everytime i go shoot, i always bring along my elcheapo blower, tissues and a brush stick to clean off my sensor.

i donno, this have become a routine for me.. because i scared the outcomes would have dust on it and spoil the whole pictah.

any other ways to overcome this matter? especially for those event/wedding photographers like me.. or u just stick to one lens at a time?

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Added on March 25, 2008, 7:48 pmawww crap.. wrong section.. haha.. plz move this.

Simple...

(1) Never buy CCD based dSLR if possible... They has relatively very high electronic static (try only turn on when you need to use), also waste power and contribute to noise. Older camera are worst. I used to have unsolveable nitemare with D70...@#$%@#$%.... Trust me, that camera issue cannot be solved...

(2) Dun change lense on windy and dusty place. It is why I carry 2 camera

(3) When change lenses, your camera should be facing down.

So far here is my record;

D70 -> everyday kena even no change lense and just serviced by Nikon. And there is only one solution, sell it off...
EOS 10D -> kena dust once at Bali, Indonesia because change lense near beach
EOS 30D -> kena dust once... forgot
EOS 40D -> Not Yet... But expected to kena at least once this year.

but my Canon CMOS sensor dust very simple, at home blow blow settle...

I just ignore it and use CS3 to heal it. No big deal.

wahh a good guide there.. facing down eh? coz sometimes i always scared of scratching the lens, so i have to look properly for the correct inlet.

i agree that blowing is enuff, but if i use electrostatic rod to pull out the dust, will it affect the sensors? i'm thinking of getting one.

and why do i always notice 40d dont have sensor problem? is it that good? LOL. i have quite a number of friends using 40d and they all tell the same thing. quite jealous la..

@kelvinyam: yes we can heal it, but if u do HDR, aiyaa.. so intriguing la the dust.

try do ur test shot at f20 and above.

more or less, whether ur lens or ur sensor, most of the time some tiny dust will be there.

i blow my sensor and mirror, but one time i blow it with a wrong angle, the dust fly inside the penta-mirror and stay there. Nikon says need RM200+ to remove it, even still under warranty..

Which angle is a wrong angle?

meaning you changed it while not facing down? bad move.

its best that you change you lens when you need to. dont do it too regularly
since it might not help to remove it only making it worse.

i've experienced dusts problem before when i was exchanging lens with my friend's.
i ignored it and it all disappears.

owh. f20 ya.. thanx.. normally the dust will appear as spots inside lcd preview when shooting TV mode. thats how i do test and commisioning before shooting

just heal it before u process it to HDR.

it was quick and very prompt laa.. donno how dust get into the sensor, coz the shutter mirror is still blocking it. LOL.

i really love the 30d sensor cleaning mode, it automatically locks up the shutter mirror for sensor cleaning purposes.

sigh.. wish i had the E3.

blow directly to the pentamirror, which means the area above the reflection mirror,
this will push the dust to fly inside to the pentamirror thru the small gap near the reflection mirror hinge.

If this happens, only your viewfinder will have dust spots right?

I dunno about other cams but I read from the manual that the 40D has these sticky things at the bottom of the body to attract the dust there so it doesnt fly everywhere once inside the body. It also has an anti static layer on the sensor.

no wonder la.. hahaha.. mine just stick into the sensor. LOL.

This is so so misleading. I have more dust on my ex 300D than my current K100D

yup, few dust spots, some of them OOF, means looked blur,
there is one of them in focus, look as clear as the AF point inside the viewfinder.

I wish to know,

the AF sensor is inside the pentamirror structure,
or on the part below of the reflection mirror ?

Does it look anything like the red blotch of light at the topmost AF point in this post? http://forum.lowyat.net/index.php?showtopi...post&p=16356471

My 40D have abnormal viewfinder since yesterday.

erm, no, not like tat, my AF point's red light is not as strong as urs..
mine it just few dust spot, and only noticeable when under bright areas.

u have to contact Canon and get it fixed for this one seriously, it doesn't look normal to me..

Dust should not be in focus. Are you sure it's not dead/hot pixel?

Hahaha! You know his remarks are always very 'inviting'. Kekeke! Anyway I know CCD has more static flow charge but I won't go to the extend to say that they attract dust. We need to know how dust enters the camera in the first place. In this respect, each and every DSLR camera (irrespective of CMOS or CCD) is affected.

