If you're not living on the edge, you're taking up too much space

I've known for several months that my camera needs some cleaning....specifically, the sensor. My photos have little specks on them, which is dust on the sensor. This happens quite easily with a DSLR, especially if you use your camera frequently and change lenses often. Dust is bound to settle on the sensor and that turns up on your images.

In May I called the camera store where I purchased my camera body, and was told how much it'd be to clean my camera (Eeeek!) and that it would take 6-8 weeks. Are they kidding me? I'm supposed to be without my camera for two months?!

I figured there had to be a way I could do this myself, so I started hunting and searching online and did find one approved method for cleaning the sensor; of course, Nikon doesn't approve it, and if the sensor gets ruined in the cleaning process, the least of my problems is the voided warranty. I'll be out one very expensive camera body that took me 2 years of saving the money I earned from selling kids clothes on ebay. Decisions, decisions....pay $150 to have someone take 2 months to blow the dust around inside my camera body or invest $80 in the supplies I'd need to do it myself (many times, not just once.) I decided that I needed to live on the edge and do it myself, so that was Mike's birthday present to me......back in June.

It's taken me two months to work up my nerve (the irony of 2 months passing isn't lost on me.) I love my camera and don't want to hurt it....especially because I can't afford to replace it! It's replacement model (albeit a better version than mine) is about $750, and that's just the body. I took a photo to view on my monitor to see all the dark dust bunnies on my sensor. I lost count at 22 (you might not be able to see most of them, but they're there.) Basically I wind up having to Photoshop out all the dust from most of my photos, which quite frankly, is a pain in the butt.

22+ DUST BUNNIES

The kids were off to AWANAS last night, so I set up my sensor cleaning business in the bathroom where the light is high and the traffic is low. I mounted my camera on a tripod, wheeled my "office" chair in there, said a quick prayer, and hovered over the camera body after doing a "mirror lock-up" (forces the camera to expose the sensor). I felt like a dentist hovering over my wide open camera set up on the tripod.

My shoulder and neck were a bit stiff with tension by the time I walked out of the bathroom, but I'm pleased to say it was a successful endeavor. Take a look at the after photo - a couple little particles there, but overall, a huge improvement (and major relief - the camera worked to take the after photo!):