More dust on the sensor after getting it cleaned by Canon.

Yesterday evening I got my camera back from Canon, I had given it to them for

sensor cleaning.

 

Now, after clicking some test shots I see more dust on the sensor. The previous

dust spots have gone, these are newer ones. I had clicked a test shot in their

office itself. And even in that picture, I can see lots of dust. Also, there is

something in the form of a thick line which can be seen in the pictures.

 

I am going to them again tomorrow as they are closed on Sundays. What do you

guys think they will say ?

 

Is the sensor damaged ? I am a very nervous man at the moment. Please help me out...

 

Aalok

-- "I can see lots of dust"

 

Sounds like they didn't do a good job.

 

-- "Also, there is something in the form of a thick line which can be seen in the pictures."

 

Can you post an example.

Don't worry, dust is a fact of life for DSLR users. You are right to go back to Canon because you (probably) paid for the service, but for the next time better leard to clean the sensor yourself. That is if your are using a DSLR. Cleaning the sensor of a digital P&S is a different story though. Search the archives, there is a lot of info on sensor cleaning, or do a Google search.

I agree with Jos. This is normal. Cleaning it yourself (pads) is sometimes frustrating but better than relyingon Canon, they do a quick job and that is not a good job.

 

While it can be frustrating to to do yourself, it is easy - all you need is patience: clean repeatedly for up to an hour until the dust is all gone. It WILL all be gone. Cost? Same as a Canon cleaning, except you can do it a dozen times for that cost.

I don't think it's damaged. The thick line could be visible because someone used to much liquid to clean it. It's hard to say without attached picture.

 

Go to canon, tell them that there's still dust on it also tell about line on sensor. They will clean it again for you (for free).

 

It happens all the time... If you cleaned 'xx' sensors a day you'd also be tired of it and you wouldn't do your job properly. The best way to avoid such situations is to check sensor just after receiving camera when you'll still in the office. Take laptop with you and a card reader or ask someone at canon to let you see the image on their computer.

Cleaning the sensor is usually a fairly simple matter. Take the blower bulb from a blower brush (you do not need the brush bit for sensor cleaning). Remove the lens from the body and then select he ?Sensor cleaning? option from the menu and follow the instructions. Once the mirror and shutter have swung out of the way give the sensor a few puffs with the blower bulb. Make sure the blower bulb does not touch the glass sensor cover. I hold the camera with the lens bayonet downwards so gravity helps but I am not sure whether that has any effect. Once finished turn the camera off and refit the lens.

Prevention the the key.

 

Change lenses camera lens mount down, camera off. Have the new lens oriented and ready to mount.

 

After each outing, hold the camera over your head, blow off the mirror. Then raise it exposing the shutter which then gets a blast or two. Now STOP. Do not expose the sensor unless the is dust on it already. The idea is to get rid of the dust before it actually migrates to the sensor.

 

After one year with a new DSLR, I got one dust bunny which I blew off, but that was before I started the prevenative cleaning of the mirror chamber.

A few thoughts...

 

In order to give you a good perspective on what you see we also need to see it. Can you post a sample? Or are

you certain that you have dust?

 

If the camera returned without dust and quickly got dust again, you probably cannot blame Canon for that. Dust

will get into your camera - can't be helped. (The only caveat here is that if Canon cleaned the sensor but not the

rest of the chamber some dust could have moved internally to the sensor.)

 

Sensor cleaning is part of the "care and feeding" of your DSLR. You'll have to do it from time to time. Sometimes

you can go a month or two without needing to clean, sometimes you find you have to clean after a week. Sending

the camera in for this is not the best solution.

 

Cleaning the sensor is not really such a scary thing once you do it a few times. Often a bit of quick work with a

blower and a sensor brush can keep things in pretty good shape. That sort of clean up takes me just a few

minutes and usually does the job. I only have to resort to more serious measures on rare occasions.

 

Often living with a _small_ amount of sensor dust is easier and less trouble that trying to keep your sensor in

pristine condition. Besides the fact that it just isn't possible to have a perfectly clean sensor, it is often quicker

and easier to just use a PS tool to quickly fix the worst spots in post-processing. You'll also find that some of the

spots only appear at smaller apertures. At f/5.6 or f/8 some spots will be invisible or so nearly invisible that you

won't notice them against background texture - they will only be visible at smaller apertures and/or against uniform

background areas.

