A conversation with a retired Leica tech in Austin flipped my whole sensor cleaning routine

He told me he never uses a wet clean first, just a dry brush and a blower, and after watching him do a full frame in 4 minutes with zero streaks, I've been trying his way for 2 weeks now, has anyone else gone back to basics on this?

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henryr4510d ago

And here's the problem with that whole approach. You're trusting some retired guy who probably hasn't shot in a decade and forgot what actual dust on a sensor looks like in harsh light. Dry brushing first just grinds that grit into the glass, and if you're not using a brand new brush every single time, you're smearing whatever was already on the bristles back onto the sensor. A blower alone won't touch sticky spots or oil splatter, and I've seen more than one sensor ruined by someone who thought they could skip the wet clean and just "brush it off." Sure, it's fast and looks great in his clean studio, but out in the field, dust gets baked on by heat and humidity, and no amount of dry brushing fixes that. You do you, but I'll keep my swabs and solution on hand, because when a spot shows up at f/16, I'm not going to trust a brush to save the shot.