Spot Part II

As previously mentioned, I had a spot on my photographs for about 2 weeks that was driving me absolutely insane! I had cleaned the lens and interior mirrors for quite some time (yes I know the mirrors have nothing to do with the actual image captured) and nothing was fixing it. I eventually came across what I thought was the solution in the upper mirror and the spot was removed when I looked through the camera but was still present on the photo itself. It was therefore clear that there was dust on my sensor.
This was a very scary realization for me as my camera is not high enough quality to replace the sensor (as this is exteremly expensive) if I was to damage it while removing the dust. I took it into Henry's and they verified that it must be on the sensor and showed me how to get the mirrors to lock up to enable cleaning of the sensor. I took the camera home and carefully locked the mirrors. You could see the dust plain as day and I attempted to blow it off with my rocket blower but it would not leave. I closed up the mirrors and began researching.
The staff at Henry's said that special tools and cleaners were needed to safely clean the sensor and if I was not comfortable doing it myself, Canadian Camera in downtown Ottawa would do it for about $100. This seemed like a lot of money especially since my instructor for Introduction to Digital Photography, Harry, cleaned his right in front of us during class with no real special tools or cleaners at all. I thought about it and then with Dave by my side, we took a sterile cotton swab (which came from a previously purchased basic cleaning kit) I lightly touched the sensor and removed the dust. It was scary and my heart was racing but it got done and the camera is working just as it was before the incident. So now I know for future dust problems - cleaning the sensor isn't as scary an event as people make it out to be.