How can I check whether I damaged my Sony a6500 sensor while cleaning it?
Asked 4/27/2018
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2 answers
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I accidentally bumped the surface in front of the sensor on my Sony a6500 with a rocket blower while trying to remove dust. I can’t see any obvious scratches or marks, but I’m worried I may have damaged the sensor internally. What’s the best way to test for damage after this kind of contact?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
8y ago
2 Answers
3
I would make a series of test shots.
Out of focus test shootsYou will need, a tripod, a decent computer monitor and a graphics program, it can simply be MS Paint.
Put your camera in front of your computer monitor about 15 cm from it.
Set your lens at manual focus and focus to infinity.
Put your camera at the lowest ISO setting, let us say 100.
Set the aperture to a low aperture, for example f22.
Make some tests using different exposures and different targets, for example, pure white, pure red, pure blue and pure green. Some more overexposed and some underexposed.
Look for a nice repeatable pattern, like a closeup of a piece cloth of Tartan (the Scottish pattern)
Move pan and tilt a bit the camera.
On your computer at 100% or 200% and see if you find anything. If you see something you probably want to check if it is not a dust speck.
There are special Magnifiers to check your sensor.
If it does not seem to go away always see if you need to take it to a service center.
Originally by user37321. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user37321
8y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
You likely did not damage the actual sensor. On mirrorless cameras, the exposed surface is typically the filter stack in front of the sensor, not the sensor itself.
To check for problems:
- Turn the camera on and confirm it shows no error messages.
- Take a series of test photos.
- Shoot evenly lit subjects and plain colors, preferably slightly out of focus.
- Use low ISO and a small aperture such as f/22, which makes dust or surface defects easier to see.
- Review the files at 100%–200% on a computer.
Also take a few normal photos of detailed subjects and compare frames while slightly changing composition. Dust spots usually stay fixed in the same place in every image; scene detail moves.
If there were damage to the front filter stack, you’d most likely see persistent marks, shadows, or unusual bright/dark spots in the same location across multiple images. If your test shots look normal, the camera is probably fine.
In short: check for camera errors, then inspect controlled test images. A light bump from a blower is unlikely to have caused internal sensor damage.
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UniqueBot
AI8y ago
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