Canon 50D sensor is a dusty-dirty mess...

Hello,

the sensor of my Canon 50D is an utter mess. It's alright as long as I don't take pictures with a small aperture, but - lacking a good grey filter - I had to use f22 or smaller when trying to get some long-time exposures, and all the pictures are a mess, which is just too bad.

I have had really bad experience with a Canon service that is close to where I live, and I do not like the idea of sending it away for a couple of weeks... so I am toying with the idea of cleaning the sensor myself, and I would appreciate your experiences.

There's been a few recent threads on the subject of sensor cleaning and products which would be worth a look.

If you're really struggling Canon Service Centre at Elstree (UK) has a fantastic reputation - although I've just spotted you're in Germany.

How old is your 50D ? - I never had a problem with my 40D which has the same sensor cleaning system so I'm surprised you've got huge problems.

Is it really bad ? Take a picture of the sky at your smallest aperture - I think there's potential for a 'who has the dirtiest sensor' thread in here somewhere.....

Unfortunately it is quite bad, I guess it could be worse, but it is enough to make me unhappy.



As there is usually no need for the smallest aperture it is not a terribly urgent matter, but I would like to clean the sensor at some point.

I tried the search-function of the board, but apparently used the wrong keywords.

That's not the worst I've seen but it's pretty bad for a 50D - certainly a pain in the rump to clone out.

There's a couple of threads here but to be honest it might be worth just kicking one of your own off so you can ask people directly for opinions on your own model etc....

http://www.yophotographer.com/page.p...ghlight=sensor

http://www.yophotographer.com/page.p...ghlight=sensor

Check out this thread too: http://www.yophotographer.com/page.php?t=6322

Ouch! I thought my D300s was bad! Good luck with it!

xx

Thank you for the links

Oooh! That is pretty grubby!
My local camera shopped cleaned mine for me. There was no I was going to risk rummaging around inside myself!

Repeat posting to save looking for it

I purchased the Visible dust Artic Butterfly 724 with the Sensor Loupe as a kit. All I can say about the "Loupe " is what an amazing bit of kit this is. In my book a "Sensor Loupe" is just as important as a good lens if not more so. I wouldn't dream of attempting cleaning a sensor without it and I can't recommend strongly enough getting one.

AS for what I use depends very much on what is on the sensor. A light hair can be blown away with a "Rocket" blower, but I am a bit wary about using it as it can blow onto the sensor dust settled elsewhere within the camera body.

Like Zounds I prefer the "butterfly" but it is no good on more serious types of contamination. I then go on to using " Vdust Plus " cleaning fluid with either a swab or cleaning stick as shown in

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Sensor-Cleanin...efaultDomain_3

Those cleaning sticks as shown in the link I find are better than pads, as the are more precise and also bend at the head for more coverage.

Now for a bit of cheating, the claim is to use a swab once then throw it away, I don't. I use one of the pec pad sheets (which are lint) cut down and wrapped around a swab held on with an elastic band, far cheaper than keep buying new swabs.

The next question is how much does it cost? yes the Visible Dust kit I got is expensive when I got mine some years ago, then there is the cleaning fluid and pads/swabs to buy as well. So you would be looking around the £150 mark ((( OUCH ))).

But hang on a minute and stop and think, how much does it cost to send away a camera for a sensor clean and the time without the camera? do this a couple of times and my bet is it works out about the same as doing it yourself if you bought the above.

Next, people tend to panic big time about cleaning a sensor and think it can only be done by professionals, RUBBISH is all I can say to that, I am no expert but when the need arises I do my own just as well as any company. The thing is to watch a video of which there are many on youtube etc on how to do it.

The art is doing it in a clean enviroment, Kitchens are usually the best as the don't have carpets etc, just hard surfaces which don't hold dust. My first thing is when examining the sensor is to use the "Loupe" . You can take a picture of a white sheet of paper then look at the photo blown up to discover any dirt, but this is time consuming and you still don't really know which part of the sensor contains the dust/dirt.

With the "Loupe" its so much easier, then I either use a lightly dampened swab or stick
very gently over the sensor, checking after each pass. The trick is to allow yourself plenty of time and don't rush it, don't expect the contamination to go on the first pass it can take a couple of goes depending on how hard it is stuck to the sensor.

So care-time - gentle - is how to do it. Don't be afraid of having a go, by following the above its easy and you get the satisfaction of knowing you can do the job as well as any professionals.

Warning- DON'T TRY USING EAR COTTON BUDS- they are made of cotton and you will land up in all sorts of trouble if you do

Sorry I am off on one of my ramblings again and boring you all stiff

Bazza

Blimey, how did you get it that bad?? Good luck with cleaning it.