20D sensor and DUST

[MitchellB]

Whats up with that. I change lenses in the following way.
Camera off, opening facing down, old lens off, new lens on.

It's been back to Canon twice for cleaning. I did some longer exposure images today. CRAP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Spots all over.

Is it just my camera that seems to be a magnet for dust. Any tips?

[defordphoto]

Get used to it. Welcome to the weak-link in digital photography. Learn to clean your own sensor.

[MitchellB]

what do you recomend to do the job?

[lost]

Canned Air :)

No just kidding put the can down!!!!!! Copperhill or Sensor brush are both good products.

[emidyl]

I have found my 2 month old 20D has dust visible at small apertures. Just a fact of life and thankfully for me I rarely shoot that end very often.
Depends how confident you are but can be done yourself with numerous kits out there for sale. I've looked several times during rocket blower cleaning and dare not venture in there. At least not yet. If it really bothers me and gets worse then I'll send it to Canon.

[JMHPhotography]

Don't be afraid to clean the sensor yourself... I doubt Canon would have put the function in the user menu if they were worried the consumer would mess things up. I always start with the Rocket blower and normally that gets rid of the dust, but when the dust is very stubborn, I have the Copperhill system for my thourough cleanings, it's quite easy to do and very difficult to mess things up if you follow the instructions.

[defordphoto]

what do you recomend to do the job?

http://www.visibledust.com/

[arvin.07]

Gilotoz ROCKET AIR...

i think i misspelled the company name, but dude, the medium or large blower bulb thingys work wonders in blowing dust off the sensor..

as for the extremely tiny specks, you'd have to get an expensive sensor brush, sensor cleaning kit, or resort to Canon's services (they usually do it for free, while other repair stores charge around 50 bucks for it.. take it from me, i KNOW, unfortunately..)

[defordphoto]

I used to use the Rocket Blower until it blew a turd onto my sensor. That sucker is in landfill now!

[Dorman]

It's just a fact of life with a DSLR. No matter how careful you are dust will find your sensor eventually. Give cleaning it yourself a try, and you can always clone out any minor spots that appear in your images.

[arvin.07]

I used to use the Rocket Blower until it blew a turd onto my sensor. That sucker is in landfill now!

oooofff.. sorry to hear about that dude... mine works perfectly fine, and I do NOT intend to dunk the thing in water or whatever.. lol.. idk wat happend in your case, but the blower thingy is supposedly designed to blow out air one end and intake air at the other end to prevent unwanted 'gunk' getting in... supposedly..

i had a bunch of stuff on my sensor once before, even this hair looking dust thingy, but a few blow thingys on the sensor removed all the big spots. to see the tiny spots, i gotta step down to f/22 just to barely notice them. f/16 is fine though...

[Leorooster]

I have my 20D for almost a year, and I bought the Copperhill system, but have never used it. All I've done so far is using the rocket blower every other week to clean the sensor. Note that I change lens and use small apertures very often (for macro works).

[AMainePhoto]

Canned Air :)

No just kidding put the can down!!!!!! Copperhill or Sensor brush are both good products.
haha scared me I thought you were serious at first.

[rdegro]

Whats up with that. I change lenses in the following way.
Camera off, opening facing down, old lens off, new lens on.

It's been back to Canon twice for cleaning. I did some longer exposure images today. CRAP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Spots all over.

Is it just my camera that seems to be a magnet for dust. Any tips?

Go to http://www.cleaningdigitalcameras.com/ read it through, copy it so you can set back and read it again. It also includes a bunch of links to other cleaning sites.

I clean mine with an InnoDesk blower http://www.innodesk.com/ I bought it through Amazon for less than nine bucks plus shipping. It works fine but I put a Pec Pad over the intake to filter the incoming air. In extreme cases I use medical grade 99.9% methanol, two drops on a Pec Pad folded over a squared off tongue depressor. Two light swiped over the sensor, make sure the camera battery is charged before you put it in the sensor cleaning mode!

:)

[hemuni]

Go to http://www.cleaningdigitalcameras.com/ read it through, copy it so you can set back and read it again. It also includes a bunch of links to other cleaning sites.

I clean mine with an InnoDesk blower http://www.innodesk.com/ I bought it through Amazon for less than nine bucks plus shipping. It works fine but I put a Pec Pad over the intake to filter the incoming air. In extreme cases I use medical grade 99.9% methanol, two drops on a Pec Pad folded over a squared off tongue depressor. Two light swiped over the sensor, make sure the camera battery is charged before you put it in the sensor cleaning mode!

:)

Use a blower type like the Rocket (http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/Giottos-Rocket-Air-Blower-Review.aspx), Its the approach recommended by canon. There is a chance you could actually blow more dirt onto the sensor, but RFMsports case is the first i've ever heard of.

[MitchellB]

Thanks folks.

I have uploaded some pics of the dirty sensor. this is AFTER I used a blower on it.
Pics go in order from 2.8, 5.6, 14, 22 and 32.


see the pics here

http://www.pbase.com/inhisimage/sensor_dust

[Paul_B]

seeing as there is a "cleaning" thread here in progress, I have a question.

My Copperhill system just got here yesterday, and I'm reading over the instructions, a few times now.

Copperhill instructions - Engage Mirror Lock-Up, remove lens

Canon instructions - Enter Cleaning mode

Why ?

I'd rather ask and know before I try and do it wrong. Looking over that link posted on Digital Camera cleaning also has this -

Follow the instruction for putting your camera into its "CLEANING MODE" (http://www.cleaningdigitalcameras.com/cleaningmode.html). If you try using bulb or a long shutter speed to access the sensor, it is energized and generating static electricity which attracts dust. Attempting to clean the sensor without using the cleaning mode may result in the shutter closing on your cleaning utensil resulting in an expensive repair. There is also the possibility of damage by too much light if sensor is energized and exposed to direct bright light.

[SkipD]

Don't EVER use "canned air" to blow out the innards of your camera. Those cans do not contain air, and in fact contain solvents that can cause havoc with parts of the camera if any comes out of the can in liquid form.

To blow dust out of a camera (and off the lenses), the only really practical solution is a squeeze-bulb type of blower. There are many designs available, but the larger ones will do a bit better job. You need to make sure, however, that you don't suck dust into the blower or it will cause more grief.

[kmb]

When I first got my 20D I sent it directly to Canon for a warranty clean-up (I didn't have anything to use to clean it up back then). It came with factory-installed dust, literally hundreds of spots could be seen with f/32 and auto levels.

Basically, I'm certain that the sensor chamber is dusty and that the high speed mirror acts like a fan and occasionally throws dust at the sensor. I had the Rebel (300D) before, and there was no dust problem, and I don't use too "pump-like" objectives or change lenses carelessly.

I use the coppermine sweep, and I'm trying to think of it as just something that I have to do regularly. If you follow instructions and are careful, I don't think there's anything you have to be afraid about. Just something to do every month or so.

[Andrew Khan]

http://www.visibledust.com/

They say your NEVER supposed to touch the sensor dry!