Cleaning your own sensors...

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Is this something you would recommend and/or do yourself, or would you leave it to a pro?

I fancy getting my camera cleaned up and serviced, ready to go in 2021, but I am unsure on whether this is something that should be attempted or not. My friend said he's recently bought a kit from Amazon and he's fine with cleaning the sensor, however I'm not as confident myself and so wonder if it is as easy as he says, or best left well alone!
 
It's very straightforward.
You just need to buy the correct kit for your sensor size and follow the instructions. Plenty of videos on YouTube too.....
 
As Bob said, above. It`s easy enough to do. Just make sure you get the kit suited to your sensor size. Also if yiu have IBIS, you might want to turn that off first (to stop the sensor wobbling about when you wipe it).
 
Possilbly more importantly.............................(sorry to ask the obvious ~ to me?) is the sensor dirty?

If so then as @Bobsyeruncle says, it is DIY job, but again something you may be aware of is initial use of decent quality rocket blower to remove the/any loose dust from the sensor and mirror box in the case of dSLR or simply the sensor & area in the case Mirrorless models.

PS the Olympus models have an ultrasonic self cleaning cycle.............that does mean to say an occasional 'blower' is not needed. On my brand new body I checked the sensor area and it needed a blow as I could see a couple of bits ~ likely the body cap picked up a spec or two at the factory??? NB it is not easy to see dust bunnies on the sensor with the naked eye ;)
 
Not much can go wrong really. Unless the battery dies mid swipe or you somehow manage to use a non soft part of the swab and scratch the sensor.
 
I do it myself without any problems. The first time is a bit nerve wracking and can often leave the sensor looking worse! I normally need at least 2 wipes to get it clean.
I imagine that there are loads of videos on the internet explaining how to do it but when I looked there were none that talked about cleaning the inside of the camera before you raise the mirror.
If you have a good blower, if not a Rocket Blower is the one to go for, remove the lens and hold the camera with the opening facing down, if you have a tripod which can hold the camera in that position it helps. With the opening facing down blow out the mirror box of the camera, leave it for a while for any dust to fall out and then blow it out again. Once the mirror box is dust free then you can follow the procedure for cleaning the sensor.
An extra tip for keeping the sensor dust free for a bit longer is to ensure that the rear of your lenses are clean, lots of people fuss about the front elements and forget about the bits that go inside the camera.
 
Like you, I really wasn't sure whether or not to do it myself. However, the specks of dust on my sensor were telling me it was time for some sort of decision. Youtube does have good videos (mostly -- I recall one I watched in disbelief -- a 5D Mk ii + L lens dunked in a basin of soapy water, and rinsed...hilarious, but not advisable!)

I bought a UES full-frame sensor-cleaning kit from Amazon, which includes swabs and cleaning fluid. I needed several of the swabs before the sensor was cleaned effectively, but it wasn't particularly hard, all in all.

Two tips -- make sure you have a bright light under which to work, and DON'T press hard on the sensor -- better to use more swaps to get the job done, than to risk damaging the sensor.

Once done, I'll happily do it again, once the sensor needs it -- but I think that'll likely be a good few months away.
 
Like many on here and elsewhere I have cleaned sensors on cameras before without any issues.

One word of caution if you have a camera with IBIS that I read somewhere - maybe in another thread here? - that not all bodies lock the sensor mechanism when the IBIS is turned off and it is possible to damage said mechanism if you exert too much pressure when cleaning.
 
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