Trees Almost Bare, Time to Clean your Gear!

It's that time of year again! No. Not the holidays, or Christmas time yet. It's time to clean your gear. You've used it, you've abused it; time to give it all some TLC (tender loving care). I was recently reading where the 99% of the dust on dSLR sensors does NOT come from actual environmental dust, but from minute brass/metal shavings whenever you take off, and attach lenses. Of course this doesn't apply if you are changing lenses in the desert or at the beach and the wind is blowing at forty MPH. I dread switching lenses; I actually try to visualize the situations I'll be in and attach the lens most suited to the upcoming tasks before I leave the house. Not that my house isn't dusty -- on the contrary... Maybe I should swap lenses in the Mohave.... I have personally cleaned my sensor many times - on the Fuji Finepix S2 pro. Fuji was one of the first digital camera makers to actually give you instructions on cleaning your sensor. I approached it much like a surgeon approaches a patient. Wash hands, vacuum the room I would be working in hours before; wipe down the surface where I would actually do the operation; get the sensor cleaning fluid, the swabs, either my homemade ones (from a used Wendy's knife) to purchased sensor cleaners all lined up near my left hand. I would be sure everything was close at hand. I would then snap a shot of a clear blue sky stopped down to like F20 or lower. I would then upload that into the computer in order to identify my targets - and there were always so MANY! Dab, clean, swipe, repeat. Shoot another image. Open in computer; Cry and whine some more because it wasn't clean. Swipe clean yet again. Never did damage that stupid sensor even though at times I knew I shouldn't have pressed "that hard" to remove that stubborn spot.
On my D300 it has the built-in sensor cleaner. It seems to work ok. I know I have a couple of spots on the sensor. They've been there for over a year; I know exactly where they are so whenever I shoot images that include like clear blue sky I always spot check the keepers cauze I know my two little friends will be there. The D300, as well as some newer camera models have a special coating on the sensor that precludes my using the fluid I use on my other body and I haven't had a chance to purchase the correct one.
But I digress -- Back to cleaning: Get some clean lint-free cloths and wipe down your camera body with a damp cloth, not wet. Take a couple of Q-tips and gently clean out your viewfinder. It's amazing how dirty and dusty that gets. Wipe around all the controls. Oil from your face and hands gets down in there and, mixed with the dust and dirt makes for some serious gunk build-up after a season of hard use.
Make sure you take a Q-tip and with the lens ATTACHED gently wipe around the lens mount. Next, what I do is have my cameras body cap handy, remove the lens, and immediately attach the body cap on the camera body to prevent anything from entering. At that point I have the lenses lined up on a steady work surface and clean each one. My process is to keep the front and rear lens cap on the lens for now. I then wipe down the lens with a lint-free cloth, or a micro-fiber (available at any auto supply store). Once the lens body is clean, I'll get a clean Q-Tip and gently and without pressing to hard wipe the lens mount area after removing the rear lens cap. For the actual glass up front, I will use a clean, new Microfiber and ever so gently breath on the front of the glass, making sure NOT to spit on the lens and wiping from the center towards the edges. I don't like to use any cleaning fluids on the glass element up front, or the rear element.
Make sure you do the same thing for ALL your filters, flash, and any accessories you use. I even clean my tripod by extending the legs and wiping with another cloth (doesn't have to be lint-free) and then oil the legs very lightly and wiping the excess off as you don't want to touch oil legs, then touch your camera! I do this at the end of the season but ESPECIALLY if I've been shooting near, or even IN salt water, or sand. Applying a very light oil helps the tripod legs slide open and closed smoothly and evenly.
If you use camera bags, don't forget to completely empty out all the pockets and vacuum it out. You'd be surprised how much crud, and lint you'll find in there. It's amazing how much accumulates in the deep recesses of camera bags.
Even though I don't stop shooting entirely (who does?) I do slow down about this time. Now I just shoot lots of holiday photos, snow scenes, and until February when I take my yearly pilgrimage up to the Maine coast I don't do to much as far as landscapes so when I do post, it'll probably be archival shots. Hope no one minds...