canon cleaning

daseire

Hi All

I have an eos 500d. I got it professional cleaned but the guy cleaning it said he couldnt get one spec of dirt off the sensor. I was taking photos yesterday and with a solid background i can really notice the spec of dirt.

Can anybody advise me on what to do?

Thanks

hbr

daseire wrote: »

Hi All

I have an eos 500d. I got it professional cleaned but the guy cleaning it said he couldnt get one spec of dirt off the sensor. I was taking photos yesterday and with a solid background i can really notice the spec of dirt.

Can anybody advise me on what to do?

Thanks

Take a shot of a clear blue sky or a plain sheet of white paper. Use a small aperture
setting around f/22. Post the image here so that we can have a look at it.

The speck is probably dust on the sensor. If it needs cleaning, you will either
have to get someone else to clean it, or clean it yourself.

daseire

i know its dirt on the sensor the guy who cleaned it said he couldnt get this one stubborn spec of dirt. i have a shot i took yesterday and ill post it when i get home.:)

daseire

As you can see from the attachment i have outlined the mark. its fairly predominant.

zerohamster

That looks more like a scratch than piece of dirt (definitely not smeared dirt anyway) and a hair would come off easily.
Did he provide you with before and after pictures? if so please post them and you can make sure it wasn't caused during cleaning rather than being present before.
Also post some previous pictures where the dirt is noticable as there may have been grit on the sensor which when cleaned would scratch the surface if not removed correctly which can happen.
Look to see if you can spot the same line in any other photo you have prior to the cleaning as it is prominent enough to show up on any bright pictures provided you aren't shooting wide open.

daseire

the mark was there before i sent it in to be cleaned. i have shots before and the mark is there. i only noticed it when i changed from my 50mm to the my telephoto lens. you dont see it with the max arperature but when you set it to min its very predominant!
i dont know if its a scratch. i dont see how as i very rarely change lens and i havent tried to clean it myself.

How would the sensor get scratched in this case?

Is there any fix if it is the case that the sensor is scratched?

zerohamster

That's good then that it wasn't caused by this cleaning, has the sensor ever been cleaned before this time profesionally?

Im not sure how the sensor could be scratched without any interaction and I have never seen it happen either without someone interacting with it so if it has never been cleaned before this then it could be a small piece of lint or something adhesive preventing it's removal.

Normally people will be reluctant to use force on a sensor's low pass filter (the part that is cleaned) because the coatings are easily scratched and some models use different coatings which could be harder or softer than other model's low pass filter coatings. As such it could just be stuck to the surface of the low pass filter enough that too much force would cause a scratch or other damage.

If there was a scratch or the filter was damaged then the repair would involve replacing the low pass filter which wouldn't be cheap as the low pass filters are about ~€100 if you can source them (usually you can get them on IR conversion websites).

daseire

no its never been cleaned before. its the first time its been cleaned. its probably only since i bought a new lens that i started to take on and off the lens that it got dirty.

I dont really fancy trying changing the low pass filter myself. really couldnt chance breaking it. I would try cleaning it my self if i had the right equipment and knew exactly what i was doing. Im presuming that any heavy force applied to the filter would cause it to break. Would i be stupid to try a lens pen?

Is there any professional companys out there that would replace the filter?

daseire

I think ill try one of these:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B001QUIEIS/ref=s9_simh_gw_p23_d0_g23_i1?pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=center-3&pf_rd_r=0TRDXQPC77QZ9M8CK1RN&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=467128473&pf_rd_i=468294

Has anybody any experience of using one? i have read some reviews and all seem to give it a good review and claim its very effective.

hbr

daseire wrote: »

As you can see from the attachment i have outlined the mark. its fairly predominant.

That is very obvious. Does it turn into a blur at larger apertures like f/5.6?

It is unusual to see such a clearly defined rectangular shape. Hopefully
it is a small piece of grass or hair which is stuck to the sensor and not some
damage on the surface. It looks big enough that you could see it with a
magnifying glass.

daseire

Its big enough that i can just about see it without a magnifying glass.
Its on the opposite side of the sensor which i believe is correct beacuse the lens rotates the image. ill try later posting a picture with a higher arperature

PCPhoto

what you need is a wet swab ....cant remember the name of the company that makes them but its a blue box with some red/white lines.

Sensor swab - you wet the swab with solution and drag it along the sensor.

I'm surprised that someone who offers a service cleaning sensors couldn't tell what it is, have you tried looking at it with a loupe ? I have a artic butterfly sensor brush for light dust and sensor swabs for heavier stuff and use both of them regularly, its fairly easy to do ...just means paying for the equipment yourself and doing it instead of paying someone to do it.

Dont anyone say...but you can get it cleaned during one of the free sensor cleaning days.... Yes you can but I'd rather do it myself so I know its properly done and can only blame myself (those guys do a quick clean and don't inspect all the equipment properly in my opinion - they have a lot of gear to get done in the 2 days that they usually hold them)