Recently I’ve been noticing quite a bit of dust on my DSLR sensor. It’s especially apparent at small apertures (like f/22 and up). One spot was so big that it left a big black blob at the bottom of each of my shots. Others were smaller and less noticeable, but I was still spending a lot of time cloning them out, especially since they were a little conspicuous across the top of landscape shots. Beautiful sunrises aren’t often accentuated by a lot of black dots!
100% zoom of my sunrise blobs
I used my Rocket Blaster repeatedly, trying to dislodge the dust, but it didn’t get it all. So I ordered a Lens Pen and used it to clean my sensor. It was very easy. I just put the camera into Manual Cleaning mode, which flipped up the mirror and allowed me access to the sensor. (Actually, to the anti-aliasing filter that covers the sensor. It was a relief to learn that I wouldn’t be touching the sensor directly!) Then I used the Lens Pen to gently go over the sensor. It was fast, easy, and it worked! See the before/after animation below.
Before/After Cleaning (2 second animation)
I have a feeling I will be doing this more often, now that I know how easy it is… :)