Keeping Your Digital Camera Lens Dust Free

Fear of the dusty sensor

If you begin to notice dark specks in your photos when you’re using a digital SLR don’t become alarmed and wonder if you will need to shell out more money for a new camera. The problem is simply dust on your sensor.

When you switch lenses on an SLR it is easy for dust to get inside the camera and settle on the sensor, which will, in turn, create small dark spots in the pictures you take.

Your camera may already have a built-in sensor-dusting function, but most cameras will still require a careful manual cleaning.

Purchase a self-cleaning SLR.

Dust specks that collect on the camera sensor can create dark spots on your photographs. If you are unsure if you have this problem already you can enlarge your photographs or take a picture of a white wall.

There are currently two cameras which have a built in feature to clean the sensor, the E1 and Evolt E-300, manufactured by Olympus. Every time you turn the camera on or activate the filter, a Supersonic Wave Filter vibrates the sensor which shakes the dust off.

Included are adhesive strips which run along the sides of the sensor to collect the dust. From my experience the system works pretty well. It’s unfortunate that other manufacturers don’t offer something similar.