Sensor Cleaning...I'm Screwed!

THE TOUCH

So I've been blowing my sensor off with an air blower and it's been working pretty good. But, the last time I used it to remove 3 specks, I ended up with ~7-8 specks when I was finished!

I decided to go to my local camera store and pick up those cleaners that everyone is talking about. The guy brought out some $80 cleaning kit that used a spray can with some venturi device that created a vacuum! I told him I just wanted the little cleaning swabs to wipe the sensor and he found some that were ~$50 for 5 sets. There's a wet swab and a dry swab.

So, because I couldn't blow the specs off, I went ahead and used the wet swab and wiped the sensor. All seemed good so I used the dry swab to dry it up and that's when I found several (~10) large SCRATCHES on the sensor!!!:(: I think I'm going to throw up!:sick

Where did I go wrong? I know the dust that was on the sensor is what scratched it but what should I have done? Has anyone had a sensor replaced by Canon? Am I better off getting another camera?

:cry thanks...bye.

John Mueller

Bummer
How about a shot to see .

THE TOUCH

Here's a pic of the sensor...:cry

ziggy53

First,

You haven't damaged the sensor. You can't even touch the sensor until you remove the "low pass filter" positioned in front of the sensor.

Second,

Are you sure they are scratches? Often they are just streaks.

Third,

No reason to get rid of the camera. The filter is replaceable, in the worst case scenario.

Now,

Let's see some images shot like you are looking for dust.

---

1. Choose a very small aperture setting (f/22 or so).
2. Manually focus to the closest focal point.
3. Shoot a plain surface like a white wall, a plain blue sky.
4. Open up the photo you've just shot in Photoshop. Use the levels option (auto level should work just fine), and look for the problems of dust and hair and streaks.

ziggy53

ziggy53

THE TOUCH wrote:

Here's a pic of the sensor...:cry

It looks like streaks, but do the image test I described to be sure.

ziggy53

THE TOUCH

ziggy53 wrote:

First, You haven't damaged the sensor. You can't even touch the sensor until you remove the "low pass filter" positioned in front of the sensor.

Glad you're here! I was in a panic!

Second,Are you sure they are scratches? Often they are just streaks.

I've tried several times to wipe them away with the dry swab with no luck.

No reason to get rid of the camera. The filter is replaceable, in the worst case scenario.

Great! Looks like I'm driving to Irvine!?

Let's see some images shot like you are looking for dust.

here you go...It's pretty ugly! That's a great trick - I always wondered why the normal dust specks show differently all the time.



I'll be out for a few hours...be back tonight. Thank you for your help!!!

- Kevin

wxwax

Sure don''t look like scratches. I wouldn't panic just yet.

Frankly, I'd give it another cleaning, wet and dry. And not swipe any more than was necessary.

Bob Bell

That doesn't look bad. You should be able to clean that up in a few minutes. Just take your time and only do single passes with your cleaning solution.

wxwax

Bob Bell wrote:

That doesn't look bad. You should be able to clean that up in a few minutes. Just take your time and only do single passes with your cleaning solution.

THE TOUCH

wxwax wrote:

Sure don''t look like scratches. I wouldn't panic just yet.

Frankly, I'd give it another cleaning, wet and dry. And not swipe any more than was necessary.

No bueno. It got a little better but there's definite scratches. I can wipe all over them and they never change.

Next Step? Thank you guys!

FatNakedGuy

Bob Bell wrote:

That doesn't look bad. You should be able to clean that up in a few minutes. Just take your time and only do single passes with your cleaning solution.

Before taking the camera to Canon, if you are in the SoCal area I can bring my Copperfield kit over to see if we can clean it up. Let me know if interested. Ahhh.. just noticed your profile says Bakersfield. I get out there for work once in a while so would be happy to stop by.

Rick

John Mueller

I would try just the wet method without doing any dry swab.I think thats were the problem comes in.

