Help with sensor problem

Davidoff

I scheduled a shoot and asked for a borrowed 5DII that I had used before. On the day, from the very first shot, this was on every single image:

Now the owner says that if it's dust it's okay but if it's something else I'd be responsible for repairs.
This is a normal sized crop of an image af f/11. It's a bit less defined at lower appertures.
What do you think this is ?

Matthew Saville

If it is less well-defined at lower apertures, then it is most likely NOT an "iceberg of dead pixels" or anything. It could still be a scratch on the sensor, but at least it's just the AA filter most likely. My guess is that it's dust though, in fact it's so big that you should be able to see it. Flip up the mirror for cleaning, and have a look. Remember that an image is recorded upside down and backwards, when looking for the exact speck of dust. If it's a huge chunk of crud, you could probably blow it off with an off-the-shelf sensor blower. (They say not to use canned air, but I do it VERY carefully to my own cameras, and certainly from a distance. But maybe don't do that for a friend's camera , maybe just call yourself lucky not to have to pay $300 for repairs, and buy a $30 blower ...)

=Matt=

ThatCanonGuy

I've had that, and I'm pretty sure it's dust. Buy a Giottos Rocket Blower, it's a handy thing to have anyway.

Oh, and thanks Matt! I have a rocket blower, and there's this stubborn speck of dust stuck near a corner of my sensor. It's in the upper right corner in the photos, so I've always blown the upper right of the sensor... duh! I should've known, since lenses focus the image upside down

Davidoff

Here is a full size image so you can get a sense of the size relative to the frame:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5824114/_MG_5787705645.jpg

What worries me is that I already used a giottos blower on it and it didn't even move. And yes, I could see it in the sensor !
Thanks for your help.

Art Scott

Save the trip to the camera store...sensor filters get dirty and if you allow it to just build up it gets like that hunk of crud
you have the link to.......time for a copper hill cleaning....order a kit from copper hill and clean the sensor filter...best $30
you will spend.......nothing cleans like the Copper Hill kit...they have full tute on their website..................

basflt

richy wrote: »

The only thing the wet kit doesnt do is fly.

oops , take care of what you say
i had the same on my D60
but ,......
that turned out to be pollen
=> and pollen are sticky
=> and they get real sticky when they get wet !!!!

i spend 60 bucks on these swaps , and still some traces are visible

Davidoff

Unfortunately the camera isn't mine, it was borrowed and I'll have to wait for the owner to take it to canon to find out what it is. I just wanted to ask if you guys thought it was something other than dust, thanks everyone.