Dirty Sensor this soon?

[Bruce Comeau]

I have a 6 week old 5D Mark II...noticed today against a bright blue sky...noticeable "spots"...I am assuming Dust on the sensor ...and I will bring in to get cleaned...
I have not been in any overly dusty locations...just home, etc.

is this to be expected? dust this soon.??...especially this many black spots?

see attached video to see...there are about 6 of them
you will need to download the quicktime file in full resolution to see..
20090328 Dirty Sensor on Vimeo


first half of video is with 100-400mm at 400mm..
last part of video is 24-105mm at 105mm...

Please let me know

[Nigel Barker]

Dirt on the sensor has nothing to do with the length of time that you have owned the camera but is all to do with how many times you have changed lenses & particularly how carefully. That video certainly shows something that could well be on the sensor although the extra spot in the 2nd half of the clip could be on the 2nd lens or it's another spot that you put on the sensor when you changed lenses. To confirm that is really your problem take some still photos of clear sky then change lenses. If the spots are still there it is likely on the sensor. It's straightforward to clean with the right products. The best are expensive but I like the range of brushes etc. from Visible Dust VisibleDust - DSLR Camera Sensor Cleaning

The vibrating sensor cleaner on the 5DII is supposed to help remove dust spots but once dust is in the camera body spots are still likely to end up back on the sensor unless properly removed from the camera & not just shaken off.

Cheers

Nigel

[Yang Wen]

Take a picture against the bright sky with f/10 to spot sensor dust. Don't use videos to the judge sensor dust because you have no idea what the aperture setting was when the video was shot..

[Dylan Couper]

Originally Posted by Bruce Comeau

I have a 6 week old 5D Mark II...noticed today against a bright blue sky...noticeable "spots"...I am assuming Dust on the sensor ...and I will bring in to get cleaned...
I have not been in any overly dusty locations...just home, etc.

is this to be expected? dust this soon.??...especially this many black spots?

Bruce, don't sweat it... that's nothing compared to how dirty some of my DSLR sensors have gotten over the years. :)

Get yourself 2 items:

1) a soft sensor brush (I use a LensPen) for light "daily" use cleaning dust off the sensor after a day of changing lenses out in the wild.

2) a "wet" cleaning swab kit, for cleaning any persistant spots.

You do not need to take your camera in for cleaning. The shop is just going to use one of the above two methods, then charge you 2x what it would cost to buy it yourself. And then you might have dust again 2 days later.

I've had my camera about as long as you and have have cleaned it twice since. No biggie.
Also, what Yang said... the only true guage of sensor dust is to stop waaay down and shoot stills against a solid background. You'll probably find way more than you think.

[Bill Binder]

I'll bet money that if the typical DSLR owner (who doesn't already do this) pointed their camera at a out-of-focus white surface at f22 and pixel peeped, they wouldn't believe the amount of dust on their sensors, LOL.

[Bruce Comeau]

Thanks all for the responses.
Went to McBain and they sold me a sensor cleaning kit...got rid of the fear of doing it myself.

I do not think the kit I was sold is that good...still remnants in the corners/edges and the odd time, leaves a strand of the swab behind. There is also one spot that I cannot seem to get rid of...and I am hesitant to put too much pressure to remove.

I will need to get a better quality cleaning kit/set up as recommended.

Thanks

[Chris Barcellos]

Hey you veteren senor cleaners, I have a question.

My understanding is that what actually is being cleaned is not the sensor itself, but a "low-pass" filter over it. Is that a piece of glass that is somewhat robust ? Or have I got that all wrong ?

[Bill Binder]

Originally Posted by Bruce Comeau

got rid of the fear of doing it myself.

Don't get rid of the fear, fear is good when messing with your sensor directly like this, just don't let the fear stop you. This is still SERIOUS business, you can screw up your camera, let there be no doubt, so read up (a lot) and buy and use the right product -- don't just rely on a single source at a camera shop, etc., it's not beyond reason they may have no clue. There were issues with people messing up the original 5D when wet wiping, and that got sorted out the hard way for some. So, just saying, be willing to clean, but keep the fear, be extremely careful, and only wet wipe once in a long while -- not for every spot every time you get one.

[Dylan Couper]

Originally Posted by Chris Barcellos

Hey you veteren senor cleaners, I have a question.

My understanding is that what actually is being cleaned is not the sensor itself, but a "low-pass" filter over it. Is that a piece of glass that is somewhat robust ? Or have I got that all wrong ?

That is my understanding as well. Apparently it is a lot of work to actually scratch it... but still... the horror....

[Yang Wen]

Don't use a brush.

Just get a rocket blower. put the cam in cleaning mode, give it a few quick bursts of air and you're good to go.

[Dylan Couper]

Originally Posted by Yang Wen

Don't use a brush.

If you are going to make a statement like that, you need to put the logic behind it too.

Just get a rocket blower. put the cam in cleaning mode, give it a few quick bursts of air and you're good to go.

Here's why I prefer a brush and not a blower... I have a blower and a significant part of the time it fails to remove the dust. Plus, a blower just moves the dust around, a brush will actually lift it out.

[Yang Wen]

Originally Posted by Dylan Couper

If you are going to make a statement like that, you need to put the logic behind it too.

Being that my reply was a continuation to a forum topic, one only needs to read the reply immediately prior to mine to gain proper context.

In fact, I would advise against of using anything of a wet applicator as some have suggested. Putting liquid on the delicate sensor coating is just asking for trouble if you're not a trained technician. There has been enough reports of sensor cleaning horror stories to discourage this practice.

My experience has been that the brush doesn't lift dust particles out. I've used sensor pads with an adhesive surface to lift out dust, but I've stop doing that and found the method of holding the camera upside down and blowing into the sensor will almost always clean it. Of course YMMV depending on the type of particles and the density.. but isn't always better to advise the least invasive method and if it's not enough, step up to one that involves touching the low pass filter?

[Jon Fairhurst]

I wonder if there's something we could do with static electricity to help repel the dust. That would help the blower get the dust off the sensor and out of the camera.

I'm convinced that static electricity is one reason that the camera attracts dust as quickly as it does. We only have the body open for a a matter of minutes over its life, yet the dust settles there quickly.

[Dylan Couper]

Originally Posted by Yang Wen

Being that my reply was a continuation to a forum topic, one only needs to read the reply immediately prior to mine to gain proper context.

Thank you for explaining how threads work.

Since you missed my point, I'll reiterate... It isn't helpful to just say "don't use a brush, buy a blower." If there is a reason people shouldn't use brushes, than you should tell them. (and "blowers are better" isn't a reason not to use brushes.)

In fact, I would advise against of using anything of a wet applicator as some have suggested. Putting liquid on the delicate sensor coating is just asking for trouble if you're not a trained technician. There has been enough reports of sensor cleaning horror stories to discourage this practice.

This is nonsense. Thousands of photographers use wet cleaning swabs every day. I've been using them on all five of the SLRs I've owned in the last six years and have never had any kind of incident, and I'm not a trained technician. Cleaning a sensor with a wet swab is simpler than making Kraft Dinner, and nothing anyone should be afraid of. Read and follow the instructions... that's all the "trained technicians" do.

Here's a list of all the common ways of cleaning your sensors, and the pros/cons to each. Decide for yourself:
http://www.cleaningdigitalcameras.com/methods.html

Note: Sensor Swabs are actually guaranteed not to damage your sensor.

[Chris Barcellos]

Dylan,, which kit do you recommend..?