Sensor Dust – A Different Opinion for Portrait and Wedding Photographers

By Rachel Neville

NYI Student Advisor Rachel Neville shoots weddings nearly every weekend. Lots and lots of weddings, and she's been doing it for a number of years, starting with film and through the digital era. There are lots of different workflows for different photographers, so we asked Rachel to comment on dust and sensor cleaning from her perspective.

Certainly the best way to avoid sensor dust is to limit the number of times one changes lenses, whether in studio or out on location. However, for many photographers, that is just not an option.

If we were to dissect any given hour of work at a wedding, and considering some hours will be more high action than others, a photographer may change lenses upwards of 10 – 15 times! Let's look at the first hour of ‘Bride getting ready' time. The photographer may start with one lens (or have a separate camera set up) for candid shots, switch to a macro lens for detail shots of the shoes, flowers, hair ornaments and jewelry, switch back to a wide lens for full shots of the dress, change to a zoom for the ‘getting into the dress' moment, switch up to a portrait lens for tight headshots, back to a zoom for some candid's, over to the 28 – 70mm for family portraits, wider zoom for full length shots, 70 – 200 for some creative close-ups, back to a zoom for candid's, ...you get the idea! To do the job well, one can not be limited to the focal length of just one or two lenses.

What, then, do wedding photographers do about sensor dust? If we had to send our cameras into the shop every time we picked up a particle or two we'd never have enough machines to shoot on. On the other hand, when you are processing thousands of images from a weekend of shooting (here in New York, shooting two or even three weddings a weekend is not uncommon, and often a photographer will shoot anywhere from 800 – 1800 images a job), you really don't want to have to deal with dust on each image. So...

First, we take precautions. Try never to put a camera body down without a lens on it. This may seem a little silly and simple, but when you are working quickly and trying to accomplish much within a short time period, it can happen, particularly if you are shooting with more than one body. Second, when changing lenses, try to make sure to hold the open face of your body in a direction where wind and other contaminants are not going to enter. Sometimes this may mean downward (not if you are in a field with high grasses or on a beach with sand!!!), sometimes towards you, and yes, sometimes you will feel like you just want to move away from the crowd to do it. Third, make sure to safe guard your lens and/or camera bag against dust and grit; try to remember, even when shooting quickly, to keep the top of the bag closed.

Don't miss NYI Contributing Editor Richard Martin's article "DSLR Sensor Dust – A Big Problem?" which lists many of the sensor cleaning products on the market.