thinking of ditching my barely used 5D due to it being a dust magnet.

I don't use it much, just over 1,400 actuations and it just returned from Canon service for it's first cleaning. Removed from package and installed clean EF 24-70mm L glass. Looked clean and I put it away (camera bag zipped up and stayed in my home) 2 weeks later I use it finally and there is a bunch of stuff in the view finder, drives me nuts! It was clean now dust stuff again and I don't want to send it back again, was a major hastle for me dealing w/Fed Ex because they require signature but I work evenings so no one is home to receive it.

Thinking of selling it and going with a 50D, the 5D mKII is too much for me and the use it'll get.

Is there a way I can clean this myself or is it a major job getting that stuff cleaned out? My images look good, just one small dust bunny but man I can't stand looking through the viewfinder and wonder if it's on the lens or sensor or else where.

Get a rocket blower...and maybe that little tool that makes it easy to pull the focusing screen out (comes with a new focusing screen).

If the dust is in the viewfinder it's either on the mirror or the focusing screen (or up above the focusing screen which is really a pain).

If the dust is on the sensor, you won't see it in the viewfinder, but it will show up on images when you use a narrow aperture, esp if you are shooting a blank scene like sky or something.

If you are seeing it in the viewfinder, it isn't on the sensor and won't show in the pictures (obviously, this doesn't include the one dust bunny that is on the sensor).

To be able to see it in the VF, it will be either on the mirror, the focusing screen or on the eyepiece. the latter can pick up dirt quite easily on the outside of the camera and is easily cleaned with a cotton bud / Q-tip. Also try giving the mirror box and focusing screen a good blow with a rocket blower to remove any loose dust.

Hopefully that will sort it for you. I have a 5D and, apart from a quick blow out with a rocket blower every now and again, it has never had a proper clean in around 50,000 clicks. The 5D does see a little bit more sensor dust than crop cameras (bigger sensor = more area to catch dust) but not significantly so and I would never call it a dust magnet.

If dust were on the lens, you wouldn't see it through the viewfinder. If the dust is still there after using a rocket blower, it's most likely on the focusing screen. I have a spec in my XTi viewfinder which is on the focusing screen, but it's off to the far right outside the focus points so it doesn't bother me much.

*facepalm*

Do people really think the sensor cleaner does anything significant? My mark 3 has way more dust than my 5D does, both on the sensor, in the viewfinder, and on the body. Does it matter? No. 1 blow with a rocket blower >>>> 10000 passes of the "sensor cleaner".

"Dust magnet": I have never understood these claims - apart from the bigger sensor that sandpiper mentioned, what property of the 5D could this possibly be referring to? It's just all internet heresay - people read these 'dust magnet' claims, and go looking for dust on their 5Ds. Start a thread saying ZOMG my 50D is a dust magnet and I guarantee you 50D owners around the world will start hunting for dust and freaking out too. I've owned two 5Ds, as well as two cameras with sensor cleaners (1D3, XTi), the sensor cleaner didn't seem to make even a bit of difference at all.

Before I had sent it in I had stuff all over it seemed. The rocket blower helped but not enough so I sent it in for a free cleaning (had $100 service cert.) I really don't want to change equipment but just annoyed by repeated dust issues when it rarely sees a lens change and gets little use.

It may just be my carefulness, but after 28k clicks on my XTi with frequent lens changes in all sorts of environments, I've never seen any dust specs in my pictures.

Any and all SLRs get dust, regardless of brand. I use a sensor swipe with some sensor cleaner about 1x every 60 days, and I change lenses a lot. I do an occasional rocket blower both on the mirror and on up there and also the sensor. I almost never shoot smaller than f16, and I almost never see any dots.

Cleaning out the camera bag may help as well. As far as dust in the viewfinder, bah the auto focus marks bother me more as there are more of them. I would like to see them become invisible (or not see them become invisible as the case may be). Get some really interesting subject matter in the viewfinder and the dust (and sensor marks) will become unnoticable.

That, and most dust spots can easily be cloned out. Just sayin'.

copper hill wet and a rocket blower are your friend.

that said, the self cleaning sensor was definitely a factor in my getting a 5Dii.

I'll look into the Copper Hill items, thanks for the info!

I must not live in as dirty an environment (Las Vegas) as you. My 5D is no more of a dust magnet than any of my other cameras - viewfinder dirt is common, expected, and a regular thing. I don't even think about it now.

Yeah it's an unfortunate cliche I once fell victim to. The 5D should be like any other camera (ff)

perryge wrote in post #7299753
*facepalm*

Do people really think the sensor cleaner does anything significant? My mark 3 has way more dust than my 5D does, both on the sensor, in the viewfinder, and on the body. Does it matter? No. 1 blow with a rocket blower >>>> 10000 passes of the "sensor cleaner".

"Dust magnet": I have never understood these claims - apart from the bigger sensor that sandpiper mentioned, what property of the 5D could this possibly be referring to? It's just all internet heresay - people read these 'dust magnet' claims, and go looking for dust on their 5Ds. Start a thread saying ZOMG my 50D is a dust magnet and I guarantee you 50D owners around the world will start hunting for dust and freaking out too. I've owned two 5Ds, as well as two cameras with sensor cleaners (1D3, XTi), the sensor cleaner didn't seem to make even a bit of difference at all.

Synenergy52 wrote in post #7300655
Yeah it's an unfortunate cliche I once fell victim to. The 5D should be like any other camera (ff)

Exactly. People get various results from the self-cleaning thing, and it was never even around 'till '07, I believe. The dust on the 5D sensor will add up on the average to 2.56x the amount of dust on a crop camera. Viewfinder dust may add up to more as well because it's larger. But, it is a fact of photo life!