Scared of changing lenses - dust and such!

[taffy12]

I just got my camera in today, just put on a lens for the very first time, and can I say, I'm pretty scared about changing lenses after reading through a bunch of threads on here and then seeing the gaping hole that is the front of my camera! How easy is it to get dust and dirt on the sensor? How hard is it to clean or repair...or how expensive is it to get that done professionally?

[pierces]

As long as you take some common-sense precautions and don't change your lens in crazy-harsh conditions, dust can be avoided. (Mostly...)

 

Whenever you change the lens, tilt the body so the opening is facing downward. This will help prevent airborne dust from settling in the housing while it open. If you are outside, turn your back to the wind or duck inside a doorway. Practice so you can do the change quickly. I brace the camera against my body and release the lens lock without twisting the lens all the way off. Then I take the back cap off of the second lens, align the mark on the lens with the one on the body, twist the first lens off with one hand and seat the second right away. It only leaves the body open for a second or two.

 

Don't worry too much. You will get dust on the sensor eventually. The action of your lens zooming in and out can actually suck dust into the body (don't panic!;) This is possible, not common!) Just use your camera and have fun. If you keep it in the bag and never use it out of fear for its safety, you should have just saved your money and bought post cards wherever you go!:D

 

A professional light dust removal is about $50. For $90 or so, you can get a Visible Dust static brush and a Giottos Rocket air blower. Don't get a cheap blower. The Giottos has a filter on the intake and a one-way valve on the exhaust to keep dust from being sucked back into the blower and redistributed into your camera. There are several good YouTube videos on using the VisibleDust brush to clean light dust off you sensor. It is really pretty easy. In four years I have had to use mine about a dozen times, making it a good investment.

 

Enjoy the new toy!

 

Dave

[chipmaster]

1) There is a reason its a DSLR to change lenses

2) Common sense, change smartly and not in dust storms.

 

FWIW I've yet to clean a sensor and I do change lenses a lot.

 

I just got my camera in today, just put on a lens for the very first time, and can I say, I'm pretty scared about changing lenses after reading through a bunch of threads on here and then seeing the gaping hole that is the front of my camera! How easy is it to get dust and dirt on the sensor? How hard is it to clean or repair...or how expensive is it to get that done professionally?

[mskaufman]

I bought a 18 - 270mm, which minimizes the lens changing.

[zackiedawg]

18-270mm lenses do minimize lens changing, but they do also act as very effective suction devices to pull dust into the camera. Dust is fairly unavoidable eventually, but as Dave said, simple an logical precaution will reduce your exposure to reasonable levels, and cleaning is fairly simple - there's just no reason to let it worry you.

 

In fact, a vast majority of DSLR users have dust on their sensor right now...they just don't know it. The fact is, dust on a sensor only starts to become a problem when it involves fairly large dust particles or very heavy amounts of it that become visible in all shots, or when needing to shoot at very small apertures. Because many people shoot at fairly large to medium apertures, they often don't even see the dust in their shots. If you ever want to see the effects of aperture on dust, and in fact the way to check your sensor for dust, do this: set the aperture to as small as it will go in A priority mode (such as F22 or F32). Find a section of blank white wall to point the camera at. Switch to manual focus and make sure you are completely OUT of focus so the whole wall is blurred (that way, you don't mistake spots on the wall for sensor dust). Then take a photo at the lowest ISO of the blank blurred out of focus wall. View the photo zoomed in, scanning across the shot and if you have dust, it will be clearly visible as black or grey spots of varying size.

 

Because most folks don't frequently shoot at F22, and because most shots have other details in them that can hide the dust spots, many folks don't even know they have dust. Usually, it first reveals itself on bright sunny days, when the camera stops down to a small aperture and you take a shot that involves a nice big section of blue sky.

