Cleaning Your Sensor, My Favorite Way

A question from one of my former American Photo Safari students prompted me to pass this advice along. Amy Solassi Goodlett is a friend now and I want to maintain that friendship because she owns a candy store!! Actually my favorite way to clean sensors is to send my bodies to Canon's professionals but I do clean my sensors at home now and then with a product called FireFly.

This product combines a good old Giotto Rocket Blaster with a collar that locks on the bottom of the FireFly. The FireFly uses a 9v battery to ionize the air passing through from the blaster so that when that air comes out of the FireFly in to the mirror chamber of your camera it neutralizes the static electricity that sticks particles to your mirror and especially your sensor.

I've used it with repeated success. Here's my procedure for checking and cleaning my sensor.


1. I take a few shots of a pretty sky setting my focus on infinity. I want 3 or 4 shots for a reason.You can use a plain white wall or something similar but I like to use the sky.

2. I load the shots into my computer and look for those smudgy dots that indicate dirt on the sensor.

In this shot I determined that spots 1 and 2 were dirt sticking to the mirror or sensor and spot 3 was loose dust on the lens or mirror because...

3.  I gave the lens and mirror a quick blast or two from a regular blower and took more shots. Spot 3 disappeared but 1 and 2 were in exactly the same place in every shot.

4. After checking my second set of shots and establishing the presence of sticky dust spots I put my camera on a tripod and point it down toward the floor. That's so loosened dust can fall away.

5. I set the camera to manual sensor cleaning, remove the lens and give it 5 or 6 blasts with the FireFly. I DO NOT TOUCH THE SENSOR. Did I need to tell you that?

6. I immediately turn the camera off and blast the mirror a few times.

If I still see spots I may try wiping the mirror with a microfiber lens cloth. If I can't get rid of the spots I send the body to Canon. I do not use a brush because it can leave behind a hair or two. I have tried wiping the sensor with two products and just made a worse mess both times. You can, of course, check with a local camera store to see if they can do the cleaning or send the body to the manufacturer for you. I prefer such delicate work be done by someone who'll replace anything they mess up at their expense.