 

Dan

 

(Who knows that it isn't really the sensor we are cleaning... )

I took a picture in their office itself when I got the camera back. I saw the dust in that picture itself when I copied them to the PC. Then I shot some test shots (narrow aperture, pointing skywards) and the dust was clearly visible.

 

The interesting part is that the dust is not going off even with the built in sensor cleaning function.

 

Aalok<div></div>

Your dust is going to be far more visible at f/20 and with such a high contrast and

underexposed image.

 

I'm not sure if you have a crop sensor or full frame camera, but if you have a crop

body there is virtually no reason to shoot real photographs at f/20 and a lot of good

reasons not to. On a crop sensor camera at f/20 you will run into issues of

diffraction blur - this is unrelated to what lens you use and is simply a function of

aperture and sensor/film size. Your sharpest apertures are likely to be f/8 and larger.

 

In regards to dust, it will be far more visible at this small apertures like f/20 - which

is sort of ironic since your photographs will likely suffer in other ways as well.

 

Dan

A few (more) thoughts:

 

* I would speculate that the self-clean bodies are analogous to the bulb blowing method of cleaning: they get some of the dust, but not the stubborn stuff.

 

* I personally find wet cleaning a royal pain. I've done it on multiple occasions, but it doesn't get easier. I really don't have the aptitude for it, it usually takes me multiple attempts, with some of the attempts *introducing* (or shifting) as much new dust as it removes. My eyesight isn't that hot, and bring a small paddle into firm-and-square contact with the recessed sensor is never an easy exercise for me. I do not look forward to it.

 

* It p***es me off having a single lens reflex and then having to weigh whether I want to change lens, due to the sensor dust issue.

 

* "I am going to them again tomorrow as they are closed on Sundays". I wish I could say that, LOL. For me, "them" is in another province, on the other side of a major mountain range (the Rockies).

 

* I really wish some bright entrepreneur would wake up on this. Either come up with a convenient, inexpensive and bullet-proof cleaning method, or come up with a conveniently located walk-in service that did the job right.

Seems to me that eventually, from what I've been reading, some sort of "pellicle

mirror" system perhaps with an electronic shutter (rather than a physical shutter)

system might be the solution. We aren't there yet, but if such a system can be

created without losing too many of the features of current DSLRs there could be real

advantages.

 

But that's still a dream. For now we all need to clean our sensors.

 

Dan

Take a shot of clear sky at F22. This make sensor spots more visible.

 

My method of cleaning first involves a squeeze bulb blower. Second a brush, and as a last resort, wet cleaning.

 

I take a shot of the sky before, then after, each attempt at cleaning, then compare.

 

As stated earlier, wet cleaning often requires several attempts and skill. Then, one must decide how little or much remaining imperfections are acceptable.

>"What do you guys think they will say ?"

 

They should say, "We'll clean it again at no charge!"

The dust on your sensor is normal. Well it's really not on the actual sensor, any how, the solution is very simple. The BEST method for me is a wet cleaning. The second best is using a Dust aid sensor cleaner. It is low tack and it simply allows the dust to stick to it rather than the sensor. I only do this BEFORE I start using my camera because once you start shooting it seems the heat makes the dust really stick. The wet method I use is sensor SWAB. Simply take your time and read the instructions and go for it. I clean my sensor every 2 weeks and for me sending my bodies in is not an option. It's simple as 2 drops on a swab and 2 strokes across the sensor and your done! Good luck.

When I use my car/lawnmower/camera it gets dirty. When the dirt gets to a level I can no longer endure, I clean my car/lawnmower/camera. I don't avoid driving/cutting the grass/changing lenses in case my whatever gets dirty! :-)

 

A thought: If they built the camera with the anti-aliasing filter a little bit further in front of the sensor, the dust wouldn't be quite so much of a problem, would it?

"A thought: If they built the camera with the anti-aliasing filter a little bit further in front of the sensor, the dust wouldn't be quite so much of a problem, would it?"

 

II was thinking the same thing. Likely it would have to be too thick to be practical, but it's *something* along these lines that's needed: something to just negate the dust issue.

So many responses saying that sensor cleaning is such an easy thing. I spent $150 recently on a Delkin Devices Sensor Scope cleaning kit (comes with loupe, vacuum, swabs and cleaning solution). It was a nightmare. With each swipe of those damn swabs, more lint was left behind on the sensor. The little vacuum doesn't pick up anything, and all the loupe does is magnify the problem.

