Sensor Cleaning on A7 Mark II...Does IBIS Create Special Situation?

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Hi, I just cleaned my A7ii sensor after a shot at f16 which clearly showed there were more than a few dust bunnies lurking. I mainly shoot with my aperture fairly wide, so I was a bit caught out by what had resolved. I am heading OS in the next couple of months and will likely be shooting more stopped down, in towns / landscapes so I thought it time to give her a clean. After reading various posts it seemed a safe'ish proposition.

I had a set of Visible Dust Green swabs and Smear away liquid at hand from a purchase to support my then Canon 6D, it was the only liquid I had purchased, so that's what I used. It worked pretty well and the process didn't do my head in like I thought it might. Yes the sensor moves under the swab, but just be gentle with the swab strokes. So with my confidence in doing this up, I was reading about VSGO, a relative newcomer in the camera cleaning arena from China, and their prices were considerably lower, but their quality systems seemed up to scratch, so I ordered a full frame kit online, which turned up today. The swabs are separately vacuum packed, so given I knew I still had a few minor lurkers, I thought I'd give the product a shot. No problems whatsoever. The VSGO liquid feels like it evaporates quicker than the Visible Dust Smear Away, but I felt confident after opening and inspecting a swab up close. The liquid also has a nice little membrane with a stopper on it so it ticked a few boxes for me. Anyway, the sensor came up fine, in all I used 3 swabs, I guess I was getting more confident and smoother with each attempt. So it's clean, and I thought I'd just share that because I'm sure there are a bunch of folk who like me are concerned about the IBIS motion and cleaning, or which products others may have used. So I have used both the Visible dust and now the VSGO lines and they both seemed fine, no damage done, I can shut down the aperture and no dust bunnies pop up at the moment. I change lenses a lot, so it's good to know that I can do this if and as needs.

[Lescatalpas]

I use an "arctic butterfly", a nylon brush that has become static by rotating it rapidly. It also features a small torch to see what you are doing. Works for me. I used to do this on my previous Pentax cameras as well. No damage done. Pentax has also in body stabilization. It's a dry cleaning operation, obviously.

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Thanks good to know you get good results with that tool. I haven't forked out for a sensor brush to date, might be time. I couldn't budge the bunnies with my air blower or the cleaning cycle. I actually found my blower introduced more crap if anything, might also be time to replace it, it's been with me a while, the materials in blowers do deteriorate with time and work and eventually that material gets to transfer to where you don't want it...Im guessing those VSGO swabs also use some principle of charge as the instructions suggest a gentle dry pass first, and only a gentle wet pass (using a new swab) if that doesn't work, which it didn't in my case. Anyway all good now.

[Johndizzo15]

Wet cleaned my a7r2 a few weeks ago and it was much less painful than the thought of doing it leading up to the point of actually doing it. lol.

[lightchaser]

Many people reported that Sony sensor got scratched after cleaning their Sony A7R. I was hesitant to do it on my A7R too. Now that I sold it and currently using A7ii. It got some dust on sensor. I took a risk and clean it myself couple days ago, and it seems to work just fine.  Maybe the sensor on A7ii is more tolerant than that on A7R.

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Scratching a sensor would be devastating. Sure it sounds simple, but care must be taken from the outset. I take particular care doing the job. I don't mix products eg even though I now have a few products around me, I use a swab and a liquid by the same company. Here's my step by step process:

 

I run the camera clean cycle, blow sensor surface, check for any major particles via viewfinder, s/w camera off

I wear dust free rubber gloves, work in well lit, clean lint free area with no breeze,

Lens facing down, remove lens / mount assembly

Turn camera up, and place it on your work surface, carefully look at the sensor surface for any obvious marks / debris

Carefully I un package the swab & apply 2 drops of liquid to the swab near tip and allow to absorb evenly across the blade

Insert swab into sensor cavity, taking care not to touch the chamber sides, else start again

gently swipe l-r, lift swab from chamber (swap is at an angle while I'm swiping, approx 70 ish degrees to sensor)

turn swab over and repeat but this time gently swipe r-l,

Carefully lift and remove swab from cavity, again avoid contact with chamber cavity

the IBIS sensor "floats" and moves around gently under this light swipe motion

I check the sensor surface for any obvious residue / signs of smearing

replace lens / mount

Replace lid on wet cleaning liquid

check by taking a shot at f16 or f22 of white surface or blue sky, de-focussed, ISO 100

Post process image: adjust exposure, contrast etc for critical look at any potential leftover marks

repeat as necessary, with fresh swab

 

It might take a couple of attempts to get the feel, and importantly to keep the swipe pressure gentle and the swipe speed even, lift the swab out at 90degrees at the edge of the sensor, get all that right and the sensor will likely be as clean as the day you bought it.

 

As best I understand, what you are wiping is the IR doped glass filter on top of the actual sensor, it probably provides environmental protection to the device as well as filtering out the IR frequencies, plenty of articles online about these including in forums on IR and UV sensor mods, where they remove and replace this part of the sensor stack.

[Guest Peter Kelly]

I do the same as 'Lescatalpas', using an Arctic butterfly brush.

 

I've done so since owning A900 and have never needed a wet clean. That said, I wouldn't hesitate if I had some stubborn dirt, providing you take the usual precautions of removing as much as possible with the brush first (don't like blowers at all!), not over-wetting the swab, and limit the number of passes.