1Ds Mark II issues

[scampby]

I have now owned the above camera less than one week. I such a dirt problem on the sensor I can not stand to try and edit all the spots. Today I took the camera to a professional repair depot. Before leaving I noticed a boomerang type mark on all pictures after the cleaning process. Upon return to the shop the tech said the problem was a piece of lint on the lens. Returning home I changed lenes and the boomerang plus many other marks still appear. I afraid they damaged the sensor. I have read all the different mehtods for do it your self cleaning products. At this point I think I am going to have to send to Canon for cleaning. I can't believe that less than a week and only 200 shots I am having this severe problem. Does anyone out there have any ideas as to how to approach this or a test to see if the sensor is scratched?

[defordphoto]

The Professional Repair Depot doesn't know jack. If you can see the spot on your photo it is NOT on the lens but on your sensor. Your sensor needs cleaning.

[scampby]

Do you think they may have damaged the sensor? Is sending the camera and waiting another two weeks the only option?

[defordphoto]

Hard to say, but if the spot is still there that was originally there, I highly suspect they didn't do a thing except at the most clean your lens.

Your options are to clean the sensor yourself or send it to Canon. I suggest learning how to clean it yourself, or find a REAL repair deopt that knows what they are doing.

BTW: They are not that hard to clean.

[scampby]

Thanks for the advice, the large bommerang spot was not there before I took in for cleaning. Any suggestions of cleaning products etc. to use? Are these really effective for removing the majority of dust? I had the same problems with my 20D which I traded in for the Mark II. Nice camera great pictures but a bitch to keep clean.

[defordphoto]

All digital SLR's are subject to dust. There are many ways of cleaning. Some home remedies that someone will surely link to later in this thread which I suggest staying away from. The first thing to try is to blow air at the sensor like Canon suggests in the manual. Do not use propellant, canned air as it can cause problems. Use a bulb blower. There are also small, dry brushes you can use, and there are swabs that use a liquid. I have used them all and prefer the dry brushes which can be had at www.visibledust.com. Yes they are pricey, but they work great!

[ddelallata]

this is what I use, and it works really well.
http://www.pbase.com/copperhill/ccd_cleaning

[Mohawk]

I would make sure I have a receipt for your cleaning from the repair depot, then send the camera to Canon for a cleaning. If one of these yahoos that cleaned your sensor damaged it, they are looking at a hefty repair bill in the thousands of dollars. I would not touch it with anything, let Canon have a look first, then you can experiment on your $8000 usd camera.

Mike

[Longwatcher]

If that boomerang spot is a piece of lint then a bulb blower should at least make it move if not get it off the sensor. Also if after using the bulb blower method it does not get rid of enough spots to make it acceptable, then it is time to send to Canon.

I have had to use a bulb blower twice so far on my 1DsMkII. I still have one spot that just will not go away by that method, but it usually doesn't get in the way and cause problems so I ignore it since it is easy to fix in DPP or PS. I figure there is currently a good chance my camera will be visiting Canon repair to map out a bad pixel or two before the warrenty expires and I will hopefully get that spot out then, without adding any new permanent ones. I am waiting to the last month or two because I can live with it quite well as is, but I want to get the little stuff fixed before losing warranty.

Just my opinion,

[shiato storm]

so your sensor accumulated that much dust in only a week or so or you using it? that can't be good, are you sure it was clean when you got it? either way if the cowboys at the 'professional service centre' messed it up get them to pay for any repairs...

[lomond]

I would make sure I have a receipt for your cleaning from the repair depot, then send the camera to Canon for a cleaning. If one of these yahoos that cleaned your sensor damaged it, they are looking at a hefty repair bill in the thousands of dollars. I would not touch it with anything, let Canon have a look first, then you can experiment on your $8000 usd camera.

Mike

This is good advice.
If you think the senor is actually damaged then you may invalidate your warranty and let these guys of the hook by having a go yourself.
If Canon confirm that the sensor is OK then I would suggest you clean it yourself in future. It's not difficult and you will take more care than an employee that doesn't own the camera.