Two types of dust:

Internal Dust
These are dust generated by the components itself due to extensive usage and the normal wear and tear associated with age. They will generate fine dust shavings and they will stick everywhere.

External Dust
These are dust coming in from outside the camera when we change our lenses, and blowing air directly into the camera. This act would blow more dust into the chamber itself.

These dust could end up anywhere within the camera. It could end up on the sensor (not noticeable until you take a picture), AF flip mirror (noticeable on the viewfinder), viewfinder itself, lens (not noticeable until you go to high F-number, etc), etc. Try to minimize blowing into the camera because it blows more dust into the camera. If it doesn't go away, then it must be behind the screen or something. Try lenspen, if you're having a sensor problem. Or better, send it for a clean up. No need to worry so much.

I feel weird about that too, the dust appears on the viewfinder only, did not appear in the pictures i took.
there are few dusts in the viewfinder, or should i say inside the pentamirror. Some of them are OOF when i look thru the viewfinder, but there is a tiny dot of it, looks very clear and sharp, i only could think it as dust..

however, since it doesn't affect my pictures quality, i didn't give much care about it.

i have Nikon D70 and i do not worry at all. Just send for Nikon Service. They clean the sensor for free and it only took about 15 minutes.

Ya i would like to visit there already
My CCD also prompt to dust already

me too... da last time i did it was last year... have to wait until come back to kl...

yeah, i got terrible phobia over dusts on sensor, damn it is just horrible when i shoot picture with f22, ohh man, "dust formation" lolz. I locked the mirror and blow off the dust, somehow the major dots are gone for good, lucky, but there is still some blur dust spots still sticking there, grrr. I will go to service my camera soon too.

and i also couldn't understand how the dust get into it...

I did sent to Nikon Service Center the day before my wife took off to Germany. I was also looking for my missing lense cap. The fat auntie there let me wait for 2 hours plus for nothing and I was kind of pissed... Then I cannot tahan liao because still got few things to do before my wife fly on the next day... and ask them to give me straight answer if they have a simple lense cap; Then they baru admit they do not have a simple lense cap. Really pissed with the service center.

Later when I tell my friends about it, I was told such shitty service because Nikon sub-contract to some irresponsibile company, rather than Nikon they themselve running the service center. So all reputation like shit compare to oversea...

I wonder... Malaysia Nikon dSLR market still not good enought for Nikon to open thier own proper & reputable service center?

I thought the D70 was a better choice because Nikon kit lense, 18-70 was way longer than my Canon 10D's 16-35 f2.8 L. She did not switch any lenses and just use the plain mounted lenses + built in flash. I did pass her one of my 1GB CF that time.

Just dun tell me it is the Kingston CF that cause malfunction on autofocusing, bad image rendering (I guess Nikon engineer has no idea on what photographer want like faithful image processing back then), high noise + low dynamic range (simply blown off all highlights!), half of the pictures all got visible dust everywhere.... It no need to stop down to f20 to see the dust....

And ya... all her friend thought her camera very good because it was the biggest among her group... and they has high expectation... all important group pictures etc....

Worst part is Europe has clearer blue sky that easily show any dust... and sometime dust so big until even normal pictures (other than sky) also kena and dunno how to remove....

I was so pissed because I have another dSLR to compare. If I do not have extra camera to compare... like most of my singapore friend that time, we will just think digital sucks.... And yes, most photographers that time thought digital SLR are rubbish that time, thanks to D70 because it just does not give the image quality that long time demanding film photographers are looking for. Most of my Nikon friends switch back to thier faithful film. Luicky they still kept thier F5. I dun think they have any choice back then. No D3 that time... D1/D100 image quality also suck that time. And one more thing, almost everyone of us know nothing about photoshop that time. So if the image suck, it suck.

And I guess the main reason my wife and I were so pissed with the D70 because it is a rare trip. And everythign spoilt by it. If I know it will happen, I rather buy a good compact camera like IXUS 850 IS. If the trip is something I can easily afford and re-visit, then I maybe still not so pissed la... Too bad my salary suck...