Milton Perrin /

Sensor Crud While on the Road

I was on vacation in Europe recently with my trusty D800 and a couple lenses. I tried not to change lenses too often, using a 28-300mm Nikkor for most things and a 17-35mm for the cathedral interiors mostly. I tried to not change outside in the breeze but inevitably I needed to swap a few times when maybe I shouldn’t have. I didn’t have a computer so I left things on the cards until I got back with just a quick look at the little camera screen as I went. For the first half of the trip, no problem, the sensor remained pretty clean. Somewhere along the way though I got a big fat piece of something smack dab in the middle of the frame. For stills it’s not a big deal, but for video it’s pretty noticeable. Even if I had noticed it, what to do? I carefully use Eclipse and sensor swabs at home but never did it on the road. I wonder if there’s a road kit for sensor cleaning? Or walk into a camera store and take my chances? Or just take the cleaning stuff (more to carry) and give a swipe every few days …

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