DoctorIt

Did you sneeze in that camera or what?! It's filthy. Now, stop being an old lady and follow the advice given here to clean it! I'm serious, it's not as brain surgery-like as many people and some posts make it out to be.

THE TOUCH

John Mueller wrote:

I would try just the wet method without doing any dry swab.I think thats were the problem comes in.

I can rub several times over one of the "scratches" and it never changes.

THE TOUCH

DoctorIt wrote:

Did you sneeze in that camera or what?! It's filthy. Now, stop being an old lady and follow the advice given here to clean it! I'm serious, it's not as brain surgery-like as many people and some posts make it out to be.

agghhhh!!! I've cleaned it over and over again. It's the cleaning that got me here in the first place!

THE TOUCH

THE TOUCH wrote:

agghhhh!!! I've cleaned it over and over again. It's the cleaning that got me here in the first place!

wrong smiley. :
I'll be back later - Thanks guys!

DoctorIt

Hmmm, that's very strange - those do not look like scratches at all - look how blotchy they are. If you say that no amount of "wiping" will remove them, then I'm at a loss.

ziggy53

I am very suspicious about this one in particular. See the light region? That could indeed be a scratch.

Bob Bell

Stuff does get stuck on. Its like a big hit it and I bet only a wet approach will get you to where you need to be. I would raid the kitchen. Grab the smallest silicon spatulas' trim it down to size. Wrap a pec pad around it that is damp with eclipse and slowly sqeegee the surface. Don't push hard just get it wet.

If you are really skilled, Take a chopstock and wrap the pecpad so there are many thicknesses folded over. And do the same thing. Very light touch and let the liquid do its thing.

Then go back to a dry method.

Bob Bell

ziggy53 wrote:

I am very suspicious about this one in particular. See the light region? That could indeed be a scratch.

ziggy that looks like a line of bubbles to me but its definately a big sucker.

ziggy53

My suggestion is that it's time to find someone more familiar with the process, and maybe using a different cleaning kit (because I surely wouldn't trust this kit anymore) and have them try their method.

If that doesn't work, or if it proves scratches do exist, I recommend sending the camera to Canon authorized repair, unless there is someone very trustworthy in the area to do actual repairs.

Good luck,

ziggy53

gtc

if you like IR photography
if after a professional clean and examination the low pass filter is found to be scratched you may want to consider having it converted to IR-they have to replace the low pass filter with an IR pass filter in the conversion and if yours is stuffed then its going to cost not much more than having it replaced with the original canon screen.

Zoom Raider

THE TOUCH wrote:

Here's a pic of the sensor...:cry

Boy I tell ya... the things some people that are suppose to be way smarter than I say.
Someone at one of the camera shops told me that it was just a mirror
and I can use one of those soft lens cloths and wipe it when it gets dirty...
that the sensor was somewhere that I can never get to, and a professional has
to take the camera apart to get to it.

gtc

phew
yes the mirror flips up to expose the sensor when you select sensor clean in the menu-so you can get to it but appears that you haven't yet-if its the mirror you can use a weak solvent solution on your pads and clean it.

once its clean then you might want to select sensor clean and have a look at it for cleaning purposes-but be careful you don't want to get that sick feeeling again,this time justified.

so blow dust from it first before you attempt cleaning as wiping a hard dust particle across filter will likely scratch it.

be careful with the blowing though as it can blow dust under the filter which is impossible to remove

ScottMcLeod

Zoom Raider wrote:

Boy I tell ya... the things some people that are suppose to be way smarter than I say.
Someone at one of the camera shops told me that it was just a mirror
and I can use one of those soft lens cloths and wipe it when it gets dirty...
that the sensor was somewhere that I can never get to, and a professional has
to take the camera apart to get to it.

... too many people know jack **** at camera stores.

On the other hand, he's right about getting to the sensor. Despite it being right there, you can't actually get *to* it, without taking the camera apart.

