I've had my Nikon camera for over a year now and hadn't gotten it cleaned at all. The dust on the sensor was crazy and it got to the point lately where I couldn't photoshop them all out of a landscape shot (especially if my aperture was above f/7.1 !) I used it pretty much daily and was waiting for a quiet spell to get it cleaned. I finally had a few free days this week and decided to contact F/1.0 Camera repair who are based in Wicklow. Eoghan runs F/1.0 and is an independant technician who repairs photographic equipment. His prices seemed to be really reasonable, I also also noticed that all of the reviews on the Facebook page were very positive which prompted me to contact the business.
Click here to go to the F/1.0 Facebook Page
So after sending him a message, I sent my camera by registered post to avoid the drive from Sligo to Wicklow as the weather was bad (I also insured it for the journey with An Post just in case). I swear it was like sending my baby in the post. I was really anxious and probably wrecked Eoghan's head with all of my questions but he was really helpful. He also let me know when the camera was on the way back so I could expect it in the post.
Here is the before photo with an aperture of f/16 (I'm actually embarrassed, it should have been in for a clean ages ago, don't judge me). Both before and after photos were taken at f/16 and I also used the dehaze slider in lightroom (+40 on both) so you could see the dust a bit more clearly. It's amazing what a narrower aperture will bring up.....EVERYTHING!
Before. (Again don't judge me...or judge me silently.)
And after......
After.....
My poor camera has been at weddings, up mountains, in woods, by the sea, at events, festivals etc...I've changed lenses in situations that I shouldn't have (i.e. windy days by the sea outdoors...eek) but the before and after photo speak for themselves (bad for me but good for F/1.0..!) I was so happy with how it turned out and I can now go above f/7.1....living life to the max.
I wrote this blog post to recommend F/1.0 if you need to get your own camera cleaned or repaired. My main struggle was finding someone to clean my camera, as there are no places that I know of in the West of Ireland who do this, so I had to look Eastwards. There are a fair few places that clean camera sensors in Dublin but I didn't know which one to choose. So I'm hoping that my recommendation might come in handy for someone else.
You can get cleaning kits online for wet cleans but I wasn't confident enough to do it myself...especially with the state that my camera was in. I'd rather get someone else to do it and not go through the panic of cleaning it myself and messing it up. I'm happy out with the result anyway and recommend them 100%.