More dust problems...

[Joytek]

The 10D is a beautiful piece of technology, but there is one major flaw with the current "slr" design. I am of course talking about the dust problem that has been plaging my 10D and pictures since day one.

I have very carfully cleaned the sensor several times already and still have new dust apearing on my photos. I like to shoot with high f numbers and unfortunately this is when the dust shows up most.

Does anyone know if Canon is going to address this major (IMHO) problem anytime soon? I love the quality of my 10D pictures but the dust is driving me insane.

I had a Powershot s30 and a G3 before and was blissfully unaware of any dust problems. Too bad that one can't have the cake and eat it too.

w.

btw how can I post a picture here?

[pwagner]

>>> I have very carfully cleaned the sensor several times already and still have new dust apearing on my photos. I like to shoot with high f numbers and unfortunately this is when the dust shows up most.

[Joytek]

Thanks for that summary, but I am unfortunately in category 2. The dust shows up in the final image but can't be seen in the viewfinder :-(((

I have cleaned the sensor with a pecpad and special cleaning solution a few times and there is one fairly large bit of dust that does not relocate at all (and has been there since day one. I wonder if it could be BEHIND the low pass filter in front of the sensor?

w.

[pwagner]

The fact that you can't move it with cleaning probably means you need to go back to Canon. Perhaps there is some defect between the silicon sensor and the glass glued to the front of it.

Just so you can go in prepared, verify that each of these statments is true for your case:

(1) dust seen on each digital image
(2) cleaning the sensor doesn't fix the problem and, in fact, doesn't even change the dust at all
(3) dust is NOT seen in the viewfinder
(4) changing lens doesn't make the dust go away

I live in the Silicon Valley where cloudless, blue skys predominate; shooting the cloudless sky blue is a good way to see sensor dust. I set my 10D to Av mode, aperature f/8, ISO100, switch lens to manual focus, focus at infinity, zoom to the middle range, and shoot a totally blank sky.

[Joytek]

Well, I have cleaned the sensor quite a few times now and the dust specs (they appear darker than the "normal" ones that get wipped away) are still in exactly the same spot. I only have one lens for my 10D so I can't totaly exclude the possiblilty of there being something wrong with it, but the specs are so "sharp" in the picture at f 14 and above that it seems they must be just in front of the sensor.

Is it possible that there could be dust between the sensor and the low pass filter?

I appreciate all your help and comments as the specs, and the fact that I can remove them no matter how hard I try, are driving me insane. I am quite a shutter bug and have so far (in about a month) shot 2500+ pictures. I don't have the time nor the patience to go over each one of them to Photoshop the dust specs.

Has anyone else experienced this problem?

Thanks for the support.

The specs can't be seen through the viewfinder and they disappear totaly of the images at f numbers lower than f 11.

w.

[BearSummer]

Hi Joytech,

if you look at http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canoneos10d/page8.asp you will see a diagram of the sensor for your camera. You will see that there is space between the cmos and low pass filter. It is not clear from the diagram if this area is "sealed" however i seem to remember from a 1DS discussion that it is possible to get dust into that area. However another option for your "dust" could be dead receptors on your cmos. Canon have an "acceptable" (to them) ratio of live to dead receptors on their chips and during the QA of the camera remap the dead receprtors to nearby live ones. So when the camera ships some of the receptors are being ignored and the data for them is being supplied by other receptors, however, during the lifetime of the camer other receptors will die and will appear as black dots or else become "hot" and always appear at full intensity (showing as red, green or blue depending on the filter for that receptor). So your options are
1, dust glued to the front of the low pass filter
2, dust on the cmos
3, dead pixels

If your camera is still in waranty it may be worth sending it in and having it cleaned by canon who should remap any dead pixels in the process.

Hope the info was usefull, happy shooting

BearSummer

[Mark Kemp]

For what its worth I am a bit surprised!

I have had a d30 since they first came out. I take no special precautions, change lenses in the field and otherwise take risks with dust and I have never had a problem.

I understood that the CMOS sensors operate at a lower voltage than CCDs and thus generate less static, so Canon have less of a dust problem that Nikon etc.

Are you sure the problem is dust?

[Joytek]

This is definitely not a dead pixel problem. I have looked at my first photos (from the first day) and there are no specs in that location. They seem to have appeared sometime next day. They are quite a bit bigger than a dead pixel.

Wow, Mark, I trully envy you for your good fortune!! I am really frustrated with this problem.

I live in South Korea and the summer is very hot and humid here. I have read that this type of weather makes dust adhere stronger. I guess I will have to send my camera to Canon's representatives here (LG) for cleaning. I hate the tought of being without my camera for even a day!!!

Thanks everyone.

w.

[sigler]

I too am having dust problems. I bought the biggest plastic blower I could find, and I haven't had any problems since. It is a pain though, because you don't notice the dust until its on a great picture :(

Rob "dusty" Sigler

[defordphoto]

Dust will always be a problem on digital SLRs. The reason it was never an issue with film cameras is that with film, you get a new 'sensor' for each and every shot. The weakness for digital SLRs is that dust is not our friend.

The advantage is the the dust specks can easily disappear with a flick of the mouse button with the heal tool in Photoshop.

Now if you have a stubborn speck you can use Eclipse solution and swabs to clean the filter or send the camera back to Canon.

With my D60, I had a speck that would not budge. I sent it to Canon after unsuccessfully trying Eclipse and they sent it back with the exact same speck. I sent it back -- FedEx overnight paid by Canon -- and they finally replaced the filter and it's been good ever since.

But, I occasionally have to clean both cameras. It's a fact of life with dSLRs.

[AndyDe]

Mark Kemp wrote:
For what its worth I am a bit surprised!

I have had a d30 since they first came out. I take no special precautions, change lenses in the field and otherwise take risks with dust and I have never had a problem.

I'm sure I've read somewhere that the dust particles are closer to the sensor on the 10D as opposed to the D30 which makes them sharper, & more obvious on the image.

[wtlloyd]

I have seen other forum posts that say Canon charges about $200 to change out a sensor/screen. If you are out of warranty then that is the worst case cost for you if there is a defect/blemish in the AA screen that cannot be cleaned off.

If you need to get serious about sensor cleaning, the Canon-recommended "dusting" of the sensor using a blower is pretty worthless. I think most reports of the failure by Canon Factory Service to succeed in sensor cleaning is due to Canon's insistance on this method.

This seems to be the most successful approach:
http://www.pbase.com/copperhill/ccd_cleaning