Greetings all,
I'm a newbe here, been a lurker for a while but finally decided to join. I've been into photography of all sorts for 25 years or so now. I picked up my first DSLR in '05, a 350D with the kit lens. That camera has served me very well and I still love it for what it is. I have the battery grip and E1 strap on it and a host of lenses. I was just about to upgrade to a 400D when Canon announced the 40D. Since I had recently gotten the monster 70-200mm f/2.8L IS and the gen II 1.4 extender, I decided I would wait a few weeks and get the 40D. I finally got it and the new battery grip, the BG-E2N, and am running two Canon batteries.
What can I say? The 40D is an incredible camera in so many regards that my 350D feels like a toy, though I know it is not; it has been around the world with me and I have easily taken 10,000 photos, perhaps more, I'm not sure.
What I will say is that I was very interested in the internal self cleaning sensor function, as dust spots have always been something that bothers me and I get sick of fixing those pesky spots in post. In fact, I rarely fix them anymore unless it's a special image.
I do not believe I got a bad copy of the 40D body, however, I must say that I firmly believe that these "self cleaning" features are all hype and really don't do all that much.
I had my 350D thoroughly cleaned by Canon while in Tokyo (they do it for free there!) back in April of this year and I was very happy that ALL of the blobs were gone. I picked up the EF-S 10-22mm lens while in Tokyo and LOVE it, but that's another story.
My 40D is just shy of two weeks old and the sensor is filthy! I was stopped down on some still life and couldn't believe my eyes when I looked at the images. I manually ran the sensor cleaning, re-read the manual, gathered the dust delete data and even tried the dust delete feature in Canon's software; it's a joke, only fixes 10% of the spots, or none at all, depending on how well the dust delete data seems to be "gathered." I decided that I was going to learn how to clean my own sensors, instead of paying my local shop 50 bucks to clean them. By the way, in the two weeks I've had the 40D I've exceed 2000 shots; 6.5 frames per second is astonishing and fun if you are not used to it. Trying to chase BIFs is more fun than ever!
So I did my usual research and bought a Sensor Scope by Delkin and got the Photographic Solutions type 2 swabs and the E2 cleaner at my local shop. I spent a lot of time learning how to clean a sensor, another one of my local shops had a junk sensor out of a camera and they showed me how to use the swabs and solution and let me practice several times. Oh, by the way, I also got the Eclipse cleaner for the 350D, as for now, it will be my second body for two camera shoots.
I scoped my 350D and was happy to see that there was not too much on the sensor. By the way, the Sensor Scope is worth the 70 bucks, it really works, though the "on" button is very stiff. Per the PhotoSol instructions, I cleaned the 350D's sensor and it left only one spot that seems to be really stuck. The spot does not begin to show up until f16 and isn't really an issue until f22, so I can be live with it for now.
I next scoped my 40D and to my horror its sensor was covered with hundreds and hundreds of specks and spots. Per the instructions, I put the camera in manual cleaning, locking up the mirror, then used my rocket blower and blew out inside very carefully with the body facing down. I then scoped again just to see and noted very little change. I made sure I was using the E2 solution and cleaned per the instructions.
When I scoped it again, I was shocked; there were big smudges and streaks and huge pieces of lint. I thought to myself that this couldn't be happening. I had used a fresh swab and followed the instructions to the letter. Long story short, it took 4 repetitions of steps 5, 6, and 7 in the instructions for the PhotoSol swabs to get fairly clean sensor. After which, I stopped down to f22 and shot some blue sky. I shot several bursts in the 6.5 fps mode and then loaded them onto my computer. To my horror, there were blobs everywhere, even worse than before the cleaning. I scoped the sensor again and found that there was a whole new herd of dust and debris stuck to the sensor. Quite frankly, I was pretty ticked-off.
I rarely give up easily, so I cleaned and scoped and repeated the process 3 more times to the letter of the instructions. After the third cleaning, the 40D's sensor was mostly clean, save for about 4 specs that I could see in the lower right corner. At that point, I stopped down to f22 and shot blue sky again, I found there were about 10 or so blobs, not too bad, but still, I must say I'm a bit disappointed and frustrated.
If I may backtrack a little, I spoke with the people at Photographic Solutions before buying their products. Their Rep. told me that their swabs and solutions are so safe that I could, "clean my sensor every day and not damage it as long as I followed the directions." I don't want to clean my sensor that often, but the way things are going, one begins to wonder.
On this note, I have a pro photog buddy who has a 1D Mark III in his arsenal and his sensor is constantly covered with dust and debris and has been since his first outing with it. He feels as I do that the internal sensor cleaning feature is just marketing hype.
I have come to a theory regarding this issue and would like to present it to the group. I know I've rambled a lot for my first post, and I thank you for reading my ramblings.
Here is my theory given my experience with my 350D, my 40D, and my friend's experience with his 1D Mark III. I believe that with these newer generation high-frame-rate cameras, a certain amount of "break-in" is needed. In other words, given that I have shot a bunch of high speed continuous shots with my 40D from the get-go, I believe that the internals are wearing-in, tossing particles around the inside of the body and perhaps even tossing around some minute bits of lubrication, which might explain the smudges and streaks, which disappeared after the 3rd & 4th cleanings.
