Mirrorless Camera Lens Changes

[LePetomane]

On the GAS thread Donald brought out a good point about the sensor on mirrorless cameras being exposed during lens changes. Does anyone have any tricks up their sleeve for preventing this? I put my camera in a one quart clear zip lock sandwich bag and close it and then change lenses. It is a little cumbersome but so far, so good. What do the rest of you do?

[Chataignier]

Nothing special - I keep the camera pointing down while changing, I take the cap off the lens I'm going to put on before removing the lens on the camera to minimise the time it is exposed and I take a bit of care. I've had the Fuji a year now, I change lenses a lot and I've only needed to clean the sensor once.

[Manfred M]

I find that my mirrorless camera got a dirty sensor a lot more quickly than my DSLRs, even when shooting with the same lens (i.e. no lens changes).

The contaminants that settle on the sensor are small, dust-sized particles that can enter the camera via "blow back" caused by the pumping action from zooming and focusing. I find that spring time is the worse as pollen gets in and it tends to be quite sticky and the normal cleaning cycle cannot remove the dust. That lack of a rear gasket on the lens contributes to dust entry,

What bothers me is that this would be an easy fix by the camera manufacturers; close the shutter when the camera is turned off and open it when the camera has been turned on.

[Chataignier]

Partial quote : That lack of a rear gasket on the lens contributes to dust entry,

I cant speak for other brands, but the Fuji X-T3 and many of the Fuji lenses include full weather sealing which I presume is effective against dust as well as water.

[Manfred M]

I cant speak for other brands, but the Fuji X-T3 and many of the Fuji lenses include full weather sealing which I presume is effective against dust as well as water.

Unfortunately, it depends on the lens design. Any lens, especially zoom lenses, have to vent as they expand and contract during zooming operations, so the pumping action does take place. Sealing helps keep dust and moisture out of areas where the lens designers have done so, but that certainly does not mean that there is no air movement inside the lens body and into the camera body.

[LePetomane]

Thanks for the info. In April I am traveling to SE Utah and northern Arizona to meet up with some friends to do some photography. I'm sure the area will be pretty dusty as it is mostly desert. I don't see myself changing lenses that much as I am also taking my wife's Fujifilm X-100T. Most of the time I will be using my Sony.

[rpcrowe]

When I change the lens in the field - which is seldom - I do so with the camera face down and do a quick blow out with a bulb. I have needed to wet clean my sensor only once in the years that I have owned the several Sony mirrorless cameras..

[loosecanon]

It is also important to turn off the camera before changing lens. In use the seensor builds static charge which attracts some "dust" especially pollen which nature has made both attracted by static but also sticky.

[Manfred M]

It is also important to turn off the camera before changing lens. In use the seensor builds static charge which attracts some "dust" especially pollen which nature has made both attracted by static but also sticky.

Haven't the camera manufacturers taken care of this for us? The instruction manuals tell us to do so and in the case of the Nikon and Panasonic cameras that I am familiar with the camera shuts down automatically the moment I start to twist the lens to remove it.

[rpcrowe]

Haven't the camera manufacturers taken care of this for us? The instruction manuals tell us to do so and in the case of the Nikon and Panasonic cameras that I am familiar with the camera shuts down automatically the moment I start to twist the lens to remove it.

Manfred, the mantra of many photographers is, "When all else fails, read the manual"