BMPCC Sensor Cleaning

[Will Montgomery]

I don't have the time or stones to properly clean my BMPCC sensor. Any recommendations for a tech that regularly does this?

[Tyler Purcell]

You can't actually reach the imager on a BMPCC. There is a piece of glass that's in the way, which is the case on "most" digital cinema cameras.

 

I use standard ol' glass cleaner and a lens cleaning towel. Get it wet, wipe it down, take off the excess and you're done. I clean my imagers all the time, it's just standard practice.

[Robin R Probyn]

I wouldn't clean your OLPF.. the glass in front on the sensor, all the time .. as I know it.. standard practice is to not go near it unless you really have to.. its not like a filter you would use in front of your lens.. caution !

[Dom Jaeger]

Any camera repair shop or rental house should have technicians with the right tools to clean a sensor cover glass.

 

It's not too hard to do yourself, but you can scratch it or leave streaks. There are a variety of techniques, I use a blower first (never canned air), then Arri-recommended Texwipe swabs with isopropyl alcohol or sensor cleaning fluid. Depending on the brand, glass cleaner can contain chemicals you don't want inside a camera, and can also leave streaks so it's not recommended for sensor cover glass/OLPFs. It does require more care than just cleaning a filter or lens, particularly at the edges, where you can pick up contaminants, and you definitely don't want to flood the area. A loupe helps to check if all the specks are gone.

 

Sometimes a good few puffs with a blower while the sensor is facing down can dislodge surface dust, but more often than not I need to use the swabs as well.

 

But if you don't want to do it yourself, which is quite reasonable, I'd call a local camera shop or rental house.

[Aapo Lettinen]

what Dom said. it is best to use a dedicated sensor swab for cleaning if you need to do it by yourself and if in any case the blower can do the job, then use only the air blower and avoid cleaning the sensor filter unless you absolutely have to.

 

if using swabs, first check what the dirt actually is so that you won't scratch the filter when trying to clean it.

 

I personally have to clean the sensors only couple of times a year with swabs but I use the blower when changing lenses to ensure there is no loose dust on the sensor (more of a problem with a dslr where the filters are closer to the sensor so dust shows clearer, vs a pro camera like Alexa or Amira where the outer filter is relatively far away from the sensor so one needs quite a lot of dust on the filter for it to show on the image.

 

I normally carry a blower and some sensor swabs and sensor cleaning fluid when on a gig, you never know when some serious dirt go to the filter pack and needs to be cleaned. Used them on dslr, Red, Amira, never had a problem or any scratch on the filters but you have to be careful when doing the cleaning of course.

 

for small sensor camera like blackmagic it may be hard to find small enough swab to fit there. I would NOT recommend using any kind of lens paper or tissue for cleaning, the sensor filters scratch way too easily to be cleaned like a normal lens