DSLR Tips Digital SLR dust workshop

The major selling point for digital SLRs is of course their ability to change lenses, but ironically this is equally their Achilles heel, as once the lens is removed, dust and other foreign particles can enter the body and settle on a filter in front of the sensor. The result are faint, out-of-focus patches on your images which are particularly noticeable in areas of flat colour, such as skin or blue sky.

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In the photos above you can see the effects of foreign particles on an image. When viewed at a shrunken size (far left), particles are rarely visible, but by zooming-in on a portion at 100% (left), a small hair has become obvious.

Over the years much has been written on the subject of dust entering digital SLRs, from owners arguing over the cause to manufacturers initially turning a blind eye to its very existence. Today the problem has finally been recognised by the industry, with most of the major manufacturers offering some kind of anti-dust solutions on their latest DSLRs.

Most of these involve vibrating the filter which is in front of the sensor in an attempt to shake-free any foreign particles. Some models with built-in anti-shake facilities alternatively vibrate the sensor platform for a similar effect.

Unfortunately though, none are foolproof and the fact is if you own a DSLR, you will need to manually clean it at some point in the future. So in this workshop we'll describe a simple technique which has successfully worked for us. To see how we combat dust at DSLR Tips, please go to our digital SLR dust workshop.