[MDJAK]

Longwatcher, what do you mean by "map out a bad pixel"?

Does that mean you have a bad pixel that you want removed from the mix?

And I love those sensor cleaning brushes. While I realize the camera costs 8,000, over a hundred for a small brush seems a bit much. I'd love to know their margin or profit on that. I'll still probably get one.

As far as dust on the sensor, I too try to ignore it, and in rare images that it does show up against a sky, it is relatively easy to "heal" or "clone" it out.

I've used only a bulb blower once, which basically moved the dust around.

I also try to change lenses with super speed so as to minimize any dust entering the camera.

[Huckaback Photo]

Hi Scamby
I can't quite get my head around this problem of yours.

If the camera was only 1 week old with all that crud on the sensor, why did you not return to canon or the shop you got it from and let them sort it.
If it was under warranty and you took it to a non canon repair centre, its possible that any guarantee may be void.
we seem to hear of more and more cameras coming with muck already on the sensors.

I can not stress enough ....TAKE IT BACK the more people who do this the better for all,
as something might get done at canon to ensure all bodys are at least clean when new.

Martin (Huckaback Photo)

[scampby]

Thanks for all the feedback. I have since sent the camera to Canon in New Jersey for a cleaning and inspection. I had taken it back to the store I purchased from with no more of a solution than to return the camera to Canon. I may have gotten them to give me a new one, but they currently have no inventory. This is the second camera I have received with the same problems of dust in less than a week of use. My first digital from Canon was a 20D. The type of dust I'm refering to is not minor. I would have to spend a minimum of 10 min. per photo to hide the issues. I have tried to clean the camera myself with little to no luck. As far as I'm concerned the jury is out on this digital CMOS technology. There has to be a way to protect this sensor from standard use. I have currently invested more than $30,000 dollars in digital camera bodies, lenes etc. Needless to say not to impressed with the idea of using the camera for a week send it back for two. No one said I had to photograph in a clean room. 35mm Canon film products from the past have never given me any trouble. Maybe film is not as dead as I have been reading.

[HKFEVER]

Check this out, in the middle of the sensor come from the factory on the house. With fungus between the AA filter and the sensor. Not way to clean.:evil:

[defordphoto]

Thanks for all the feedback. I have since sent the camera to Canon in New Jersey for a cleaning and inspection. I had taken it back to the store I purchased from with no more of a solution than to return the camera to Canon. I may have gotten them to give me a new one, but they currently have no inventory. This is the second camera I have received with the same problems of dust in less than a week of use. My first digital from Canon was a 20D. The type of dust I'm refering to is not minor. I would have to spend a minimum of 10 min. per photo to hide the issues. I have tried to clean the camera myself with little to no luck. As far as I'm concerned the jury is out on this digital CMOS technology. There has to be a way to protect this sensor from standard use. I have currently invested more than $30,000 dollars in digital camera bodies, lenes etc. Needless to say not to impressed with the idea of using the camera for a week send it back for two. No one said I had to photograph in a clean room. 35mm Canon film products from the past have never given me any trouble. Maybe film is not as dead as I have been reading.

This is obviously an exception as many thousands upon thousands of photographers are successfully using Canon dSLRs across the planet nwithout these issues. I have owned a total of 4 dSLRs and have never had these issues, as most photographers also have not. However, on the other side of the coin, I think it's time (past time probably) for Canon to consider AT LEAST a semi-clean room for assembling these cameras. IMO there is no excuse for a camera to be delivered with a dirty sensor, even though cleaning them is not a monumental task.

[Longwatcher]

Longwatcher, what do you mean by "map out a bad pixel"?

Does that mean you have a bad pixel that you want removed from the mix?


