Dust bites.

Every time you change your lens on your DSLR camera, or you zoom in or out with your zoom lens, dust gets into the camera and finds it’s way onto the imaging-sensor.

This shows up as dark-spots in your photographs and is especially noticable in areas of broad, even color such as the sky in a scenic shot.

Even if you don’t mind going into Photoshop and cloning-out each little speck, on a large number of photos this can get old quick.

Well, a while ago I picked up the Delkin Sensor Scope and I finally put it to the test just the other day….

The Sensorscope system includes the SensorScope itself, a USB powered (or battery-powered USB adapter which is included) Vacuum-brush, some Sensor-wands and sensor cleaning fluid.

All this is packed neatly into a carrying-case about the size of a hardcover book and has an instruction manual as well.

To use the kit, you first make sure your camera either is plugged-in with the (usually optional) AC adapter or has a fully charged battery.

The you remove the lens from the camera and lock-up the reflex-mirror using the cleaning-setting in your camera’s menu. Some cameras will only allow you to raise the mirror for cleaning with the AC adapter and not battery-power, other brands just check the battery-charge before they put the mirror up, and won’t put it up is the battery is low.

Then you mount the SensorScope to the camera by merely placing it on the lens-mount, small end toward the camera. It doesn’t have a bayonnet type mount like a lens, it just rests on the lens-mount surface.

You press the button on the side of the scope and the LEDs inside the scope light-up and illuminate the filter in front of the sensor where the dust is actually sitting.

On my Nikon D-200 it was very easy after that to spot all the dust sitting on my sensor-filter, the scope definitely worked as advertised.

Once the dust was discovered, I then took out my trusty Giottos Rocket Air Blaster and (holding the camera lens-opening down) gave the sensor-filter a few good blasts of air. This removes the looser-dust from the filter and doesn’t harm the sensor as canned-air would do …don’t ever use canned-air (Freon) to blow off your sensor.

Make sure that you keep a good distance from the sensor and don’t allow any part of the Rocket to touch it as you would be hosed if it did.

I then turned the camera back over and checked out the dust with the SensorScope again. Most of the dust was gone from the sensor-filter glass (Yay!).

I then took the Sensor-Vac and tried to pick up some of the more stubborn dust on the sensor-filter. I snapped the vacuum together, and plugged it into the AA-battery powered USB adapter.

I then (carefully) used the vacuum-brush and (using the SensorScope tilted to the side to illuminate) picked up what I could.

The SensorVac is probably the weak-link in the system, which is why I use my Rocket first. It has 3-parts that snap together, although they’re fiddly and don’t stay together all that well, and it’s not a very powerful vacuum. It can suck up some of the looser stuff, but I think the Rocket does a better (and safer) job of cleaning that out.

Now was the time to tackle the “sticky-dust” that doesn’t want to move.

This is where the Sensor-wands and cleaning fluid come in.

This is also where I usually pucker-up and pack off my camera to Nikon to have them clean it.

Any time you mess around with your sensor, there’s a chance that you could scratch it and have a major repair bill to have it fixed (or have a nice looking camera to hold down loose papers).

But, more and more on the internet you read about people cleaning their own sensors and living to tell about it.

The instructions that come with the SensorScope explain the whole procedure, so I thought I’d give it a shot.

Putting 2-drops (and no more) of the included cleaning-fluid on the end of the sensor-wand and swiping once in one direction, then turn the pad over (so you don’t scratch the sensor with any picked-up debris) swipe the other way. then you toss that Sensor-wand into the trash.

I then put the Sensor-scope back on the camera and checked-out how well I cleaned.

Yay! No dust, no streaks, and (thankfully) no scratches.

I then put on a lens and shot a picture of an evenly-lit white area with the lens out of focus.

<><>The picture revealed that there was no longer any dust on my sensor!

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CONCLUSION

Given all that, would I recommend the SensorScope system?

I sure would. If you don’t mind taking the responsibility of cleaning your sensor-filter yourself, and not having to ship your camera off to the manufacturer to have it done (and watching the delivery-guy in the brown-truck bounce it off your front-door when it’s returned as I’ve had it happen), then the SensorScope is a very viable tool to help get rid of those pesky dust-bunnies in your camera.

All of the products mentioned in the article are available thru Amazon or Adorama. Just click on the links on our pages and we’ll take you right there!

Giottos Rocket

Belkin SensorScope