Is sensor cleaning really this difficult?

Seems like the best choice of forum to post this.

I just sent the following email to several cleaning product manufacturers. Maybe this will be helpful as a product review and maybe I can learn what I must be doing wrong:

Forgive me for including competing product information and companies on this email, but I have a HUGE investment in sensor cleaning products from you all and I am not getting results I would expect from any of these products. All of these get great reviews. Not a one has given me a clean sensor.

Perhaps one of you can help. And you can see the frustration of an average guy trying to get a clean sensor.

I bought a refurb'd ID MKIII. Camera looked like new, but had very visible dust when I checked the sensor. I cleaned with Eclipse and Eclipse swabs and made it better, but never totally clean.

So, I have in front of me:
Eclipse
E2
Sensor Swabs size1 (which do not seem to cover the entire sensor)
A Copperhill Sensor Sweep Brush
A Giottos Rocket Blower
A Sensor Pen
A LensPen SensorKlear Loupe

The loupe is entirely worthless. Can't see anything using it. The naked eye is better. I do not see how they can sell this product.

The Copperhill brush, brand new from the tube, charged with the Rocket Blower, put visible smears on the sensor. Back in the tube never to be used again.

The Sensor Pen cleared the smears, but leaves behind more black spots than were there before I used it.

The Rocket Blower gets some of the stuff.

I used a total of 7 Sensor Swabs as directed, even though they do not seem to cover all of the sensor vertically, and still have dots and black spots. This is EXPENSIVE for it not to work. And this is with Eclipse as recommended in email when I asked.

So, here are two images of typical what is left on the sensor.
What am I doing wrong?

I'm afraid if I send it in to Canon, it could come back as bad as it was when newly refurb'd, but maybe not.
Suggestions?

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What is that a photo of? I'm at work so I can't look at EXIF, but those (to me) are horrible photos to judge sensor dust by. Only the black dots look like dust to me. The rest just looks like bad digital noise.

Edit: Copperhill method and SensorPen worked great on my 40D. I don't see why it shouldn't do the same on any sensor unless it's been really abused. I have the SensorKlear loupe and it works fine for me... I like it, but it's not a necessity by any means.

Do you see the dust below f/11?

theres a good chance you can just blow it off with a rocket blaster

Also you may want to try sandpaper. Works great for me.

just keep trying with the blower, and hold the camera lens port side down

mikekelley wrote in post #8501411
Also you may want to try sandpaper. Works great for me.

thats what i use too, but only for really tough dust thats stuck

mikekelley wrote in post #8501388
Do you see the dust below f/11?

It's true that you see it more at smaller apertures, but it still needs to be a good exposure. Try it in a well lit room, ISO 100, Av mode at f16 or something like that & manual focus (since there won't be any contrast on the subject), while taking a photo of a very light color or blank white sheet of paper/foamcore/PC with a word document filling the page, whatever gets you a correct exposure.

Also, when using the wet method to clean the sensor, use very little solution. Maybe you're leaving some sort of film on the sensor by getting it too wet?

For spots that big, I think you can almost see it and scoop it. The dust aid adheres to the big dust bunnies, but those seem really stuck. Can you just post a full screen with f22 for us? That way we can see exactly how big the blobs are.

iwishiwasafish wrote in post #8501422
thats what i use too, but only for really tough dust thats stuck

My weapon of choice is bleach. Works like a charm.

In all seriousness, though, to the OP, I think the problem is that you've got a sensor that hasn't been cleaned in a long time, it's probably got atmospheric oils and dust all over it, and you're expecting a few tries to clear it all up overnight.

Sensor cleaning is like brushing your teeth. Not as abrasive, hopefully, but the idea is to do it regularly for maximum effectiveness. You don't go a month without brushing your teeth and then try to scrub SUPER HARD on that one day you do brush, now do you? Same thing with sensor cleaning. Regular gentle cleaning will, over time, work away at all the residual dust and oils, better than one rigorous, obsessive, all-day cleaning event.

The reason why your sensor brush smeared your dust is because you probably used it BEFORE you swabbed. The brush was not designed to work that way. If you've got a very dirty sensor, there are OILS on it, from the environment and the lubricants inside the camera itself. The included instructions clearly state that for your first cleaning pass, you first blow off large particles with the rocket blower, then do a few wet cleanings with the swabs, and then finally try the brush. The brush is for DRY dust only. So don't give up on it. But you absolutely ABSOLUTELY must keep it clean.

As for the SensorPen, I've never used one so I don't know how well it works.

The wet swab method is a good one, but you need to practice at it. I've found that it's very hard to get the sides and corners with the wet swab. It's especially difficult because you can't assemble the swab in such a way as to make it perfectly flat. That's why they recommend multiple sweeping methods. I've found I have better luck sweeping along the short edge, rather than the long edge, for some reason. And I'm probably not using enough pressure because I am just barely using enough force to contact the sensor, not wanting to risk scratching anything.

You have to be patient and not have super high expectations. It's useless to try to remove EVERY LAST SPECK of dust, because the next moment you switch lenses, guess what--you WILL have more dust. It is inevitable. You just have to live with it. That's what dust delete and Photoshop is for. The real reason to clean your sensor is to keep all the oils off...that's what the regular wet cleaning does so well.

The most expensive thing is to damage your sensor and have it replaced by Canon. So don't get all crazy about your sensor. Spend too much time obsessing about a perfectly clean mirror box and you're going to miss the joy of taking pictures.

It's not easy, I can attest. By the way, the regular Eclipse works much better than the E2.

I use the pen after I have done all the other "stuff". It woks quite well to clean it all up.

IMO, I think the loupe works fairly well but could be better (more magnification). The trick is to get the light hitting the sensor at the right angle.

Wll you ever get it completely and 100% dust free. I don;t thing that is possible, unless you do it in a clean room and manage to suck all the dust out of the inside of the camera, which is impossible.

I never tried to clean the sensor myself other than giving some blows. Personally I think it's not bad to do the spot healing in PS. It's very easy and fast, since you have to process the keepers anyway.

Yep, I still have some dust specks on my sensor, but they are not as bad as they were before I cleaned it. I realized quickly that you just can't make it completely clean. I'm glad that I was able to clean my sensor, since I'm afraid of doing stuff like this most of the time. Sensor is good and clean for my taste.

seriously..if you don't know your way around the innards of your camera, pay a pro to do it for you.