Sensor cleaning urgent

[Chris Harding]

Hey Steve

As Asterix would say, the sky is not going to fall on our head.

Nope I have a dusty sensor but no-one knows except me as the footage doesn't show it up at all. I was just simply asking about Dave's situation as he was in Singapore in high humidity and when it dried off there was revealed dirt. On the move like that must be a little scary when you cannot clean it and it would be nice to be able to recognise that sort of situation. That's all.

I think they are pretty tough cookies anyway and doubt whether the thread is likely to cause hysteria (even concern) I'm sure Dave will give us some feedback once he returns on what happens and I do appreciate him pointing it out. It is a tad worrying when your once perfect AF decides to throw up bum figures on where it has locked onto and Dave's camera did that too. Exactly what was on the sensor face we can only surmise at this stage but once the stupid sun comes out here (if ever!) I'll do a sky shot on camera 1 and see what it looks like.

Bear in mind that I have never cleaned my sensors since new which is 14 months and the cameras go everywhere and have lens changes even in the trunk of my car.

Hmmm maybe we need little service reminder stickers on the cameras ... my car says "Next Oil Change 155,000" on the windshield so I remember when to toss out the filter and drain the sump.

Chris

[Chris Harding]

Hi Guys

Ok, my sensors look clean now. Funnily the A-Cam which seldom has any lens changes gave me the most grief and I had to use two swabs to get rid of shifted gunk. The B-Cam which always has changes was clear with just a LtoR and RtoL wipe (using each side of the swab obviously.

I don't think one needs to clean every shoot like Pete does but I reckon a healthy puff of air beforehand wouldn't go amiss. Even with a fair volume of dust on the sensors I doubt whether it would show unless you are into landscapes. My B-Cam also showed up a little "worm" on the left hand top corner of gunk which cleared after one wipe.

I got the Visible Dust kit with 4 wipes and 1ml of fluid so I still have plenty of fluid so for the next clean all I need to buy is some wipes only. I ended up using 3 out of 4 as on the A-Camera I have to use two wipes since you cannot use them twice.

Focus peaking is now also fast and accurate!

Chris

[Steven Digges]

Hey Chris,

I think you know me well enough to know I was just kidding around with you. I hope I did not offend. In reality I am curious to find out if your sensor IS dirty enough to throw off your AF? I have only swabbed mine once. Please do let us know.

This thread is actually going to change something for me. My Eclipse and swabs are getting moved from a maintenance cabinet to a gig bag I take with me. To try and help Dave out right after he made the first post I Goggled all kinds of field remedies for his situation. I did not find a single one I would be comfortable with.

So, what do you do, there you are changing lenses on location and bam, something nasty happens and you have crap on your sensor! My cleaning stuff is going on sets with me now. Thank you Dave!

And like his situation, I have never had time on a road gig to go running around to camera shops for a hard to find item.. A long time ago I called B&H once to resupply me with some stuff when I was on the road. They told me they would not ship ANYTHING to a hotel address.

Lesson to be learned here. Don't listen to my smart a** jokes about small pox.

Steve

Edit: This should be above your last one Chris. They hit at the same time.

[Chris Harding]

Hey Steve

I know that! Hence the quip about Asterix!!

I'm not sure about focus and peaking but it certainly was not normal and it was showing me that I was 50m away and I was only 5 metres!! I guess if the camera "sees" gunk it could quite easily throw out the focus. Some feedback from Dave after his trip could also confirm what his issues were.

I have dropped in the before and after sky shots. I don't know whether this bad gunk or normal gunk ..but that was the gunk on my A-Cam ...the one I seldom do lens changes on ... weird. Bear in mind this is after 14 months so a clean camera would not display as much!! Just one dusty day could easily do that too! The peaking works perfectly now so it's quite likely that gunk was affecting it.

Chris

[Peter Rush]

I'm going to start using my blower more than cleaning after reading this thread - I think I became a little paranoid, as at weddings I always get lots of shots of the buildings used during the day and quite often this includes a lot of sky where any spot stands out a mile to me. If I noticed a spot or two I freaked and made sure it was spotless before every wedding but I'm guessing the B&G would not notice!

[Chris Harding]

Many years ago I used to toss the cameras in the car and the batteries and tapes (still wrapped) in a bag, before heading off until one day the bride was arriving, the 2nd cam was set up in the Church and the bag was in the car! That was blind panic!

After that episode I started doing "pre-flight" setups and tests and when my cameras are loaded in their trays in the boot, I can literally grab and shoot if I have to.

Now, as I tend to use the stock lens first, the cameras sit at home with batteries and cards out but the stock lens intact and they are simply set up, cleaned and tested prior to a wedding first thing in the morning. Because the lenses are already on, I haven't bothered to puff the sensors out because it just gets skipped! What I was thinking is after a wedding it might be good to add lens clean and pack away to my list so the stock lens/manual lens is removed, the sensor given a good puff of air and then the cameras sit in their space as bodies only like my still cameras??

This way, when it's time to set up for a shoot, you physically have to attach the lens and take the body cap off so this action should prompt my feeble brain to check and give the sensor a pre-shoot puff of air before the lens goes on.

I think this addition to my pre-flight set up routine might just entice me to keep the sensor as free as possible from dust. Al I have to remember is to take the air puffer with me OR buy a second one so I have one in my video room and one in my gear case.

Do you store your EA-50 with or without the lens?

Chris

[Peter Rush]

I store it with the kit lens on Chris as that's how I use it first off on the wedding day (exteriors of church etc) i like to get up and running quickly. I also have my Samyang 14mm on my VG20 ready for slider shots - and my slider assembled on the car parcel shelf!

Pete

[Chris Harding]

Once mine are in the car (I have custom aluminium/foam trays for the cameras) yes, they are ready to shoot in seconds.

I was actually talking about storing at home and the camera condition before set up ...I figured if I have to get off my butt and attach the lens prior to set up and test a few hours before I pack the car, I just MIGHT remember to give the sensor compartment a puff of air prior to putting on the lens!

I have taken over our third bedroom as a video room (apart from the home office) so everything is kept in there and that's also where I set up my cameras (still and video) prior to a shoot. The funny thing is that I keep my Nikons in an open case with all the lenses, flash units and bodies individual but the video cameras are sitting fully assembled but without cards or batteries

[Dave Vickers]

HI Folks

sorry I went offline for a bit. I couldn't do anything about the sensor on the road so I waited until I got home and bought a throw-away swab kit. It worked a treat and things have eased up on the focusing front. I think humidity is bad for all sensors, the photographer had the same issue with his 5D. Solution in extreme conditions - if possible change lenses in an aircon room or don't change lenses. It's orrible when the condensation dries, but not fatal. I'd say to anyone - take a cleaning kit away with you! essential. No disaster though and all is okay now. Thanks for all the comments and suggestions