How do I clean my camera?

x19delta

I have a bunch of spots on my images, no matter which lens I use. I have a Nikon D800 with only 4000 actuations...seems like I shouldnt need to clean it but its def dirty!

Killerbob

If your picture is at a relatively small aperture, say f/13-22, I'd say you have a dirty sensor, not lens. I had something very similar on my D800 but as soon as I gave it a sensor clean, it was gone. It does not look like something on your 14-24mm.

Check it out using another lens, and a small aperture. Take a shoot against the blue sky and it'll be obvious.

Golf007sd

x19delta: As Killerbob has stated, you may have a dirty sensor. Easy to clean with the right tools. If you don't have any, take it to your D800 to your nearest camera shop and have them clean it for you. In addressing the manner in the future you may want to do some search on our forum regarding sensor cleaning and the toold needed to do so. It is not a very complicated process.

Lastly, you may want to post some images here or give us the links to them so that we can have a look and see if our hypothesis is correct. Photo setting would be helpful as well...ie. lens & f-shop.

Killerbob

Take a look a the many good suggestions in this thread: http://forum.nikonrumors.com/discussion/664/d800e-and-oil-spots/p1

Photobug

Once you have the sensor cleaned, pay attention to how you change your lens. I have seen the un educated user turn their DSLR lens mount pointing up toward the sky and then removing one lens and installing the second lens. When you turn it up, you risk dust off your clothing dropping into the lens mount and landing on the sensor.

I always remove the lens with the camera horizontal, lens mount facing horizontal, and changing lens. More difficult for something to fall into the open lens mount.

After a long shoot and before putting the camera away I clean the exterior of the body. I remove the lens and immediately apply a body cap to the body and a rear lens cap to the rear of the lens. Then I wipe down the exterior of the body, make sure there is no dust in the view finder...that ledge really likes to hold dust. Then clean the lens body and check the filter to see if I need to use a hand blower to remove any particles or if I got a spot on the filter, then out comes my filter cleaning item.

Photobug

Follow up. I have paid to have my sensor cleaned and have had it cleaned for free by Nikon and at a large camera store expo where they had two guys doing nothing but cleaning sensors.

Beso

I have a bunch of spots on my images, no matter which lens I use. I have a Nikon D800 with only 4000 actuations...seems like I shouldnt need to clean it but its def dirty!

I had the same problem with my D800 pretty much right out of the box. I initially thought it was oil on the sensor as others had experienced that problem and so I just took the spots out in processing. I thought I would wait to see if additional spots developed before cleaning the sensor. After buying the supplies necessary to clean the sensor I decided to give the sensor a good blowing with my rocket blower first. I turned the camera on, locked the mirror up, turned the camera face down and thoroughly blew out the body cavity and sensor. After reinstalling a lens and taking a few test shots I found the sensor was clean. The little round spots I had previously noted in the images were gone. What I thought was oil was actually just dust.

You might want to give this a try before taking your camera in somewhere, or sending it off to Nikon.

Good luck.

Killerbob

I can only encourage anyone to learn and do the sensor cleans yourself. It scared me at first, and I needed a lot of reassurance before I took the jump, but after trying it out on an older camera I had around, as well as my D7000, I eventually cleaned my D800, and I am surprised it worried me at first.

Get a good sensor loupe, the Eclipse Cleaning Solution, and the correct Eclipse Sensor Swabs. Get enough of the swabs that you can try it out on older equipment, and charge ahead. There are so many videos on YouTube that you will soon know the inns and outs of it.