Mirrorless Sensor Dust... and Bugs

[Remo Nonaz]

I've noticed that DSLR shooters are always worrying about sensor dust. I use a GH2, which is now over four years old and it has never had sensor dust and the sensor has never been cleaned. I think this is inherent to mirrorless cameras. Nevertheless, I've learned the Lr tricks for finding and removing sensor spots from your images.

The Lr skills came in handy this week when I discovered that some images I was working on had bug spots. Yes, dozens of little fuzzy spots, just like sensor dust, that were actually mosquitoes swarming around in strong backlight. (At f10, some are fairly focused, too!) Lr could not find them when I turned on "Visualize Spots", but at 100% enlargement they were easy to find and remove.

[Johnny_Johnson]

I've noticed that DSLR shooters are always worrying about sensor dust. I use a GH2, which is now over four years old and it has never had sensor dust and the sensor has never been cleaned. I think this is inherent to mirrorless cameras.

Hmm, my Sony A7II must be defective then since I've had to clean dust off of the sensor several times.

Later,
Johnny

[rdonson]

I've had dust bunnies on my Fuji X-T1.  No worries though they were easy to remove unlike the lubricant that used to spew from my Canon 5D onto the sensor.

[mcbroomf]

I believe m4/3 cameras have very thick sensor cover plates compared to SLR and FF or APSC mirrorless, so bust spots would have to be bigger to be seen.  I don't think I've seen any on my old GH2, GF1 or OM bodies.  Seen several on my Nex and A7 bodies though.

[ErikKaffehr]

Hi,

Panasonic has an ultrasonic device that is quite efficient in shaking of the dust from the sensor. Having twice the thickness of "the cover glass" also helps.

Best regards
Erik

[David Sutton]

so bust spots would have to be bigger to be seen. 

Our local beach is a fairly good bust spot. Big enough to be seen across the road.

[mike gove]

Just had 10 days in India with the A7RII changing lenses all the time. I guarantee you will get crud on the sensor in such a place. Wet cleaned once, used the Dust Aid Platinum system twice and a filtered rocket blower 2-3 times a day.  India street markets are not the cleanest places

The advantage of mirrorless is that you just need to look through the EVF at the sky and you can see if you have spots.

[Jeremy Roussak]

Our local beach is a fairly good bust spot. Big enough to be seen across the road.

 

Jeremy

[uaiomex]

Did you use dry cleaning too with this system? I mean with the sticky pad?
How safe on a Sony sensor?
Tia
Ed

Just had 10 days in India with the A7RII changing lenses all the time. I guarantee you will get crud on the sensor in such a place. Wet cleaned once, used the Dust Aid Platinum system twice and a filtered rocket blower 2-3 times a day.  India street markets are not the cleanest places

The advantage of mirrorless is that you just need to look through the EVF at the sky and you can see if you have spots.