Filthy sensor !

[jimmy]

Digital SLR cameras have a bit of an issue with dust. Because the sensor never moves (like a roll of film does) dust can build up on the sensor when changing lenses, especially in the sort of photography I do.

The dust is more evident at small apertures with a noise-free background (like a sky) especially if the focus is off making everything (but the dust) blurry.

My Nikon never had any real issues with dust on the sensor, its never intruded on the photos so theres no need to clean it even after 2 years track side.
My Canon on the other hand has had less than 6 months and its got progressively worse and worse, some of the recent photos have had to have some photoshop touchup to just get rid of the dust artifacts.


This is what it looks like: (contrast is adjusted to make the dust show up more)

That photo is taken at a SMALL aperture, F9, the smaller the aperture (bigger number) the more the dust is evident.


Cleaing the sensor is a bit of a tricky thing to do, one false move and you can damage it and ruin the camera. Blowing or brushing doesn't do much other than add more dust and make things worse.

This is the gear required to clean the sensor:
Special pads which are wrapped around the swab stick and taped on, a couple of drops of juice (Eclipse) are applied, and the completed swab is ready for 1 pass on the sensor.
Because the sensor on my Canon is quite big it needs 2 passes so I do the top left to right, and the bottom right to left.
The rubber gloves just stop any grease from my hands getting on the swipe and getting onto the sensor.

This is a photo of a white wall AFTER 3 cycles of cleaning, there is still a couple of specs of dust on the left - mainly at the bottom.. but since they are small and at the edges I'll leave it for now and see if they are evident on the action photos - no point cleaning it unless its absolutely needed in my opinion.
(contrast is adjusted to make the dust show up more)

Above photo is at F22 (smallest aperture) and is about 10 second BULB exposure waving the camera around to make the entire image blurry to make the dust show up better. The white lines and dark areas are just the lighting / blur.

Might interest someone

[BenG]

cool, you say I wont have to do that when II buy my Nikon D50? What lens did you have on your d50 btw?

[Northy]

Thats me in the picture!

G

[jimmy]

My friends D70 needed cleaning not long after he got his camera, not sure why. My D70 has never really needed it, it does have dust on the sensor but until I see it in the photos I take then It's not worth worrying about.

[Bathy]

With all that gear it looks like you're about to stick yah hand up a cows bum!

Still, interesting none the less.

[[email protected]]

jimmy are all your lenses L lenses? These are typically better at avoiding dust. When I change lens I do it in my car when trackside.

Great tutorial though.

Its also worth getting your camera serviced every year.

Neil.