Don't be an idiot like me!

I know I deserve to be laughed off the forum, but to save you all from making the same mistake, here's what I've been doing for almost three hours today!

I noticed my sensor had some serious crud on it, including two tiny curly hairs (no, not that type!) - from clothing, I'm guessing. I could see 30+ specks including about 10 at f/4.5 using my 100-400L!

So it was time to get the ol' Eclipse out and have a dig inside my beloved EOS 30D...

Battery was fully charged, and I had two peck-pad covered sensor-swabs. I took a test shot of the sky, out of focus at f/32 and even on the camera's display, it was like looking down on a load of policemen wandering around inside an ice-cube, so I trickled two drops of Eclipse onto the swab and....first swipe seemed ok - no residue. Looked through the viewfinder and blow me down, the crud was still there, and a particularly large blob seemed to have shifted from top-right to bottom-left!

Yuck.

Two more swabs later, and again, through the viewfinder - BLOBS!!!!!!

Ah. No more sensor-swabs! So, I jumped in my car and drove about 14km (round-trip) to the photo shop to get some more wipes.

Back to scrubbing and THREE MORE SWIPES LATER.......CRUD ALERT!!!!!

Then, as the sweat began to build, I thought to myself....."top-right to bottom-left"...."through the viewfinder"...........​....
Oh dear.

What had I done wrong? Not bothered to check the images each time I took a post-clean test shot....just looking through the viewfinder at the same blob.

What was I really looking at? A speck of dust.....on the bottom of the pentaprism.

So, one careful "up-swipe" above the mirror (not on the sensor at all!) and the blob was gone.

Please....don't be a daft berk like me. If you do your own sensor-cleaning, LOOK AT THE PICTURES after each swipe. NOT just through the viewfinder.

And of course, check your pentaprism isn't dirty too!

Simon

All's well that ends well....

Live and learn!
Glad you got it all worked out in the end.

khall wrote in post #7904434
All's well that ends well....

haileylommen wrote in post #7904436
Live and learn!
Glad you got it all worked out in the end.

Thanks for the messages.....I'm just hoping that through my stupidity, you guys can be saved the humiliation of having the cleanest sensor on the planet and yet still seeing crud - which is on the pentaprism!

I think I'll give myself a "D'oh!" for my laziness!
:o

Well obviously dirt on the sensor won't be showing up through the viewfinder. You'll never see sensor crud through the viewfinder, it's impossible.

Haha....it happens.

iamaelephant wrote in post #7904472
Well obviously dirt on the sensor won't be showing up through the viewfinder. You'll never see sensor crud through the viewfinder, it's impossible.

I know....that's the whole point!

It's what 36°C by 11am does to my poor British brain. It makes me turn into a blithering idiot who forgets how to check for crud despite successful sensor cleaning 1/2 a dozen times before now!

I think it was the air-conditioning in my car, going to get more swabs that cleared my thinking enough to ponder when I attacked my (already cleaned) sensor in the afternoon.

I only look directly at the sensor through a magnifting head set.

You must now have a VERY clean sensor. Something to look back at and laugh about one day when enjoying a pint with your mates.

Mmmm... one for the blunders thread.

On my Old 5d i was cleaning the sensor and still saw specs kept cleaning then realised the specs were on the wall haha

Hahaha oh my.

WillOPhotos wrote in post #7904701
On my Old 5d i was cleaning the sensor and still saw specs kept cleaning then realised the specs were on the wall haha

Thank you soooooo much for making me feel less stupid. I must say, in my defence that on the way home, the needle in my car showed that the peak humidity was 80% today which always makes me go a bit bananas - there's NO AIRCON in the school I currently work at!

Did you get "the look" from the wife or whomever?

HoosierJoe wrote in post #7904959
Did you get "the look" from the wife or whomever?

Are you MAD?! As if I'd tell anyone who lives on the same continent as me!!!