After scratching a sensor with a cotton swab once, I usually bring the camera to a store for cleaning.

• 3

If spot is in the up-right, then it is in the bottom-left on the sensor? Where i have to get more attention to clean?

• 4

You can see the dust with a flashlight.

• 5

Opinions vary on this. Certainly the safest option is to get a specialist store to clean it for you. In the UK a typical price is around £30. You can also use something like the Eyelead sensor cleaner. This is a square of sticky material on a stick (google it for a better explanation! and instructions) and you press it firmly (but not too firmly) on to the "sensor" a few times and then clean the Eyelead itself on to some provided sticky paper. The idea being it picks up things like the dust speck that are otherwise stuck. It's a good solution but a bit scary if you've not done it before.

One thing to bear in mind is that the thing you are looking at is not, in fact, the sensor. It's actually the infrared/ultraviolet blocking filter (i.e. a piece of glass). Of course you still don't want to break it. But I'm sure you'd be perfectly happy to clean a dirty lens filter?

• 6

When I'll be back home, i'll look at the sensor with flashlight trying to see what i havent see yet and try to use 'eyelead' thing I have zoomed in the jpg and measure that it is about 5 or 6 pixels, so... using maths it gives me about 0,02 mm Can i see such thing? If lenses gives me rotated (left-right, up-side-down)picture on the sensor, i have to clean lower-left corner of sensor (looking on it from the front of camera) i think.

• 7

what I do is use a headlamp, a pair of magnifying specs to see the dust spot. Then pick it up by gently approaching it with a fine paintbrush (clean, dry). The static on the brush should pick it up before the brush even touches the sensor.

If you need to charge up the brush, just brush it a few times against the edge of a clean piece of paper.

It should never be necessary to actually rub or even touch the sensor. I used to use swabs back in the day, but this system of picking off the specks one by one seems much cleaner.

• 8

  It's actually the infrared/ultraviolet blocking filter

Actually sitting on top of that there is yet another piece of glass which is the piezo dust cleaner. It also serves the function to hermetically seal the sensor. If you are not able to clean the dust particle, chances are that it is located into the sealed space under the cleaner. In such a case the whole camera must be disassembled for cleaning. Sensor unsealing and resealing must be conducted in a special clean-room environment or otherwise more dust is most likely to penetrate. Which camera is it?

• 9

Just a bit of advice, do not use canned compressed air to blow dust of the inside of a camera, use a Giottos rocket blower or similar blower. I have seen instances of liquid propellant dumped on a sensor plus it may be too aggressive for the fragile parts located within a camera and can blow dirt deep into the body.

• 10

I was using a rubber 'pear' from drug store (if you know what i mean, i'm not english) to clean it up. So... built-in ultrasonic cleaner didn't do, my rubber 'compresor' neither, so... i must do it mechanically if i will see that. If it will make nothing then i will have to give camera to service to clean it up.

• 12

  Actually sitting on top of that there is yet another piece of glass which is the piezo dust cleaner. It also serves the function to hermetically seal the sensor. If you are not able to clean the dust particle, chances are that it is located into the sealed space under the cleaner. In such a case the whole camera must be disassembled for cleaning. Sensor unsealing and resealing must be conducted in a special clean-room environment or otherwise more dust is most likely to penetrate. Which camera is it?

It's pretty common for dust to be stuck on top of the sensor array and difficult to shift with air alone. But it's very rare (certainly not unheard of - but rare) for the dust to be inside the array. If it is inside then I'd always try to claim it as a warranty repair. Dust inside can only get there at time of manufacture or through a faulty seal.

Sensor topic indicates the camera in question is an X-M1

• 13

Thank you guys for help. I called to the service and they told me to sent the camera to the experts. The expertize will be free

• 14

I use a Rocket Blower first, and if that doesn't fix it I use the Sensor Swab and Eclipse cleaner method, and have for several years. Works well and I've never damaged a sensor. In fact I just had to clean my XE2 sensor this week.

• 15

  You can see the dust with a flashlight.

Yeah, that's what my girlfriend always says about my place.

• 16

Take a look here. Cleaning your camera sensor

You have the in-camera sensor cleaning mechanism as this tends to reduce spots from dust but sensor marks will still occur as there are tiny water droplets in the air. Being able to clean the sensor yourself is a must learn item IMHO but others feel less comfortable doing this but I understand their reluctance to do this as it may result in camera damage.

Last edited: Oct 15, 2015

• 17

After my exams under my stereoscopic microscope, i found this piece of dust. it is on the sensor but under glass plate or filter, whatever it is. It couldnt be made by me because it is under the glass on the sensor surface. I booked service already and will send it to the service next week to clean it up. I checked my first photos and this stain is on them, hard to see but if one knows where to look then one will see.

• 18

Well hate it has to go back - always a bummer when you have to part with a camera for service. Hope they get you taken care of quickly.

• 19

As soon you get your camera back, check for white noise. Close the lens, 30s exposure and check the raw image for white dots. Fuji cleaned my sensor and I had snow storm on my long exposure pictures. It went right back to Fuji and since I have not seen my camera again.

• 20

  As soon you get your camera back, check for white noise. Close the lens, 30s exposure and check the raw image for white dots. Fuji cleaned my sensor and I had snow storm on my long exposure pictures. It went right back to Fuji and since I have not seen my camera again.

They're probably still thinking how to write a courteous letter to you, asking you to use long exposure noise reduction.

That "snow storm" probably is quite normal: That's thermal pixel noise which happens during long exposure times. You normally can remove it quite easily be taking a "dark" frame. The "dark" exposure/frame uses the same exposure time, but shutter remains closed while it is captured. The dark frame has same "snow storm" as the real exposure, and thus the snow storm will be canceled when the camera subtracts the dark frame from the real frame. This incidentally will be done automatically by the camera if you enable long exposure noise reduction.

The only downside of this technique is that the camera can only save the image after twice the exposure time has elapsed. This is because it needs to first capture the real frame and then then dark frame, and then do a little numbercrunching...