Mapping out a pixel is something done to let the interpolation software know to assign an average value from the pixels surrounding it as it interpolates the bayer filtered sensor for a bad pixel and to ignore any actual results that pixel may provide. More advanced mapping may "correct" the value that the particular pixel gives under certain conditions if it is still working but not correctly, but I am not thinking Canon is going to spend that effort even for a $8000 camera as that form of mapping is usually only done for million dollar imaging sensors. On the other hand I hope they actually can do the more advanced form of pixel mapping.

At this time I have two green filtered pixels that show hot at ISO 100 and short shutter times, but I have a lot of pixels (about 8 ) that show hot on longer shutter times (although strangely the two green pixels seem to don't show up on longer shutter times.

The odds are good that as time goes on these individual pixels will get worse. If they die I am fairly sure the software will automatically assign a nuetral value to them, but as long as they are working they will give false readings that need to be mapped out of the process.

This is normal and as the number of pixels gets larger we will see more and more of this happening.

Just my experience,

[malcolmx]

i have a dsmk2 and i canot find any dust or pixel problems should i be worried or am i just lucky.?it may be that i am not looking in the right place , i just enlargerd a white grey sky to 1600% and i could not see any dust or hot pixels maybe the uk is not so dusty as other places . seroiusly is it likely that i have no dust or hot cells or am i just missing them your comments please

[defordphoto]

Be advised that HKfever's sample above is ultra-enhanced through photoshop. That is not a standard "blue-sky" shot to check for dust. if you do that with any camera the results would be just as ugly.

[HKFEVER]

Be advised that HKfever's sample above is ultra-enhanced through photoshop. That is not a standard "blue-sky" shot to check for dust. if you do that with any camera the results would be just as ugly.

First I saw a find line in every picture started from F/11, then I tried some sensor test shoots.

It was aimed at white paper with f22 ISO100, 50mm f/1.4 lens and auto level in PS only. After 3 days back and fore with Canon, they replaced with a new one. And this is my 2nd 1DsMKII.

My first 1DsMKII have 3 dots on the upper left corner that can't be cleaned, Canon told me those dots also in between the AA filter and sensor. And ask me to live with it.

One of the member's studio, has 4 1DsMKII, and Canon replaced 2 of them with the same problem. (mositure in between the AA filter & sensor cause fungus and tinnnny dark dots that can't be clean).

[scampby]

While I received the camera back from Canon New Jersey today. What a joke, they only managed to remove maybe 60% of the dirt. Worse than this was the boomerang mark in the middle lower portion of the pictures, no comments from the tech and still there! They also shipped my camera to a complete wrong address which caused me the day of tracking and correcting this problem. Didn't bother to send an e mail telling me tracking numbers or for that matter the camera had shipped. I called the service department and asked if Helen Keller had worked on the camera as this would be the only logical excuse for missing such obvious problems. When I calmed down some and asked what the real procedure was for cleaning, I was told they connect the CMOS to a PC and clean it by watching a monitor. I asked why they don't take real pictures as everyone does with the camera and then down load this to a PC for review. I got no answer. Bottom line they have until Saturday A.M. to return the camera to me at the correct address with all the issues resolved. You can bet tomorrow morning I'll be on the phone with the service department hammering away for more answers. I'm going to demand them to e mail photos of the sensor after they feel the problem is solved and before returning it to me. I can't begin to explain my disappointment in purchasing this camera. We wonder why jobs are leaving America, here you go. Another fine example of lazy people who demand the most and give the least. Is there no one left who takes pride in their job? I'll keep you posted.

[defordphoto]

One of my earlier posts:

Your options are to clean the sensor yourself or send it to Canon. I suggest learning how to clean it yourself, or find a REAL repair depot that knows what they are doing.

BTW: They are not that hard to clean.

[HKFEVER]

One of my earlier posts:

I agree, learn how to clean it yourself.

After I received the replacement 1DsMKII, the sensor is also dirty. But only take me couple to clean it and since then is already 5 months no cleaning needed.

The first couple time is quite awkward. But you will get used to it.

Don't depend on Canon unless for repair or replacement.