Awhile ago I bought a nice little gadget to clean the sensor of my camera. It’s called Arctic Butterfly from Visible Dust and it’s this little brush with a battery that somehow does something with static electricity (see www.visibledust.com).

It’s not really such a big thing, but (don’t ask me what I was thinking!) I decided not to take it along on holiday. I had my Giotto Air Bellower, which I figured should be enough.

Of course… After the first couple of days of changing lenses, the sensor had gathered a good amount of dust. I thought to clean it with the Air Bellower and when I went about bellowing air on the sensor, indeed a lot of the dust disappeared. But there was also a massive chunk that flew in and refused to come off. I tried everything, even went as dangerously far as taking the brush I usually use to clean the lens glass with and brush over the sensor (DON’T try that at home, folks!!!), but it wouldn’t come off.

That was in the first days…
It’s funny how fast and how easy one accepts one’s fate.
I soon realized that there was little I could do. The dust was stuck. Stuck badly. And we were in the sticks, in the middle of nowhere, so I couldn’t bring it somewhere to have it cleaned.
So I just grunted, moaned and complained to my better half with almost every single picture I took, that it would take me 2 years to clean up all the pictures from all the dust speckles and such and such…

And that’s what I’m probably going to do in the coming two years (if you don’t see the spots, look at the bigger pic. And go see the optician…)

D200, ISO100, 1/180 sec @ f/11, Tamron 28-75mm, box full of crap on the sensor

D200, ISO100, 1/6 sec @ f/32, Tamron 28-75mm, a closet full of crap on the sensor