastic food containers for a manufacturing client several years ago I needed to increase the contrast significantly to make the transparent product stand out. I was astounded at the hundreds of dust particles adhering, like  a snowstorm,  to my digital camera sensor. Not usually an issue with complex multicolor backgrounds dust particles can wreck havoc when they are large and visible in a sky or plain background.  Auto sensor cleaning cameras had not been developed yet, so I ran to my local camera store and picked up a camera sensor dust cleaning brush system called Arctic Butterfly by Visible Dust.  A battery operated spinning brush achieves a static charge and when you gently stroke the charged brush on you cameras sensor it easily picks up all the dust.  It works so well that I frequently zoom in and scroll all over a plain color image (e.g. grey sky, white wall) and  stroke away when I see dust.

I know of an African safari tourist who thought using a blower brush on his camera’s sensor was the trick to remove dust but he didn’t notice that oil droplets and other gunk being sprayed from the blower would ruin every image taken on this once in a lifetime trip – so sad.  Cloning out the dust spots with your editing software is certainly a last resort option but get a life!  We would rather travel or Blog post than spending needless hours fixing images.

Here is an example of an image from a SLR camera  showing tiny dust spots in the blue sky:

This image was taken in Jordan’s Wadi Rum desert with a point and shoot camera.  Note the huge dust spot at the mountain side at the top right:

Even though my Canon 7D has auto sensor cleaning I take the Arctic Butterfly with me on my world travels just in case.  Noting that most cameras with auto sensor cleaning systems have a backup mode which really says “well, my sensor cleaning system didn’t work so let’s  automatically clone away the dust spot on all images”.  Moist pollen that dries and frequent lens changes in salt spray, windy or desert environments are particularly problematic. Well, SLR cameras seem to have dust sensor cleaning solutions but what about point and shoot cameras?

OMG! THE VACUUM CLEANER SOLUTION!

For about 3 years in my digital and travel photography lectures and classes, I always thought that point and shoot cameras don’t have sensor dust problems since the camera body is sealed and the lens is not removable. I did wonder about the pressure changes inside the camera from zooming in and out the camera lens – perhaps sucking in dust?  A  few years ago a cruise ship guest showed me his P&S camera with huge sensor dust spots that ruined every image.  When we visiting Jordan’s Wadi Run desert with 2 point and shoot and a SLR camera shooting out of a speeding 4 wheel drive with windows open became sensor dust hell for all cameras!. The SLR was easily cleaned but the other cameras were stowed to be dealt with on return home.  Fortunately it was the second to last day of a 3 month journey. Ultimately both point ans hoot cameras were exchanged under warranty.

Until last month I suggested the only solution for point and shoot sensor dust problems is to return the camera for professional dis-assembly and cleaning (a step frequently costing more than the worth of the camera) or buy a new one.  In a recent cruise ship lecture a woman piped out “I used a vacuum cleaner nozzle over my extended lens and it sucked away all the sensor dust”.  I repeated her comment in my next class and I had a very happy camper who did the same thing and got his camera back and operational without visible sensor dust at the start of a long travel journey.

For travelers vacuum cleaners are easy to find in hotels, cruise ships and shops (but not remote deserts!) so is this the ultimate solution for P&S camera sensor dust?  Will the powerful suction do away with tiny semiconductors or dislodge camera parts? Should this solution be only for cameras that will be tossed anyway?  Please share your thoughts and experiences on this apparent “easy” solution. Fill in the comments and your experiences with digital camera sensor dust in the reply section below.

Dust be gone?