for those paranoid about sensor dust.....why?

After reading so many posts here and there about sensor dust, my question is why are some people so obsessed about keeping their sensors clean? C'mon, who shoots at a blue sky at f/32 on a normal basis? I've shot at small apetures before but sensor dust isn't an issue until stopped down to f/16 and smaller. When there are spots in my shots, they're easily cloned out with Photoshop. My Rocket Blower has been sufficient enough in removing most of the dust from the sensor even after changing lenses in dusty and humid environments. I know there are some wonderful products that can remove a lot more dust that the blower can't budge but why physically touch the sensor in the first place? I'll have more peace of mind knowing my sensor surface is "virgin" and untouched. I've never done a physical cleaning ever since my 300D Rebel days and I have no reason to do it today.

I would like to see some real world situation pictures that sensor dust affected your shot. Show me.

Flame on!

Macro.

For me macro is the main reason to keep my sensor spotless. For macro you invariably end up with creamy diffuse backgrounds, extremely small apertures (my lens goes down to f/32) and close focusing... all a recipe for showing up grime on a sensor! Of course you can clone away with photoshop, but its very time consuming and you are of course losing information in your photos.

Macro, and even for regular shots, or product photography when shooting in a studio with deep DOF

+ clone stamping is a waste of time when doing it for multiple photos... I dont think a pro wants to add cleaning/clone stamping dust to their workflow.

Not to mention, getting you sensor cleaned is free @ canon. Since they are local to me, pop-in, cleaned, and im out within the hour.

baboymo wrote in post #2743300
I would like to see some real world situation pictures that sensor dust affected your shot. Show me.

Here's a real world situation picture. I was using fill flash, which forced the shutter speed to 1/250 and the aperture to f/14. You can see the spots in the sky.

Sure, you can clone it out. But if you wind up with a few dozen like this, you'll wish you had cleaned your sensor first.

I agree that some people get too anal about sensor snot. But those who use small apertures regularly (like macro shooters) have good reason to keep it under control.

If you clean your lens, logic says, clean your sensor. If you have only one camera body (woe is us) and you change lenses in the field, dust has an open invitation.

I guess I have to dive into some macro shooting to fully appreciate a sensor cleaning then.

baboymo wrote in post #2743456
I guess I have to dive into some macro shooting to fully appreciate a sensor cleaning then.

Or landscape photography. That's another area that can have large areas of sky and a small aperture. Mind you, I don't clean my sensor all the time. But I do clean it whenever I notice there is a problem or if I know I'm going to shoot images where sensor dust will be exacerbated.

Mark

It does not take much for these things to show up in your image. Black dots in the sky, little grey halos indoors....

It's kind of like having a burr on the inside of your old film camera that left a scratch across all your negatives. My guess is you would get that fixed right away!

i shoot bird's in the sky and jets in the sky -image liber'ys dont like dust they check at 100% .
Rob.

I never really worried about it and I usually shoot pretty wide open.............until I had this annoying spot in every shot at every f/stop. I cleaned the sensor once when my rocket blower wasn't enough. I now take extra precautions to avoid dust when changing lenses such as turning the camera off and tilting the camera downward, I also think twice about really long exposures. Performing a sensor cleaning (Copperhill Method) is nerve racking.............at least to me.

shutterbug151 wrote in post #2743409
If you clean your lens, logic says, clean your sensor. If you have only one camera body (woe is us) and you change lenses in the field, dust has an open invitation.

I don't agree - the shutter is CLOSED covering and protecting the sensor (usually) when changing lenses - if not, it should be! You're only exposing the mirror box briefly, not the sensor directly.

John7 wrote in post #2743897
I don't agree - the shutter is CLOSED covering and protecting the sensor (usually) when changing lenses - if not, it should be! You're only exposing the mirror box briefly, not the sensor directly.

But dust in the mirror box will usually wind up on the sensor at some point, so it makes sense to take care when changing lenses in the field. I still do it, but I try to take care to stand out of the wind and dust.

Mark

Yes agree - but the elements of a lens (front particularly) will be open to far more dust in day-to-day usage than the sensor will ever be.

I tend to agree with the OP - some people here seem absolutely paranoid about getting (or having) sensor dust. My view is that with something as delicate as a sensor being deliberately exposed for mecahnical cleaning in non-clean room conditions is far more damaging.

I personally only have ever given my 5D sensor an occasional puff with a rocket blower - I will only resort to mechanical cleaning as a last resort