Cleaning an 80D Sensor - Doable with care?

[Formaleins]

Hi,

I was debating with myself what to do with my 80D DSLR regarding having the sensor cleaned. I have never had a DSLR before and I am extremely wary of touching the mirror or prism or whatever it is that reflects the images. I just do not want to misalign anything. So, I was thinking about taking it to Canon in Chiang Mai and letting them do the job for me - I believe they have a service entre there that can do this - Anyone ever had it done by Canon? What sort of price are we looking at here?

 

The other option of course is to do it myself.....ho ho! Like I say, I have never touched a DSLR before so am a bit anxious about it. I have cleaned up a Sony A6000 Sensor not too long ago and that was interesting. Thinking it would be like cleaning a window I just gave it a good wipe with a microfibre cloth wetted with Tesco glass cleaner. Let's just say that it did remove all of the dirt spots that were there, but it laid down a rather nasty smear trail residue from the glass cleaner. So, lesson learned I bought a proper wet swab kit of the correct size and did it again properly. This time it worked a treat and there was no permanent damage (luckily).

 

I have looked at a few videos on the internet showing the DSLR sensor cleaning but what I am unable to get a grip of is what sort of pressure do you put on the swab? The Sony sensor was a pretty rigid old thing and seemed quite robust. The Canon on the other hand with that mirror etc. inside the aperture looks like another accident waiting to happen.

I understand that the mirror goes into a lock up position for cleaning and has to have constant power to prevent it swinging back and smashing itself into 10 million pieces. I think I should be OK with that side of it.

 

So apart from the kind of pressure needed, how if you actually do - Clean the MIRROR? - Surely if there is dirt on the sensor, it will follow that there will be dirt on the mirror? I haven't seen a single video that deals with the mirror, only the sensor. Also, is it necessary to get in there and clean the prism? I mean if I take it to Canon will they clean the sensor, mirror and prism or just the sensor? It seems like a half job if you are not going to clean it all.

 

Thanks for any advice. Cheers.

[Farangwithaplan]

Near Saphan Taksin BTS there is a AV Camera shop and they do an outstanding job of cleaning mirror and sensor for a few hundred baht. I have used them a few times. They also offer an external clean of the body - which I have never tried.

 

It only took 2 hours to get done. Very professional outfit. I have been to other AV shops in the city and they haven't always had the same professionalism as The Saphan Taksin guys.

[SteveK]

Don't touch the sensor with anything unless you really know what you are doing - this can be done properly very cheaply in Bangkok (unlike the UK where they assume that because you've got a nice camera, that you will pay £30+ for a 2 day turnaround).