f22 clean sensor test

[boku]

I agree 100% - been there.

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

A cheap and lazy way out is always to photograph scenes with lots of messy detail and no blank skies, so nobody can see your sensor dirt.    

Eric

[Paul Williamson]

The f/22 test is for wimps. I use a pinhole body cap for dust testing. f/180.

A 2-second exposure, handheld, of a light-panel slide viewer eliminates the need for a clear sky.

And no, it never gets 100% clean.

[Jer]

My thanks to everyone for contributing your stories to this thread. I thought that I somehow was missing something. At the moment I own: sensor swabs, sensor clean, a sensor brush, eclipse fluid, chamber clean and a sensor swipe (the spatula deal) and thus far I haven't seen 100% clean. My next experiment will be to use the sensor swipe with the fluid that comes with sensor clean (visible dust). In the end the clone stamp is pretty rockin.

[paulbk]

re: Task: clean the sensor
re: Camera: Canon 1D Mark II
re: Lens: 24-70 f2.8L
re: Check Shot Method: Set ISO=100. Then, two shots at open sky (north) while the camera is in deliberate motion to prevent possibility of “bird dust.” Shot #1=f5.6; Shot #2=f22
re: Check Examination View: Auto Contrast > 100% (actual pixels)

After more hours than I’m willing to tell you, I make the following assertions:
1) It’s impossible to get the sensor “near spot free” at f22. Regardless of the cleaning method used.
2) It’s possible to get the sensor near spot free at f5.6.

My “good enough” cleaning method:
I use a 1/8 square of PEC pad w/one drop of methyl alcohol (Eclipse) and the fat end of a chop stick sanded to a chisel edge. Use the chop stick to push the pec pad around as if to lightly swab the deck. Blow with rocket blower. Repeat, repeat, and repeat...

Can anyone pass the f22 open sky clean sensor test?

[Paul Sumi]

Disclaimer: I am not "out damned spot" handwashingly obsessive/compulsive about sensor cleaning so YMMV.

I can get "close enough" (but not spotless) using Eclipse, PecPads and the Copperhill swab.  I don't mind occasionally cloning out a few spots when I need to shoot at f/22 or even f/32.

BUT it takes twice as long to clean the 1D2 sensor as it does my 10D's.  AND I have to clean my 1D2 twice as often as the 10D. I'm not happy, but it's a cost of doing business.

Just about the only thing significant enough to make me upgrade from my current gear is a built-in sensor cleaner (as in the Olympus E-1).  Or a 1DS Mk3 for under US$5000.  ::

Paul

[jani]

A cheap and lazy way out is always to photograph scenes with lots of messy detail and no blank skies, so nobody can see your sensor dirt.  

Oh, I guess that's macro shots of bacteria colonies, then ... ::

I've had fairly decent success with sensor cleaning; the remaining dust specks are really small, and hard to see on a 100% crop of anything at the apertures I ususally use. I tend to stay away from f/16 and smaller anyway.

[Ben Rubinstein]

I could do it with my 10D, with my 1Ds it's very #### hard and I've not bothered, I'm just back from Iceland where everything was shot at f22 and lots of cloning is needed, I shot a wedding yesterday at f2.8-5.6 and even the largest hairs and spots were invisible.

[Ben Rubinstein]

especially the new healing tool in CS2, a serious time saver and more accurate than healing or cloning from a specific point.