 

All of you that are saying that sensor cleaning is such an easy task, what products are you using, and are you really getting it clean?

 

The guy at the camera store where I bought the kit looked through the loupe and said he thought it looked clean. I asked him if he was blind! See attached photo for the results of about 6 swabs worth of "cleaning" (100% crop of about 1/6 of the original frame). I gave up on the kit, returned it, after a battle royale with the camera store, and took my camera in to Canon for cleaning.

 

The story gets worse. After having my camera for about a week I got a call saying that they need to install a new shutter unit as mine was damaged. I don't know yet whether the damaged shutter unit is a result of my cleaning efforts (although I don't see how it could be) or if it is a warranty issue that will be covered. My camera is less than 6 months old and has maybe been through 5000 shutter cycles.

 

The only suggestions that I get from Delkin and the camera store are that I am not doing it right. I'm not an idiot! I've taken numerous electronics repair courses in my life, I build and repair computers for friends and family, and I have taken apart and repaired all kinds of electronic devices successfully in my life. I think I can follow the directions for the sensor cleaning kit. 2 drops, swipe, swipe. Pretty simple right? That's what I thought!

 

BTW, I have also tried "The Arctic Butterfly" - What a scam! I know that in theory, the static electricity should do something, but it didn't help at all. $100 for a brush that is about the same build quality as something my kid would get out of a vending machine in the grocery store for $1.

 

Blowers don't work either because the wet solution swabs leave the lint adhered to the sensor.

 

I'm feeling pretty screwed at this point and any helpful suggestions would be appreciated, but also understand that I will approach any suggestions at this point with a healthy dose of skepticism. By the sounds of some of the above posts, I shouldn't be holding my breath for a clean sensor once Canon is done with it either.<div></div>

I hate this advice. I don't have dust problems - yet - but I'm keeping my 17-40 L firmly attached to the 40D.

 

In the meantime it's back to film and the EOS 3 for swapability.

<p>I've been through a whole series of sensor cleaning products and I now have a

system that works well and isn't too onerous.

 

<ol>

<li>If there are just a few small spots I simply live with them and correct in post-

processing. This barely takes any time at all.

<li>If the spots become more of a problem or before I do a significant shoot I use a

blower and a sensor brush. I remove the lens and use the blower on the chamber.

Then I set the camera to the sensor cleaning setting to open the shutter and I blow

perhaps 25-30 times into the chamber with the camera pointing down. The "charge

the brush" and wipe it across the "sensor" a few times. Generally this gets all of the

spots.

<li>If this approach is not working - e.g. I have a "stubborn spot" - I may try the

"LensPen" device, which provides a bit more traction on the sensor glass. I'll usually

follow this with a brush. (To be honest, I'm not all that impressed with the results of

the LensPen...)

<li>Occasionally I do a wet cleaning with Eclipse and PecPads. This can be a bit

trickier than it might seem. Not that there is any significant danger to the sensor, but

it is easy to leave streaks on the sensor glass. It may take a couple passes to get

this right, followed by LensPen and/or brush.</li>

</ol>

 

<p>Frankly, one key factor in successfully dealing with sensor dust is to not obsess

about it. You can go crazy trying to get a perfectly pristine sensor - or you can do a

bit of post-processing and worry a lot less.

 

<p>One other thing. I would not recommend avoiding a lens change to keep your

sensor clean except in the very worst conditions. However. <i>how</i> you change

lenses can make a difference. Try to minimize the time the camera is open to the

elements. Also, when you are considering lens purchases, realize that one

advantage of having focal length overlap (e.g. - two lenses that partially cover the

same focal lengths) is that you'll have to switch lenses less frequently. This has an

advantage in terms of keeping the sensor clean, and it also is advantageous in that

you are a bit less likely to need to switch lenses to get the shot.

 

<p>Dan

As someone suggested earlier, this is most likely too much cleaning fluid. I've done it myself.

Hurray!

 

I am just back from their center. They took the camera from me without any questions and cleaned it again!

 

I am happy with their service.

 

Regards,

 

Aalok

I use the Dust-Aid cleaning kit it is a "dry" cleaning kit that uses a sticky pad that is safe for sensors. Sounds scary but it works. There is another pad that is needed for canon sensors but is included in the kit. It runs about 30-35$ and contains 12 cleaning pads. I had some major dust bunnies and it removed them all. I am a novice photographer and this was my first try at cleaning a sensor.