To send 10D to Canon, or not...

[sigler]

Hi,

As many of you know, I have a filthy sensor on my 10D. After reading the many posts about how to clean your sensor, I ordered pec-pads and the solution that comes with them. (Not yet received)

Today I called Canon to ask what I should do...The girl said...

"FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, DON'T CLEAN THE SENSOR WITH ANYTHING EXCEPT A BLOWER! DON'T EVER USE ANY LIQUID OR IT WILL DAMAGE THE SENSOR!"

So...What should I do? Send the camera to Canon (and be without it for who knows how long...) or try and clean it myself?

Any thoughts on this?

Thanks,

Rob

[lightandlife]

A good question!

I would send it to Canon. This would be a sort of insurance. Do it yourself could damage the sensor, if one does not know.

My hunch (again I do not know) is that a censor has hair line circuits printed on a thin layer, which is covered by another thin layer of silicon (i.e., glass or sand). Any chemical solution may start chemical reaction and melt the layer. There are other fancy ways of wasting $1500.

[Vegas Poboy]

Send it to Canon, you have spent to much money on something that is under warrenty. Unless you have another $1500.00 around ship it off & pull out the film until you get it back.

[NILOLIGIST]

sigler,

I thought of doing that myself. But, fear stopped me. I have a air pump for my exercise ball and I use it. I am surprised but the results are GREAT. It cleans out all the dust really fast and I don't have to do it often.

Try it, it might work for you.

NiL,

[sigler]

Ya...I've tried air, and even really fast air...and nothing works. It is DUSTY...and those suckers are stuck on there!

[GenDEM]

sigler wrote:
Ya...I've tried air, and even really fast air...and nothing works. It is DUSTY...and those suckers are stuck on there!

FWIW I have cleaned the sensor on my 10D about 4 times now, thanks to a lengthy trip in southeast asia. The camera is as good now as it ever was. The damage is caused by "fast air" since that just blows dust deeper into the camera.

Sending your camera in to be cleaned is a waste of time, unless you're getting it cleaned out inside too. Spend the money you would have spent on shipping and order the stuff from the article below, and do it yourself.

For further reading and a tutorial on how to do this, try here:
http://luminous-landscape.com/essays/sensor-cleaning.shtml

[scottbergerphoto]

If you plan on shipping it to Canon, have you considered the damage that might be done by all the banging around in transit.
Check out: http://www.pbase.com/copperhill/ccd_cleaning

[clos]

I sent my 10D for other service and had them clean it...well it came back worse than when I sent it. I did it myself and it came out fine.

Don't waste the time and the risk of shipping.

Good luck.

-Carlos

[sigler]

When you sent it to Canon, how long did it take before you had your "dirty" camera back?

[clos]

4 weeks but that was due to a back ordered part. The average return time in the US I think is 3 weeks.

By the way my 10D didn't come back "dirty" just not dust bunny free.

This is another interesting site I found it from another contributor to this forum...

http://www.pbase.com/copperhill/ccd_cleaning

-Clos