Clean sensors for my Nikons

Regular readers may recall my refusal to leave my cameras for sensor cleaning at a camera repair place off ul Grzybowska - the lady at the counter told me to take the strap off my Nikon D40 before leaving it. Now, I found a much more amenable camera repairer, and having had the sensors on both my Nikons clean, I can wholeheartedly recommend it.

The shop is called Serwisfoto, located on Al. Jerozolimskie 113-115 (up the steps past Grand Kredens and along the first-floor walkway).

I dropped my D40 off on Monday at 10:30 and was delighted to get an SMS at 14:30 to say that it was ready for collection. It cost not 125 złotys (as quoted on Grzybowska) but 60 złotys. My D80 was dropped off on Wednesday evening just before the shop closed, and I got an SMS shortly after 11 today saying it was ready. Also 60 złotys. And I didn't even have to take the straps off the cameras.

The difference before and after was startling - I no longer have to painstakingly remove blemishes using the clone-stamp tool in Photoshop, which is especially tricky in cloudscapes.

Above: before the sensor was cleaned, on my D40 (click on image to enlarge). The blemishes are most apparent on a clear sky, some more than others.

Modern Nikons (and most digital cameras you can buy new today) have some kind of sensor-cleaning device that vibrates dust away. Cameras of the D40 and D80 generation don't have this gizmo, and while care should be taken when changing lens (hold the camera's lens mouth face down in a dust-free environment) this is not always possible in the field. Plus - and this is most noticeable in the D40, when zooming a long zoom lens (like the 18-200mm Nikkor), air gets sucked into the body. I can feel the wind rush on my eye when zooming in quickly, this will also draw in tiny particles into the camera that may settle on the sensor. So a good cleaning every once in a while (when the blemishes become a nuisance when processing the image) is required.

I can thoroughly recommend Serwisfoto for outstanding value and service.

This time last year
Changing seasons and one's samopoczucie

This time two years ago:
Stunning late-winter beauty
[these are among my most gorgeous winter photos ever]

This time three years ago:
Lenten fare - Jeziorki gumbo

This time four years ago:
Digging up Dawidowska