F1 Testing - Dust Sensor?????

Hi,

I went to the F1 testing at Silverstone on Tuesday to take my first motorsport photos. However, i was experimenting with long exposure when i noticed a large amount of dust/stuff on the pictures.

I know that the problem occurs with my camera (400d 6 months old) because i have taken practice shots with both of my 200mm lenses and the dust is still there.

I have looked at the sensor and the mirror but i can't see anything, except for a white spec on the mirror, but i know that has been there for ages without any problems.

How on earth do i get rid of this dust. I think it got there from changing lenses at the track, where there must be an awful lot of sand and dust carried in the air from the track.

Please help me.

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I don't think this is anything to necessarily worry about, but I can understand you're frustration if this spec of dust / debris has caused all your shots to be spoilt.

In placed like Jessops you can by a can of compressed air which you can use to blow use like this out of your camera. Be careful how you hold the can though as the air is stored in the can as a compressed liquid, and if you're not careful it can squirt out a shot of the wet stuff. I'm sure it will tell you on the can how to use it though. Failing that you could try cleaning the mirror, and prism with a blow brush (in a still dry place of course where no further dust / debris may get into your camera!).

I suspect the dust / debris shown on the picture above might actually be on the sensor. I know the 400D has a setting whereby you can lock the mirror in its upward position. You might want to give this a got and clean the sensor with either a blow brush or the compressed air can. I haven't done this myself before so I am open to other people's feedback here to. I can't see how either of these techniques are likely to harm the sensor in your camera providing you're careful when cleaning the sensor especially.

Hope that is of some help

I had some pretty chunky dust that came right off when I hit it with my rocket blower. Point the camera body down, lock the mirror, and blow up into the housing from a distance sufficient to ensure that you don't jam the end of the blower into your camera. Some suggest mounting it on a tripod to support the body when cleaning.

Looks like a bit of fabric from clothing or something rather than dust. Dust tends to appear as a darker blurry blob. If you live or work in London, then you could take it into Fixation - they do a cleaning service for about £30 or so. Used them a couple of times when I've been careless in the past and they do it while you wait. If you're handy with Photoshop you could clone that out.

I'd recommend getting a hand-held blower bulb, my preference and suggestion being the Giotto rocket blowers. Put the camera in cleaning mode, hold it with the sensor facing down and blow some air at the sensor (don't poke it or anything else!). Dust, fibers and other stray crap on your sensor are a fact of life, which is why having a blower is a good idea.

Fortunately you can clone or heal dust out pretty easily most times, as long as it isn't interfering with image detail.

I just use a rocket blaster. Works a charm. On my old 20D there was some dust that just wouldn't budge so just used a swab with some special fluid, luvly jubly. If a blaster doesn't clean it and you're not happy poking around inside the cam urself u could send to a Canon service centre I guess.

Rocket blowers are much much better than canned air due to the risk of the fluid freezing on your sensor. Google "Copper Hill Method" for more information, they sell excellent cleaning kits and their service and prices are superb. I'm not associated with them in any way, but I received excellent service from them and they are one of the few companies I rave about ever since.

the dust delete program can sort images out if you realise after you have taken the pictures

Try the Rocket blower first. Do not used canned air, as Paul stated you risk shooting liquid inside your camera. Your camera should have a setting in the menu to "clean sensor". Select this and try the Rocket Blower with the camera body pointed down. If this doesn't get it you can purchase sensor cleaning swabs along with a special cleaning fluid. They come in specific sizes for different tpyes of sensors, you need to get the one specific to your image sensor size. Read and follow the instructions with your camera and the type of swaps/fluid you purchase. It's not hard to do, I've cleaned the sensor on my 20D numerous times. The one I use has you apply 1-drop of cleaning fluid to the swab and wipe the sensor. Hope this helps.

Thanks all,

I'll go and get myself a rocket blower tomorrow and hope for the best

you look like you have a lot of sensor dust also. Sometimes it can stick onto the sensor, so using compressed air (which I never use), or a rocketblower (recommended) may not get it fully off. Doing a wet clean about once a month (fearful at first but is easy once you get through it the first time) can make your sensor virtually spotless. Something like this http://www.copperhilli​mages.com/ is a great asset to keep to clean your lenses, and insides of your camera.

In not quite 4 years of owning my 1D Mark II I have never done a wet cleaning, and the rocket has gotten almost everything off after a good blasting with air. I will probably get around to doing it soon, but monthly seems a bit excessive to me.

Depends how often you change lenses I suppose. I often change lenses outside so I pick up a lot of dirt, and as often as not it is greasy crap that can't be blown off, so I wet clean a fair bit. YM(and tolerance for sensor dirt)MV.

Greasy crap? I change lenses outside but it's just dust, airborne dirt, etc that lands on my sensor. I generally try to change lenses with the body facing down and do so quickly, which helps.

I tried the rocketblower by itself, but I still had the specks on my sensor, until I did a wet clean. I am happy that the sensor is dust free now. Does the trick for me. I change lens very quickly too, but stuff still gets in. If I could, in virtually 4 years, not have to do a wet clean, I'd be very happy!! Maybe the 1D is just an anti-dust killing machine!