One from Column A and one from Column B

“ Whaddaya want? ”

This would be a terrible way to greet a customer over the phone or over our sales counter....but it might be a very good idea when we take cameras in for service – particularly when we take them in for cleaning.

Cleaning a camera can be a number of things, and unless our repair department and the customer come to a clear understanding of how much cleaning is needed and expected....well there can be anxiety on both sides.

If your images show odd-shaped spots that appear regularly in each frame – you have a dirty sensor. This is most common in DSLR's, though it can be seen in some isolated cases in compact cameras. You need a sensor clean.

If your camera and lenses are covered in dust, dirt, oily residues, bits of toffee papers, dead insects, etc. They need a clean in addition to that applied to the sensor.

If the gunge that you have encountered has permeated so far into the camera that it appears up above the focusing screen even after the external cleaning has been done, you need to have the thing disassembled for a further separate cleaning.

Sadly, in some cases the camera can be so full of muck as to render any efforts only partially successful – no joke – if you are in all-pervading dust it can ruin your camera.

So, make sure the staff know what you really want as far as a level of cleaning – if you just opt for a sensor clean but the rest of the poor old camera is full of more dust, you will be back in a week. You may need to spend a great deal more on maintenance.