Hoo boy, was my new 30D DIRTY (sensor)

[Jman13]

Today I looked at the first images I've taken with my 30D that had very small apertures (f/22 and smaller)....and it looked like my sensor had been sneezed on! Wow...didn't know the factory gave such copious amounts of free dust! After 3 cleanings with my sensor brush, it's 99% clean, with just a few spots in one corner that are very small. I'm not too worried about them. The next time I have to clean my sensor, if I can't get them out, I might be tempted to try a wet method to get them off, but they will rarely be visible in any real image, so I'm not going to sweat it right now.

Glad I invested in a sensor brush a while back, though!

[scotttnz]

Moppie had the same problem. It had to go to canon to get cleaned straight out of the box.

[FlipsidE]

I'd send it right back to the seller or to Canon. That's just unacceptable.

[Jman13]

Why would I lose 2 weeks of shooting for something I can take care of in about 3 minutes? The sensor is clean now. Sure, it's kind of a pain, but I'm not going to pay return postage and wait for them to do exactly what I did in my bathroom.

[rabidcow]

I only worry about it if it shows up in images. This is the thorn in our side as digital photographers. BUT, if it does NOT show up in images, and you still feel the need to compulsively clean the sensor, then you may a bit of OCD (and who DOESN'T? :) ) I clean when necessary, and a lint free q-tip (medical grade) and eclipse solution work great.

One thing that Canon jumped on too late was the dust test shot that NIKON has been doing for a while. You take a picture of something white and out of focus and the packaged software finds the dust on the image. It then applies that fix to all images that you run through the program. DPP supports this now, but only for the 400D if I am correct.

[sjafari]

One thing that Canon jumped on too late was the dust test shot that NIKON has been doing for a while. You take a picture of something white and out of focus and the packaged software finds the dust on the image. It then applies that fix to all images that you run through the program. DPP supports this now, but only for the 400D if I am correct.

I never knew Nikon did that.. what a great idea for getting around sensor dust. Im trying to think of how that could be done through an action in photoshop..

[TMR Design]

So far I have not had to buy or use any of the wet cleaning systems. I'm not anal about it but I use a Rocket Blower about once a week and just blow out the whole camera and my lenses. It takes a little time and sometimes I do have to do the sensor cleaning process a few times but it always gets rid of the dust on the sensor and at worst I might have a little spot or two that is only visible at f/22 and usually not at f/16. I'll probably get one of the wet cleaning kits to have and perhaps use just to give it a real cleaning but so far the large Rocket Blower is the ticket for sensor cleaning. It's another one of the items in my kit that paid for itself immediately and is a great tool. And for those that don't really know, the large Rocket Blower gives a serious puff of air. Not wimpy at all.