CCD and CMOS Sensor Cleaning:
One thought I repeat several times on this website is to read opinions, even expert opinions, with a little skepticism. For example, one commonly repeated misconception is that dust gets on the sensor when lenses are changed. Sorry, but in a literal sense, this one is impossible. Why? Because the shutter is closed when lenses are changed.
There is an element of truth in this misconception, though. If you change lenses with the camera body facing upward, dust can fall in the mirror box (the cavity between the lens and the shutter). Later, turbulence from the mirror operation can move trapped dust from the mirror box onto the sensor.
By the way, talking about dust on the sensor and cleaning the sensor perpetuates another misconception. In most cameras the sensor is behind a low-pass filter, a filter designed to limit the amount of certain high frequency optical information from reaching the sensor and generating moire. This article should be titled "Low-Pass Filter Cleaning", but because "sensor cleaning" is common usage, I'll continue to use that phrase and the word "sensor" instead.
Erik Allin, a Canon USA Senior Professional Markets Rep., maintains that the sensor shouldn't be cleaned by camera owners using any of the tools on the market that make contact with the sensor. The only tool he recommends is a bulb and syringe blower like the one in the photo. Do not use canned air. Canned air contains a propellent that can leave a difficult to remove white film on surfaces. Do not use a bulb blower that includes a brush. The brush traps dust which the blower can transfer to the sensor.
(To be continued...)
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