Dust on the sensor!

Hi everyone,

seeing all the hooplah going on in other forums about dust on the CCD/CMOS sensor and all the problems that people have with dust and digital SLRs in general, I thought I'd do a little test (shot a blank wall out of focus at f/32 ) and see if there is any dust on my D30's CMOS sensor...

...of course there is! So I used my bulb blower to blow some of it out, but several persistent spots haven't even moved!

I guess that eventually I might need to clean the sensor by actually touching it with some swabs of one sort of another.

What surprised me was how much dust I can see in the image after an artificial test like that, even though I have to admit I have a hard time seeing anything on the actual sensor itself. And I was aware of the potential dust problem with the D30 (as opposed to a film SLR), and was taking all sensible precautions all this time (it will be a year old soon, though, my good "old" D30... ).

Since I haven't seen any of this in my photos, I am planning to do absolutely nothing about this, other than try and use the blower bulb a little more often to dislodge any additional dust that might (will) get inside the camera and onto the sensor. I am also planning to shoot some test shots soon, to see just when these dust specks become visible on a uniformly bright background (which should be a lot earlier than they will become visible in real-world photographs).

My feeling is that life is too short to worry about things that I cannot do anything about. I am sure that lots of people get quite uptight about the dust issue (all you have to do is read some of the posts on other forums about people testing their cameras for dust as soon as they get them home, etc, etc...), and it consumes a lot of their time and energy, so...

I'd like to ask all of you here: What is your policy regarding dust control and what sort of precautions do you take to avoid any unnecessary problems? How often do you clean your camera's sensor?

Be honest! Hopefully we can all learn something useful in the process...

Ahemmm...


In case I wasn't very clear about this, responses and opinions is what I was looking for here...

I was meaning to mention your lack of sensor hygiene as evidenced by your recent posts but feel it is equal to asking if you might want a breath mint?
(JUST KIDDING, Political Correctness Crowd!)

Like you, I have the D30 propensity to dirt somewhere on my priority list but have been overwhelmed by so many other technical issues that it keeps getting bumped down the list. I am oh! so careful when I change lenses and hope that will be (has been) enough for now. I didn't know about the "blank wall" test and guess I need to do it as well. Thanks for the tip.

I'm sure you have seen the Sensor Swab at http://www.photosol.co​m/ and while I haven't ordered them, I know it is inevitable. Since I know there is a simple solution if I throw enough money at it, I have decided that life is indeed too short to give this more attention than I have. I agree with your approach.

For now, the breath mints (blower brush) seem to control the problem just fine and I have been in some NASTY places with my D30. Not that New Mexico has dirt, dust, or deer mice.

Chris,

I hate to tell you, but you ain't gonna be pleasantly surprised if you do the above check! Maybe you shouldn't even check now.

I used Auto levels in Photoshop to really bring out a lot of detail, and even though I was practicing safe dust prevention practices (What's next? We have "safe sex" - a contradiction in terms if I ever heard one, and now this! ), there is quite a bit of dust visible.

Still, this is the camera that gets used most, so it is the one that gets filthy (my film body seems pristine in comparison ). Just the constant in and out of the camera bag is bound to stir up some dust, afterall...

So take my advice: Don't check for dust! (You'll thank me for it).

Uuuggggghhh!

... just bumping this to the top of the list to see if there are any more responses...

If there are no more, I promise to let this thread die a dignified death. (No more bumping)

After 6 months of use, my D30 developed one very visible dust spot. I, too, found it difficult to see the dust on the sensor. So I placed a piece of glass over the lens mount aperture and positioned a reading lamp so it reflected in the sensor, and then used a magnifying glass to examine the sensor at leisure without risk of further dust falling onto it. My spot of dust did not respond to a blower, or sucking with a vacuum cleaner nozzle held at the side. I decided to risk picking it off with a small, clean, artist's brush. The user's guide does warn against using a brush, as this can "damage the element". However, by all accounts there is a glass cover over the actual sensor so I am not sure what sort of damage is likely to be done. In any event, all seems well for now.

John

Gag me with a spoon!

Yea, Rudi, I looked. This is sick, sick, sick. Dr. Swab, or whatever the heck his name is, has moved way up on my shopping list.

I wonder how much of this trash was on my sensor when I first received it? I will order the kit, swab the sensor, and log the event. I'll check again in six months.
I expect I will have less than half the trash at that time based on your 70-200 f/4 experience.

Rudi,

Have you seen the recent discussion on this on DP Review's Canon forum?

http://www.dpreview.co​m …orum=1019&messa​ge=2750217

Next thing we'll need a sterile environment.

Sally

Hi Sally,

that is just the latest in a string of posts about dust on the sensor. I only checked my sensor because of some of the posts on DP review.

I always knew of the potential for dirt inside a camera with removable lenses, it was these posts that made me check what the fuss was about.

I still have to say that considering that I can't even see the dust on my sensor (yet it shows up on my test images), that I am not surprised that cameras have dust in them (even after a trip to Canon). Even if Canon clean the sensor perfectly, the trip back to its owner is bound to dislodge some more dust from the insides of the camera and deposit it on the sensor.

That is why I am not running out right now to clean my CMOS with swabs and such. I will get ready (both mentally and by buying the swabs and the solution) to clean it, but I don't intend to actually touch it until the dust specks start showing up in my images, real-world images, not test shots of the sky...

Hi everyone,

I may have found a solution. Check this out:

http://www.kinetronics​.com …mm0459ff1c7b1c+​1060080402