When I look back at my experience with my 350D, I didn't have it cleaned for roughly 2 years and dust wasn't ever a huge issue, but eventually, it clearly needed to be cleaned. As I stated earlier, Canon cleaned it back in April of this year. When I first scoped it yesterday, I was expecting to see a mess, but it wasn't bad at all, and I have been changing lenses all the time, and not always under the best of conditions. I have easily taken 3000 shots with my 350D since April. So what I'm thinking is that it is very possible that my seemingly excessive dust and debris is a result of the highly-functional nature of a high fps camera, and perhaps, like my 350D, though nearly not as evolved, might show less internal debris after it breaks in and is properly cleaned a few more times.
So, first, I'm curious if anyone else out there has experienced excessive sensor dust with a very new Canon DSLR with or without the sensor cleaning feature? If so, all else being roughly equal, did the amounts dust seem to reduce after some use and subsequent cleanings? Does anyone else agree that the internal sensor cleaning feature is largely overrated?
Lastly, in spite of Canon's statements regarding the re-engineering of their newer bodies internals in order to minimize internally created debris, does anyone else agree that my theory about excessive debris in my new 40D could be true?
Thanks for reading and thanks in advance for your input. I'm looking forward to making some friends and learning more here.
By the way, I do realize that dust and debris on sensors is a fact of life with DSLRs and that images can be fixed in post. I am just feeling a little disappointed at the moment in my 40D's self cleaning feature given what I feel is excessive dust in just under two weeks.
Best regards,
Michael
P.S.
Here are some bird images I took with my 40D and the 70-200 f/2.8L IS. They were taken on one of my first outings with my 40D and I was mostly playing around trying get used to the controls. I think some of the images are stunning and others are, well, just playing around.
If you want to see some more and the full-sized versions:
http://s-prefix.smugmug.com/gallery/3537085#200100638
Thanks again!
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UPDATE: 9/27/07
First off, thanks so much for all the input. This is a great forum.
After reading through everything that was posted last night, I shut down the computer and thought back and retraced all of my steps.
One thing I've read in many places regarding DSLRs is that heat is the enemy of the camera's sensor. With that in mind, I thought back on how and when I cleaned both my 350D and my new 40D. The 350D was stone cold when I cleaned it. It had not been shot in days, its cleaning was easy and very successful. The 40D, however, had been shot quite a bit, perhaps less than an hour before I cleaned it. Obviously, I don't know what the tempurature of the sensor was when I cleaned it, but it certainly had to be hotter than the 350D's.
I do agree with the posters here that have stated that the rocket blower should get most of the junk off if the body is held facing down and in a fairly dust-free environment. It had been at least several hours since my original post and longer than that since I had handled my 40D. I decided I would take one more crack at it. I laid everything out, the E2 solution, a swab, the scope sensor, and of course the 40D. I quickly turned on the camera, put it in manual cleaning mode and scoped it. It was pretty disappointing, as I had stated earlier. I vigorously blew at the sensor with the rocket blower. When I say vigorously, I mean it. I also very carefully held the tip of the blower as close to the sensor as one would dare. This is kind of hard while holding the body facing down, but I did it. I probably squeezed the blower 35 times; my right arm and wrist were cramping up. I scoped the sensor again, and to my amazement, most of the junk was gone! I decided to skip using the swab and E2 fluid and wait for morning for some blue sky.
This morning, I wanted to sanity check myself and I scoped the sensor one more time, happily seeing next to nothing, then I shot some blue sky at f22 and f32. Well, the good news is that most of the junk is gone, except those same 4 or 5 blobs in the low right-hand corner. They aren't bad at f22, noticable, but at f32, they are huge. I don't shoot at f32 very often so I not too worried. It is strange, however, that I do not see anything when I scope and look closely at all four corners of the sensor. I sure hope that the debris that is showing up in my pictures is not under the low pass filter. That would be a deal breaker for me and I would make Canon fix it.
I didn't own the sensor scope before I bought the 40D, so I wish I would have been able to scope it before I ever shot with it. I can tell you that in the future, every new body I get will be scoped before I shoot with it. In fact, I'll be taking my scope with me to my local shops if I buy direct from one of them in the future.
If there is a conclusion here, I guess I would surmise that cleaning a sensor when it is hot or has just been used may not the ideal method and could have been what caused me so much difficulty in cleaning. I'll never know if my 40D arrived dirty or if it became dirty because it needed some break-in and a few cleanings. I do feel that my 40D should not have been this dirty from the get-go, so I am a bit disappointed. When I look at the images, however, I'm very pleased and will keep shooting with it.
As one poster said, the service center is in Irvine, about 1 hour and 45 minutes north of me. I'm going to call them today and find out about getting them to clean it while I wait. I'm going to be out shooting like crazy with the 40D for the next few weeks and I will pop a few images at f22 along the way and check to see if the blobs return en masse.
I'll keep the group posted.
Thanks again for all your input.
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