Sensor Clean??

[Motorsports Photo]

With all the posts about sensor cleaning and what to do and what not to do and how to screw it up, I finally decided to check mine. Its been in and out of rain dust dirt mud and just about everything a camera SHOULDNT be in.......but......

There isnt a speck of dust on my sensor.

What the heck are the rest of you doing to get yours speckled with particles??

At the rate I'm going my fresh order of pec pads are going to dry up before I need them!

-Pete

[hmhm]

How did you determine whether there was dust on the sensor or not? I'd be surprised if _anybody_ had a camera with absolutely _no_ dust. Try shooting a subject with no detail at a narrow aperture, e.g. f/22 or f/34. Some people shoot the sky, I use a dim room with a shutter speed of several seconds, aimed at a nearby white wall, sort of sweeping the camera around a bit to ensure any detail from the wall is washed out in blur.

How often do you change lenses?

My 10D came from the factory with some dust pre-installed.
-harry

[defordphoto]

I bought the Eclipse solution and the pec pads when I had a stubborn speck on my D60. They ended up having to replace the filter. That was a year ago. I haven't touched it since.

I think I have blown off my 10D's sensor once since I bought it last May. And that's (also) shooting motorsports of all kinds. Not known for being pristene environments for sure.

[theoldmoose]

If you don't change lenses much in the field (or at all) you stand a much smaller chance of getting something in the works. I tend to swap lenses a bunch, so I suppose I'll be seeing dust in there any day now, but I'm pre-armed with my 'magic wand' 8-).

[defordphoto]

That is true on my end. I do not change lenses much in the field. That's why I love zooms. And many times I use two cameras so that does pretty much eliminate lens swapping.

Nevertheless, some people seem to have horrendous problems with dust and not all of them are out in the sand dunes changing lenses all day long.

[hmhm]

RFMSports wrote:
Nevertheless, some people seem to have horrendous problems with dust...

The f/2.8 people don't have a dust problem. The f/22 people have a dust problem. They all have dust.
-harry

[defordphoto]

Actually what it comes down to is that the measurebators will always have more dust than anyone else.

I don't go looking for it. If I see it, I clean it. If I don't see it on my photos, I don't run around shooting the sky at f22 looking for it.

[hmhm]

RFMSports wrote:
Actually what it comes down to is that the measurebators will always have more dust than anyone else.


Well, let's say that this is a problem that landscape shooters have more than sports shooters do.
-harry

[defordphoto]

hmhm wrote:
RFMSports wrote:
Actually what it comes down to is that the measurebators will always have more dust than anyone else.


Well, let's say that this is a problem that landscape shooters have more than sports shooters do.
-harry


That's true. As an aside, I also shoot landscapes, flora, fauna, bugs and crap. ;) People too; sometimes.

[Belmondo]

RFMSports wrote: As an aside, I also shoot landscapes, flora, fauna, bugs and crap. ;) People too; sometimes!

Jim:
We have a polo field not too far from here. I don't know how good it would be for flora, fauna, and bugs, but there are some great opportunities for pictures of crap. Let me know, I'll send you a map.

Tom

[defordphoto]

belmondo wrote:
RFMSports wrote: As an aside, I also shoot landscapes, flora, fauna, bugs and crap. ;) People too; sometimes!

Jim:
We have a polo field not too far from here. I don't know how good it would be for flora, fauna, and bugs, but there are some great opportunities for pictures of crap. Let me know, I'll send you a map.

Tom

So, that would be a Crap Map then, correct? I'm always looking for cool crap to shoot and a map, showing locations of the crap, would be ideal.

[mpoole]

Actually, you probably want warm crap instead of cool crap. The warm crap gives off a nice steam, kinda like an active volcano. I own a Giant Schnauzer so I am well experienced.

[Motorsports Photo]

After wading through the crap... (-: ... It appears that the dust problems are self inflicted by continuous lens changes. I typically dont change lenses very much. I'm guessing though that many of you may be changing lenses with the camera powered. I know the cmos is charged, so it picks up all kinds of junk, but I wonder if its only charged when taking a pic, or when the camera is on. I always shut mine off when I do a change of any kind (battery, card, etc..).

Been away for a week so this thread will come from page three back to the top. (-:

-Pete

[iwatkins]

Only time I've had a problem with dust was after changing a lens in the field when there was a good 35 knot wind blowing. The field I was in was just going to seed so lots of dust in the air.

Was shooting at f22 or so but didn't spot the problem until I got home.

I don't think it matters if the camera is on or not. With a shed load of crap floating around between the lens and the shutter as soon as you take the next shot, especially of a second or longer in duration, all the crap is going to be attracted in onto the sensor.

Never had a problem since but do have a quick look once back at home after a windy session if I've changed lenses.

Cheers

Ian