Where should I get my camera cleaned in Seattle?
October 5, 2011 1:51 PM   Subscribe

Where should I take my Nikon D40 to be cleaned in the Seattle area? There is crap on the inside of the body that has started showing up in pictures as gray marks.

The dirt or whatever has to be inside the body because it shows up in the same spots in every picture no matter which lens I use. I don't have the equipment to clean it myself nor do I want to have it. I just want some place I can drop the camera off for a cleaning and then pick it back up again.

The closer to capitol hill, the better.
posted by kthxbi to Technology (7 answers total)
 
I took my Canon to Photo-Tronics in SoLU to have them work on the stuck lens. They did a good job. YMMV natch.
posted by noahv at 2:09 PM on October 5, 2011 [2 favorites]


FWIW, this is probably dirt on the CCD sensor, not the body. While you might be able to clean it yourself, this isn't something I'd recommend you do yourself.
posted by tommasz at 2:12 PM on October 5, 2011


Just to make sure, you have run the automated "Sensor cleaning" on the camera, right? Doubt it would help here, but who knows. I was shocked when I learned I could do that and got rid of a "hot pixel" that way.
posted by drjimmy11 at 2:14 PM on October 5, 2011


There's an option in the d40 menus to lock up the mirror. Before you pay somebody else to do this, get a $5 squeeze bellows, flip up the mirror and give it a few gentle squeezes without letting the tip of the bellows touch the sensor. Odds are good that will clear it up.
posted by mhoye at 2:51 PM on October 5, 2011


Response by poster: Right. So. Seriously, I'm just looking for places to take my camera here. Even if I can fix this myself, I've owned the camera for years and it's never been into a shop, so I'd like to take it in to get cleaned and generally looked at.
posted by kthxbi at 3:04 PM on October 5, 2011


Myself and a large majority of my friends from a photography group take our DSLRs to CameraTechs in Ballard for sensor cleaning, because they really are the best in town, have been around forever, and are reliable and professional. It's about $40.
posted by matildaben at 3:38 PM on October 5, 2011


drjimmy11, the d40 doesn't have a sensor cleaning feature
posted by ydant at 7:20 PM on October 5, 2011


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