WAs reading on another forum where some one was telling a poster that it was ok to clean his sensor with a Q-Tip! Holy cow! No!

why do you say that? It was S.O.P. to use q-tips (the long wooden type that came in sterile bags), acetone, and isopropyl alcohol to clean germanium coated laser lenses, and all manner of optics (coated and not), from night vision to spotting scopes to thermal sights. Then again, we also had a 3 months of optics training in which we learned the proper cleaning technique and how to disassemble, reassemble, and correct parallax issues.

Only way I ever cleaned optics and front surface mirrors as well. Isopropyl alcohol and a Q-Tip. Not sure about sensors but would likely do it that way. What's the issue? If it's a true cotton swab it wouldn't abrade and the alcohol is evaporative enough to be gone quickly (if you don't "soak" the swab to dripping)as you go, IMHO.

On my Nikons (and I'd imagine most cameras) you're not really cleaning the sensor unless you remove the hot mirror that protects it. No real reason to remove the hot mirror unless you are doing an IR or full spectrum conversion.

oh, I guess i missed the sensor part. I've cleaned mine w/ q-tips and isopropyl before, but only when the built-in "clean sensor" routine didn't remove whatever contaminant that was on the sensor, and never applied "pressure" while doing so.

yup. A "light touch" for sure.

Well, this is what it says in the manual of my Canon 6D:

Starting on page 283 of the 6D user's manual, there is a section on the Manual Sensor Cleaning. According to my Canon manual: "The surface of the sensor is extremely delicate." It states not to use a brush with the blower as a brush can scratch the sensor. It also clearly states not to use pressurized air. If the blower, used properly, doesn't remove the problem they recommend having it cleaned by Canon service center. Honestly, if my Camera needed the sensor cleaned I'd probably try to take it to an authorized Canon service center. If I did decide to attempt the cleaning myself, I'd use a cleaning system made for that purpose and nothing else. But that's just me. I have thousands tied up in my two DSLR cameras and if my manual suggests the sensor is "extremely delicate" I'm going the err on the side of caution and believe them.

Here is a tutorial to change the hot mirror for the 6D from Life Pixel. It shows a dust reduction filter over the hot mirror, which is over the sensor. So the dust reduction filter would be the part being cleaned. Maybe it is sensitive to scratching, but it would be a lot cheaper to replace than the actual sensor.

My 6D has a "Manual Sensor" cleaning setting in the menu that states the mirror locks up exposing the sensor and has this warning: "The surface of the image sensor is extremely delicate. If the sensor needs to be cleaned directly, having it done by a Canon Service Center is recommended." It seems to suggest when manually cleaning the sensor you're actually cleaning the surface of the sensor. By either way, I would exercise as much care as possible when performing a cleaning.

Personally, if I was going to attempt to clean the sensor myself, I would purchase a sensor cleaning kit that is specifically made foe the purpose. However, as long as my Camera is under warranty, I'd send it to a Canon Service center.

The mirror that locks up is for the view finder in an SLR camera. In a mirror-less camera, that is the part that is not needed. The hot mirror is a separate part that covers the sensor (on both DSLRs and mirror-less cameras). It does not move. Nor does the dust removal filter. The dust removal filter uses an electrical charge to get dust off of it.