Help Cleaning Sensor I may have damaged mine?

[franklin_sue]

I'm new to photography and had dust specs on my images so I decided to clean

the sensor for the first time. I used the eclipse cleaning solution with the

sensor swab. However I read that you're suppose to only swab twice using one

side one time only, unfortuantely when I swabbed I could still see streaks and

dust pushed to one side so I tried to swab extra times using the same swab to

try and get all the dust off. Now I'm worried that I damaged my sensor?

Anybody have experience with this?

[bobatkins]

Very unlikely.

 

If it looks clean, it is clean.

 

If it doesn't look clean, clean it again.

[johnson_d.]

The reason to only swab twice is so you don't end up transferring dust back to the sensor. It's difficult to remove the dust if are using a dusty pad to begin with. You aren't going to damage anything though. Did you take a test picture after the procedure? How did it look? If it looks fine then it is fine.

[wolf_rainer_schmalfuss]

Recommendation, don't tinker to clean the sensor yourself! Get support from professional service only! This will save you a lot of headaches and costly experiences.

 

Cheers

[mark u]

Follow the directions here to make a better job of it next time:

 

http://www.pbase.com/copperhill/image/71784128

[sgpix]

If you aren't the kind of person who returns their car to the manufacturer when the windscreen/shield needs cleaning, then I would recommend cleaning the sensor yourself.

 

It's unlikely that you will have done any damage for the following reasons:

 

1) you aren't actually touching the sensor - you are touching (and cleaning) a filter that sits in front of it.

 

2) the filter is nowhere near as gossimer-delicate as some folk (posibly includiung Canon folk!) would have you believe and unless you are exceptionally cack-handed (English phrase!) you may fail to clean it in one go but are unlikely to damage it.

 

3) you sound like you have done broadly the right thing - ie. used swab and eclipse rather than autoglym and sandpaper.

 

The first few times I cleaned mine, I drove myself into a state of nervousness that I image first time surgeons experience. I also mucked it up a few times. I don't think that makes me, or anyone else, an idiot as it's not the simpilest procedure in the world but you learn quickly.

 

My 5D has not suffered as a result!

 

Cheers

[franklin_sue]

Thanks everyone, now I can sleep at night.

[iansky]

Simon,

 

What did you use to clean your 5D sensor (brushes / swabs / fluid?) I need to clean my 5D but want to get advice from someone who has done it already without problems.

 

Please feel free to contact me direct ratheer than post a reply here.

 

Thanks

[steve torelli]

Copperhill system. No problems. Good luck.

[sgpix]

Hi Ian - I'll respond as soon as photo.net mails me your address! Cheers

Simon

[iansky]

Thanks Simon, I look forward to hearing from you - Cheers Ian

[sgpix]

Hi again, Ian - th system doesn't appear to be working, so I've cut and pasted the content of my email below...

 

Cheers

Simon

 

--------------

 

For "dry" cleaning (ie. dust, not grease or stubborn marks) I use a VisibleDust static brush kit (not sure what it's called, but the Arctic Butterfly is same/similar). There are a few specialist shops in London that sell them, or you can buy them online from the Canadian manufacturer I think as well. They are pricey-ish but good and their after-sales care is very good as well (sent me a new spinner thingy for free when I dropped mine and broke it).

 

For "wet" cleanihng (ie. using fluid to shift the stuff not covered by the above), I have used VisibleDust swabs coupled with their SmearAway fluid. This was, however, to shift a particurly nasty grease smear (see below!).

 

Common practise is to use Eclipse fluid (all online decent photo stores sell it) and PecPads or the VisibleDust Swabs. The Eclipse is basically very pure alcohol, but beware using a homemade concoction (certainly not good whisky) if you are minded to try and save a few pennies. This method is what is often referred to on photo.net as the "Copperhill Method". If you search there are loads of good links with pics that will boost your confidence. It's really not that bad as long as you are not totally ham-fisted. If you are, call Canon Man!

 

Warning re. grease smears: the 5D has a reputation (deserved in my experience) for having too much mechanical grease/oil in the camera chamber. I put a horrific looking smear across my sensor/filter using a dry clean brush when I had owned it for all of a week. It nearly gave me a heart attack. As well as spending c. ?70 (!) on cleaning products to get rid of it I also used a chamber cleaning fluid to ensure it didn't happen again and that I could "dry|" clean with confidence in the future.

 

The only other thing to say is never do the f22/white wall test to check for dust. It will drive you insane as you will ALWAYS have some. Stick to f16 and only do it if you actually start to notice dust spots on your pics (which all look very nice, BTW)!

 

Hope this helps - feel free to come back with more questions if you think I can be of assistance