You can clean the low-pass filter though, which gets dirt on it ^_^

THE TOUCH

FatNakedGuy wrote:

Before taking the camera to Canon, if you are in the SoCal area I can bring my Copperfield kit over to see if we can clean it up. Let me know if interested. Ahhh.. just noticed your profile says Bakersfield. I get out there for work once in a while so would be happy to stop by.

Rick

Rick - Thank you for the offer!

I'm planning on sending this off to Canon first thing Monday Morning...I think.

Next time your up in Bakersfield let me know and we'll get together!


Thank you again - Kevin

gus

THE TOUCH wrote:

Glad you're here! I was in a panic!



I've tried several times to wipe them away with the dry swab with no luck.



Great! Looks like I'm driving to Irvine!?



here you go...It's pretty ugly! That's a great trick - I always wondered why the normal dust specks show differently all the time.



I'll be out for a few hours...be back tonight. Thank you for your help!!!

- Kevin

JEBUS !! :jawdrop :jawdrop :jawdrop :jawdrop :jawdrop That looks like my bike helmet visor !! Get some spit on your shirt & give it a wipe...i dont recon you could make things any worse.

THE TOUCH

Thank you all for your comments.

I'm planning on going back to the camera store first thing in the morning and getting a refund on this kit! I can't believe how easy I went from a little problem to a really big problem!

The dry swabs are so big that they only fit one way. Even worse, the wiping surface isn't even straight so when you wipe, your only using ~1/10th of the swab!

That's nice to hear that I'm not actually touching the sensor, but either way, I have to send it to Canon.

FYI - The picture IS NOT the mirror, it is the sensor/filter.

I got a big shoot on Sunday so I don't want to risk anymore damage.

Wether it's streaks, particles stuck on the filter, or actual scratches, I think I'll play it safe and send it to Canon first thing on Monday. I'll try anything and everything possible before I do though!

So...What does everyone else do to clean their sensors??? Where did I go wrong???

Thank you all - it's great to have all of this support!!!:D

David_S85

Wow. That's what I call a mess. That image reminds me of looking at slides of bacterium under the microscope in H.S. biology class.

THE TOUCH wrote:

So...What does everyone else do to clean their sensors??? Where did I go wrong???

I blast my sensor with the largest of the Giottos bulb blowers prior to most every shoot. That way, things never get worse than a small speck or two.

In a year, and even swapping out lenses during the Shootout every 5 minutes in less than ideal conditions, I've never had to do a wet process wipe. Yet.

gus

THE TOUCH wrote:

So...What does everyone else do to clean their sensors??? Where did I go wrong???

This is the whole thing that i cant get my head around. I have cleaned my filter once..yes once in 14 months. I shot a thousand in this last month swapping lenses over & over when the dust died off a little. I seriously dont know how people get so much crap in there I open mine when its windy & raining...when its smokey..i ignor any advise but its just fine..it really is. I do give it a blow with my rocket blower every few months or so. Sure i could prob see some spots there if i did a f22 but i cant see anything in photos. Sometimes i wonder if all this cleaning is actually adding to the crap in there.

THE TOUCH

I'm Stupid.
Okay...So I think I'm the stupidest guy in this forum for sure.

I decided to take Gus's advice and figured...what do I have to loose? So I took the wet swab and rubbed it on the filter over and over again, in every direction, with a pretty good amount of force. Then I used the dry swab and noticed that several of the marks had disappeared. After a while (~20 minutes!), the larger "scratches" started turning into smears, and after several cycles of wet and dry, I had a crystal clear lens!

This wasn't dirt, but more like something had solidified to the glass and after cleaning it again and again, it eventually broke down and smeared all over the place.

Before starting this thread, I had cleaned it several times, wet and dry, with no results. I also cleaned it a couple more times during the thread.

Thank you all for your patience and advice!:D

I must ask - in the picture, how can you tell if it's dust or scratches? What are you looking for?