 

A blower like Dave mentioned will usually handle 75-85% of all dust issues you'll have. Going into your camera's cleaning mode, holding the camera with the lens opening facing down, and using the blower to direct some firm blasts of air on the sensor from below, will usually dislodge most dust. On rare occasion, you may need to move to a sensor brush, or even the more rare wet swabbing technique, for really stubborn dust...you can do those yourself with some basic cleaning kits (brushes can range from $25 to $100, and wet swabs from $20-50ish), or just use the bulb blower ($20-45ish) most of the time, and bring the camera to a camera shop for a cleaning once a year or so if you don't want to do it yourself.

 

And in the meantime, don't worry too much, as even when you have dust you may not see it in a majority of your photos, can always simply clone it out in basic editing if you do, and a rocket blower is a good investment for occasional simple self cleanings.

[mskaufman]

Nice explanation. Please tell me a little more about how the 18-270 attracts dust.

 

Thanks,

[pierces]

Nice explanation. Please tell me a little more about how the 18-270 attracts dust.

 

Thanks,

 

When you zoom a lens like the 18-270, it extends the barrel of the lens significantly. Since the camera and lens aren't hermetically sealed and the increase in internal volume of the lens creates a lower pressure inside the camera/lens combination, zooming pulls air and probably a bit of dust into the camera. Contracting the lens will expel the air but if dust has settled on the inner surfaces it will remain.

 

Dave

[zackiedawg]

Bingo! Dave's got it (that was a better technical explanation than I could have mustered!).

 

I have been using an 18-250mm lens for many years as my go-to general-purpose lens - I love it and it's tremendously useful. But dust can (and does) still occur on occasion when I use it even when I'm not changing lenses. Of course, much depends on the environment you're shooting in - 13 days traveling from Quebec to Ft. Lauderdale this past October I had absolutely no dust during the entire trip, on 2 cameras, despite plenty of lens changes and 18-250mm zoom use. 2 days back in dusty, dirty, buggy, humid, hot, swampy Florida, and I had dust on the sensor. Here, it's a weekly process for me to blow out my camera with the rocket blower. Even in my house, I can get a visible layer of dust on windowsills and countertops in 3 days. Outdoors, my patio furniture is covered in 2 days if it doesn't rain!

[chipmaster]

Not only do does air re-balance as you zoom in and out get some flow into the body, the real issue is that you will be rotating external air into the internal's of the lense itself and dust in the lense IMHO can be interesting problem in that not as easy to address than on the sensor

 

When you zoom a lens like the 18-270, it extends the barrel of the lens significantly. Since the camera and lens aren't hermetically sealed and the increase in internal volume of the lens creates a lower pressure inside the camera/lens combination, zooming pulls air and probably a bit of dust into the camera. Contracting the lens will expel the air but if dust has settled on the inner surfaces it will remain.

 

Dave

[pierces]

Not only do does air re-balance as you zoom in and out get some flow into the body, the real issue is that you will be rotating external air into the internal's of the lense itself and dust in the lense IMHO can be interesting problem in that not as easy to address than on the sensor

 

Correct. The camera/lens cavity isn't the only area affected. It's a potential issue with any lens that zooms by extension and not by moving internal components like a 70-200 f/2.8.

 

Cleaning a sensor is kid stuff compared to disassembling a lens to clean it! Fortunately, a noticeable amount of dust can accumulate before image quality would be affected at all. I have a 25 yr old 70-210 that has a little dust inside but nowhere near enough to compromise image quality. That would lead me to believe that barring vacations in horrific environments, it shouldn't be a source of concern.

 

To the OP: Don't worry, keep shooting! :)

 

Dave

[mskaufman]

Thanks everyone!!

[woan]

I personally go wet instead of the sticky pads, but I think this video gives a good idea of what it's like:

 

 

I have been annoyed by dust on extended trips enough that I am bringing cleaning equipment on all trips now, especially when I am not bringing a second camera body.

 

Ron

 

I just got my camera in today, just put on a lens for the very first time, and can I say, I'm pretty scared about changing lenses after reading through a bunch of threads on here and then seeing the gaping hole that is the front of my camera! How easy is it to get dust and dirt on the sensor? How hard is it to clean or repair...or how expensive is it to get that done professionally?