This a copy of something I posted before:
I do not advocate anyone else using Scotch Tape, but for those asking for advice on the different methods of cleaning, here are my thoughts:
I have used Scotch Magic Tape to clean my sensor filter many times without any ill-effects. I know that to be the case because I had my local Nikon service agent check-out the sensor for damage and residue after approximately 10 cleans and after explaining what I had done. They reported nil damage and nil residue - just a perfectly clean sensor.
I find it a quick, simple, inexpensive and effective way of cleaning. I also believe it to be the method least likely to cause damage, although damage is very unlikely, whichever method you choose (see below)
Here is what I do................
1. Use only Scotch Magic Tape no 810 or 811. .
2. Use only a clean piece of tape (check it visually for contamination and discard if necessary) and store the roll in a sealed plastic bag. Use it ONLY for this purpose and take care not to touch the surface to be used with your fingers or allow it to come into contact with anything else.
3. Cut a piece approximately 6" long. Fold it in half, "sticky" side facing out.
4. Perform a mirror lock-up, making sure you have a fully charged battery to avoid shut-down during cleaning
5. Make sure you work under a good light - a desk light is ideal. A magnifying glass in invaluable and better than a jewellers loupe. With a loupe the magnification is so great that you need your head inside the camera to focus and this will also cut down the light available.. A magnifying glass allows you to focus from some inches away. You only need the glass to check for dust before and after cleaning.
6. Using a non-sharp plastic spatula, pen top or similar, gently push the centre of the folded tape inside and onto the sensor amd press it down along the length of the filter. You will find the tape is almost the same width as the filter.
7. When the tape is evenly spread along the filter, with no air bubbles visible, pull on one of the "tails" you are holding (hence the reason for a 6" piece) and lift the tape off. Most times this will be enough to remove all dust specs, although now and again you will need to repeat.
For & Against
Pros:
1. It cleans by a "lifting" action, not a "dragging" action. Having tried pads & liquid and failed miserably after even 11 separate passes to clean the sensor, during which all the debris (which may include minute pieces of grit of course) was dragged backwards & forwards across the sensor, I believe the potential for damage is far higher using this method. My experience of pads is not at all uncommon and has frequently been mentioned on this forum. Realistically, whichever method you use is highly unlikely to cause damage, so it's academic in any case - see 4 below.
2. Tape is a method that can be used anywhere out in the field, is inexpensive and highly portable.
3. Although I use a blower first, you do risk blowing debris & dust into other parts of the camera, unlike with tape.
4. A poster stated that the low-pass filter that sits on top of the CCD is made of lithium niobate. This is a crystal with a Mohs hardness rating of 5, meaning you can scratch it with a pocket knife, but just barely. In other words, it is a very hard substance and unlikely to be damage by tape, pads & liquid, brushes or anything else within reason that anyone other than a complete idiot is likely to use to clean it. It is after all only the filter, not the CCD itself we are cleaning.
Cons:
I personally know of none, but in the interests of objectivity, here are one or two that others have claimed.
5. "The tape leaves residue". Never in my experience. Like a computer, put c*
p in, get c
p out, so make sure the tape is used only for the purpose , is stored cleanly and is not obviously contaminated with dust before using. If it did leave residue, so what? It will have done no damage and you just clean it off with liquid & pads, (but make sure you have some method of cleaning off the smears that it frequently leaves). Both methods can be used together. I promise you Armageddon will not follow. When all is said and done, the filter must have needed cleaning in the first place, otherwise why would you be doing it? You have nothing to lose by trying and can be no worse off.
6. "You can damage your sensor using tape". Heard often but never a single example posted. In fact I can't recall anyone ever reporting a damaged sensor or filter caused by any means at all.
7. "The tape left oil all over my sensor". It may have done but not in my experience and I have never heard of anyone else stating it. The poster making that claim (which he does almost every time this subject comes up) says others have had the same experience, but when asked to post the links to them he is either unable or unwilling to do so and goes away. You must judge how seriously to take that claim. I don't say it couldn't happen but is clearly so rare that if it did happen it was sheer bad luck and we would certainly have heard by now if it was anything else. Again, so what if it did? In the unlikely event that you have a roll of tape smothered in oil, clean it off............
That's the method. You must decide whether to use it or not. The other methods are all perfectly fine in my view and each has its advantages and disadvantages.
Each of us needs to clean the filter at some time. You either pay Nikon
around £30 each time in the UK, lose you camera for a couple of weeks and pay Special delivery charges both ways or take it in yourself and wait around every few weeks, or find a way to do it yourself.
Lionheart
