D60 dirt specks - help!

[tamsin]

Hello!

My D60 is showing signs of having dirt on the sensor (I think). I first noticed a slightly darkened circular area when I took pictures of uniform colored areas (such as the sky).

Today I did some tests, and when I use a very small aperture (f32 or f38) I can see lots of "blobs" of what I assume is dirt on the sensor. The biggest "blob" looks a lot like a piece of dust and is in EXACTLY the same place as the darkened area described above. The darkened area turns into a distinct shape as I reduce the aperure.

I have uploaded two examples of this:
www.art-gecko.com/tamsin/IMG_0111.JPG (1.2 MB)
www.art-gecko.com/tamsin/IMG_0087.JPG (1.4 MB)
(The blobs are more obvious in the second photo)

There looks to be a HUGE amount of debris in there to me. It is a real surprise - I have only changed lenses 5 or 6 times in the 3 months I have owned the camera, and always store it with the lens attached. I am really stunned that so much dirt can get in.

How should I solve this problem?

Thanks!

Tamsin

[Roger_Cavanagh]

Tamsin,

I looked at your images. You got dirt. :(

To clean the sensor in my D30, I now use:

- the SpeckGrabber, www.kinetronics.com, a hugely over-priced piece of high tech rubber on the end of a plastic straw. With this you can dab visible dust specks from the sensor without leaving any marks. It does seem to work and is washable, so (hopefully) in the long run, won't seem so expensive.

- SensorSwabs and Eclipse solution from http://www.photosol.com/. These are specially designed for cleaning sensors.

The manual recommends using only air blowers to remove dust. This is OK, but does not work on the stickier bits of muck. The manual also recommends sending the camera to Canon for cleaning, which I did after about 9 months' ownership. Canon were very good: they didn't charge me, I sent the camera on Tuesday and it came back on Friday... Unfortunately, it came back with the same spot. :eyes

I only use the swabs and the solution occasionally, but they work fine and (so far :) ) with no negative side-effects.

Regards,

[dlhammer]

I got cought on vacation in Italy with the same problem and without the power cord to do the recommended cleaning proceedure. I popped off the lens, did a bulb exposure and grabbed a spec off the sensor with a dry hotel Q-tip. Puffed a little to get any cotton out and was back in service. Not recommended, but ---

[michaelchristensen]

Hi Tamsin,

Actually I'm quite happy to read that there are others out there with dirt problems - I thought I was the only one...

It's only 1 week ago I had the very same problem - dirt when taking pictures with very small aperture (f32 or f38). You should not clean the sensor by touching it with anything! I managed to clean my sensor by using a "airduster" and blowing air from a distance into the D30 house.

All dirt is gone from my pictures now and it took about 10 minutes to do.


Regards

Michael

[David Lawson]

This is the best reference I have seen for the problem. http://www.bythom.com/cleaning.htm
Lots and lots of talk on dpreview.com so welcome to the world of dusty sensors. Don't get worried about it, worrying never cleaned my sensor in the end I took a cotton wool bud and eclipse fluid to it. Just a new feature in your photographic life. David

[tamsin]

Thank you all for your help. I ordered the Eclipse, swabs and SPECKgrabber today from:
http://www.crown-digital.co.uk/

I will send a report once I have tried these methods.

Thank you all once again,

Tamsin