Luminous Landscape Forum
Equipment & Techniques => Digital Cameras & Shooting Techniques => Topic started by: Tim Gray on February 16, 2005, 11:09:29 am
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search here for dust and you'll get a zillion hits.
Don't bother to send out.
Concensus is that Visible Dust (http://www.visibledust.com/) is about state of the art.
And, yes, folks do clean their sensors successfully.
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Even if you never change lenses, you can still get dust working its way in. The quickest, easiest and cheapest thing to try is to get a bulb blower and just blow air on the sensor to dislodge the dust. A lot of the time that will be sufficient. Sometimes you can get dust stuck more stubbornly on the sensor, though, and then you'll need Visible Dust or something like.
Lisa
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And lots of anecdotes that the camera came back with more dust than when it left
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I've ordered my visible dust kit (the whole works) and now need to find some acceptable canned air? Any suggestions of product in wide Canadian availability?
Thanks everyone!
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Thanks Tim. I'll try the CO2 and deal with conscience about green house gas releases. LOL
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It is easy to be sceptical about the visible dust sensor brushes until you have tried them. I have and find that they do work.
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Hi all,
A few weeks ago, I took my first outdoor shots with my 20D (purchased mid-December). I was using a new EF-S 10-22mm and noticed that my shots had ghostly grey blotches and specs in certain areas. Since I had never seen these on shots with 50mm, I figured it was on the lens. My dealer (Henry's in Ottawa) suggested I bring the lens in and they'd check the rear element for dirt.
However, this past w/e, I took both lenses outside in bright sun and took a ton of shots. Low and behold, the spots were visible with both lenses, but only at apertures of f/11 or smaller (at f/22, they're clearly defined and large). Larger than that and they are invisible, which is why I had never seen them during the previous weeks of indoor, low-light shooting. The spots always appear in the same areas so I'm pretty sure the sensor is dirty.
Has anyone tried cleaning their 20D's sensor? Have you been successful? Has anyone had to send their camera to Canon? What was the outcome? Could it be that this contamination has been there since day 1 -- I'm very careful about keeping the body protected during lens changes and I've barely used the camera outside.
Thanks!
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Read this (http://www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/visible-dust.shtml) and this (http://www.luminous-landscape.com/essays/sensor-cleaning.shtml).
Visible Dust is the way to go!
HTH,
Francois
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... The quickest, easiest and cheapest thing to try is to get a bulb blower and just blow air on the sensor to dislodge the dust. A lot of the time that will be sufficient ...
I assumed that llama already tried the bulb method (described in his Canon user manual)...
Anyway, the last thing I would do is send my camera to Canon to have it cleaned. In Europe, they told me it would take 3 weeks and cost would be around $150. Not sure if the guy was kidding, though. ???
Francois
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And lots of anecdotes that the camera came back with more dust than when it left
A friend of mine sent his camera and it came back just as dirty as before, if not more.
Francois
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I would avoid products like Visible Dust's Sensor Brush, which I think is vastly overpriced. Just reading their website set off my BS alarm. :angry:
This thread explains how to proceed:
http://tinyurl.com/7y95n (http://tinyurl.com/7y95n)
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I would avoid products like Visible Dust's Sensor Brush, which I think is vastly overpriced. Just reading their website set off my BS alarm.
This thread explains how to proceed:
http://tinyurl.com/7y95n (http://tinyurl.com/7y95n)
Haven't yet run across a negative review from anyone who actually tried it. There's lots of posts about how "it doesn't make sense" and "just use an artists brush", but nothing where someone says - I tried the sable brush, and it worked fine. Actually I remember the oppositie - someone tried an alternative brush and it in fact didn't work.
I've used them since they first came out and they work.
Canned Air - I use the stuff I get from Staples (Toronto). Some care is required, keep the can level and don't press all the way - you can get some propellant coming out. I also use American Recorder CO2 cartridges (available from Henry's or Vistek - Toronto) which serves as a great blower with no propellant issues - and it's made for recording heads, so no oil etc. which you can get with the generic cartridges. When I travel I use the the CO2 to charge the brush with no worry re propellant getting on the brush.
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... nothing where someone says - I tried the sable brush, and it worked fine.
Don't use a SABLE brush! You don't want to use ANY animal hairs! Use a fine, soft, broad-ish nylon brush and you cannot go wrong.
Also, I have never read any reports of anyone trying a nylon brush and having a bad experience. Where did you see this report, pray tell?
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Sure they work. And so do cheap nylon brushes. :laugh: