sensor dust rant

LongLensPhotography

LongLensPhotography

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LongLensPhotography
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I am having a rather expensive day today :bang:. My 1ds2 clearly needed a sensor clean. Most of my photos taken at f16 look grossly dirty, although at f/8 only a couple spots could be seen.

So I bought a Sensor swab kit at jacobs and had a go at it. The end result was a horrible smudge all over the sensor. Then came out my old LensPen sensorklear. It did a good job in the center, but now my corners and edges look awful, and I couldn't rectify it. So it is now in service having a pro clean for another £30. The ironic thing is my 40D has been used for over a year without a sensor clean and still produces spotless images. I have a strong temptation to get 5D mk2 for landscapes and relegate 1Ds to a backup / events camera.
Has anyone else had good / bad experience with swabs? What could I have done wrong?
 
On my old D200 I used a wet swab system and managed to pick up a tiny bit of grease which the cleaning fluid diluted just enough to smear all over the sensor, A repeat clean failed to clear the smears (it just spread them further and thinner), so I left it to dry completely then used a SensorKlear which got rid of the smears and a couple of specks of crud that the wet clean had failed to shift. Since then, I've used a rocket blower to clear any dust (although the D700's self clean system seems to keep that clear, the D70 still suffers a little) followed by a sensorKlear to dispose of anything that's left. I use the SensorKlears as a one shot solution - after their use as a sensor cleaner, they get relegated to filter and screen cleaning duties just in case they've picked up a scratchy mote.
 
My 5D's sensor got dust spots on it over time. I tried using Digipad swabs on it, and ended up smearing grease over the sensor - I was probably trying too hard to clean into the corners.

I ended up sending the camera away to a Canon service centre a couple of times for cleaning.

I've had my 5D2 for nearly a year now. I've been careful to change lenses indoors, to avoid dust getting blown into the mirror chamber. Fingers crossed, I've had no problems with dust bunnies, so I've left the sensor well alone.

The 5D2 has auto sensor cleaning, which the original 5D didn't (actually one of my main reasons for upgrading). On a couple of occasions when reviewing pics, I've seen what appears to be a dust bunny in a frame, only for it to disappear in subsequent frames. Hopefully the self-cleaning sensor doing its work! :thumbs:

Interestingly the 40D has auto sensor cleaning whereas the 1Ds mk II doesn't.. :thinking:

When the sensor eventually does need a clean, I've got a SensorKlear pen, which I've read good reports about. I'd try to shift the dust with a rocket blower first though.

A.
 
Anorakus said:
Interestingly the 40D has auto sensor cleaning whereas the 1Ds mk II doesn't.. :thinking:
A.
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Yes, but I think there is more to it. Vibration can only get rid of loose particles, that would otherwise go away with gentle air blow. There must be a special sensor filter coating responsible for the anti-static and anti-sticky properties. Clearly older gen SLRs don't have one.
 
Hi Tomas,

My 5DMKII has already suffered from the dreaded sensor gremlins... I used an Arctic Butterfly to shift 'em and it seems to have done the job.

I'm not all that inclined to believe the Canon marketing waffle about the sensor cleaning thingy although I daresay it works well if you never change lenses! ;)

Hope you get it all sorted.
Best wishes,
Si
 
I've been complaining about this issue since before "sensor cleaning" became an inbuilt function of DSLR's. In fact on another form they called me Dr Dust. It's interesting that some people seem to suffer from sensor contamination whilst others don't. I personally think that all sensors suffer from contamination to a degree but that some users don't notice it either because they don't use apertures at which it is visible or their subject matter masks the contamination or because it's there but they just don't notice it.

I've actually stopped pointing out dust bunnies on other peoples shots because they tend to react not like I've said "You've got a dust bunny there" and more like I've said "I'm having your wife every Friday because you are inadequate as a man."

I test for contamination before heading off out with my camera and I always make sure that my test shots are clean way beyond the minimum aperture I'm likely to use. I carry out my own cleaning and I have no real problem doing so but I do think that manufacturers should do more to protect sensors from contamination and make in built cleaning systems more effective.
 
Only wet cleaned my sensor once, took several swabs as even though I only put 2 drops of fluid on the swab, it was too much and left smears requiring follow up with an almost dry swab to finish off. The end result was spotless though.

Since then I've periodically used a blower and an Arctic Butterfly brush to remove most stuff, there's the odd small speck, but they're really only visible beyond f/22 where I never shoot.

Have you tried the dust deletion feature with DPP? It's quite effective, but I grant you that DPP is not everyone's cup of tea.
 
I've had a few problems with dust on my 5DII. Tried the arctic butterfly, which got rid of most things, but left the worst spot, and grabbed a load of mirror grease and liberally smeared it. Eventually it shifted the grease. I then got the Vdust wet clean kit, which frankly made a pigs ear of the thing. after about 5 goes I finally managed to completely de-smear the sensor. The irony is of course that the one spot of dust I was trying to remove was a damned sight easier to shift than all the crud I managed to smear about in PP. I eventually gave in and took it to my local shop who did it for me very well for £30 - considerably less than the butterfly, 12 swabs (which I used 9 of) and the fluid.

I have to change lenses outside though, as it's a bit hard to bring Snowdonia into the studio...

I'm hoping CS5 will render my obsession with dust redundant in all but the worst cases. Content aware fill sounds perfect for the job!
 
I've got all this to look forward to this week. My cameras just over 12 months old and now needs the dreaded clean. The arctic butterfly, swabs and fluid nearly made my eyes water at £118, hope it works.
 
Livin The Dream said:
I've got all this to look forward to this week. My cameras just over 12 months old and now needs the dreaded clean. The arctic butterfly, swabs and fluid nearly made my eyes water at £118, hope it works.
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That shop told me that swabs aren't exactly great which confirmed my experience. They didn't tell me what they use but it looks like you have to know exactly what you are doing if there is more dust.
 
Well, I'm a research scientist for a living. Not that it means much, but it does mean I regularly do precise things with expensive kit that doesn't like dust. Cleaning my sensor (as above) seemed to defeat me though. I'd suggest that you only do it if a) you know what you're doing or b) It's so filthy you couldn't make it any worse. The cost of all the cleaning kit will get you a fair few cleans by someone who does know what they're doing, and CS5 should shift most bunnies PP
 
With my D100 I used to use the "Pec-Pads wrapped around the cut-off Wendy's knife with Eclipse Fluid" method. My first ever go was awful, after that, was a doddle. No problems.

Since going up to the D200, I always go at it with the Giottos Rocket Blower first before trying any "contact" methods of cleaning. I've only actually had to break out the eclipse fluid once since getting the D200.

The D300s has never needed to have its sensor cleaned. Between the rocket blower and its built in dust removal doohicky, it's yet to become an issue.
 
Oh dear, my 1Ds is dusty again! I've only gone out and shot waterfalls in Wales this weekend, before that it spent 2 weeks in my room while I was away. I have only changed the lens once indoors.
I could bring it back to get re-cleaned within the camera shop waranty. I am somewhat concerned why would it get dirty so quick without a real reason?
 
I think that a good percentage of contamination actually comes from within the camera itself as bits come off the moving parts.

I once sent my camera away for cleaning and all they did was move the contamination about so now I do it myself. Once you get the hang of it it's not actually that hard.

Good luck.
 
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