Sensor, to clean or not to clean?

[thefonz78]

I'm selling my d40x camera its on gumtree and i have but a notice on facebook. I have a few dust marks. Should i clean it before selling? I don't fancy doing this myself and spending £50 having it one is not an option when its worth £250 at best. They only show up at low apertures.

[rbarry]

The camera is second hand, not brand new. If you pay to have it cleaned you will lose money on the sale unless you reflect that cost by altering the sale price.

A bit of dust is to be expected and should be considered as normal "wear and tear". Most people clean their own sensors, but whether thay do it properly or not is another matter! If you're worried then don't risk it; if the marks are fairly mild leave it and don't let it worry your conscience.

[thefonz78]

Thank you i was thinking pretty much the same. I will get the blower on it at see if this helps i don't fancy doing a wet clean.

[rbarry]

Do it in small bursts and hold the open body with the sensor facing down so gravity can help. If it makes it worse do it again until it gets better. Blowing the dust around can cause static to build up on the sensor and actually attract dust. Technically you are cleaning a protective glass shield over the sensor raher than making direct contact with the sensor itself.
I swear by the arctic butterfly which is a dry method of cleaning the sensor by attracting the dust to a self induced static charged brush. It won't remove oil particles, that would have to be done with a wet treatment, but I don't find oil contamination to be the big problem some would have you believe. It is suggested the oils that are used in the assembly factory to lubricate internal moving parts are a big cause of image contamination.
I'm sure that can happen, but not to any great extent. You may be unlucky and have the camera body thst got more than it's fair share of lubricant, but I'm sure I read somewhere that chemicals used latterly bond far better are less likely to fall away from where they should remain.

[thefonz78]

Yes i've heard about the artic butterfly that crazy price tho!

[rbarry]

I was swayed into taking a 12 month subscription to Photoplus mag because the offer at the time was a free Atctic Butterfly. Probably the best offer I've ever taken!