This blog post will stray somewhat from my past posts as I chat about another topic, camera sensor cleaning, especially the camera sensor cleaning service being offered at Looking Glass Photo in Berkeley, CA. I have been going to Looking Glass Photo in Berkeley, CA since 2016 for DSLR sensor cleaning (specifically on my Canon DSLR). They have always gotten my sensor mostly clean every time I went. Something changed this time. I wonder if they are under new management, or maybe it has something to do with their store break in sometime in February 2025 and them moving to a new temporary location. However their sensor cleaning service is now abysmal.
Due to the very good service I have had in the past, I decided this time to bring in my father's Canon mirrorless as well for cleaning, because he accidentally smudged a thumbprint on his sensor (it was relatively clean otherwise). For me, I had 4 dust spots on my Olympus mirrorless, however I introduced more as I made attempts to clean with an air blower, and on a few occasions left some smudges on the sensor too. $120 later, Looking Glass Photo made the sensors more dirty, granted they did remove the thumbprint, along with the smudges. They "recleaned" the sensors for after the first time, however all they did was make the sensors more dirty. I will never be back at this place again. I still have to buy equipment to clean the sensors myself, except I'm now out an extra $120 for the so called "cleaning".
When you look at these photos, please know that Google compresses them so you might not be able to see all the dust I see.
The quality of service at Looking Glass Photo clearly went down hill.
