DSLR Camera Cleaning

[Furbal]

Got my dslr camera out the other day to use it for the first time in far too long and it needs a bit of a clean...the sensor and mirror are fine, but there's bits of dust and stuff on the inside of the view finder. How it's got there I don't know as it's not been out of the case in months.

Any of the camera type people* on here got any tips on cleaning it? Thinking about getting this, but dunno if there's anything else I should be getting?


*Shoes

 

[John Marwood]

A Doctor Writes..

"if the sensor is 'fine' as you put it

carry on

if not, you will find that you get 'shazbat' on your images when not 'wide open'

the static has probably built up the dirt - so give it a clean using a Spontex window washer

if you do find shazbat on the sensor - beware. Cuuring it yourself can add to the problem. PJ Camera repairs in Porthill will solve it for a price

the rocket is only useful for blowing stuff about..i e it has to go somewhere..."

I quote a bloke who does.. it was all Greek to i

 

[age'd parent]

Last time I had a few specks of dust on the inside of the view finder of my digital SLR, I used one of the cans of compressed air that you can buy in the camera shops in town, a few gentle squirts shifted them, where to I don't know but the cam still works fine, It probably costs more than the cameras worth to have it done professionally.
However I have to say, if its only in the viewfinder, it wont affect the pics you take, so it may be worth just ignoring them if you don't want to risk it doing damage.

 

[shoes]

I've had a build up of crud in mine for months now, makes no difference to the pictures. Clean the inside face of the prism but do not under any circumstance touch the sensor. ever.

Unless i'm mistaken your canon self cleans all the important bits every so often anyway.

Keep it away from extreme temperatures and moisture. Usual stuff.

 

[John Marwood]

A 'Doctor' writes

" Do not in any circumstances ever use compressed air inside a camera

There are many kits available whereby you can attempt to clean your sensor, including the Arctic Butterfly

However, most people realise after one attempt that they have made more harm than good and end up popping up to 'Castle' for a pro jobbie

The Canon self cleaning sensor is a load of tosh - it cannot clean itself


Keep it away from extreme politics and curtains"


( My Greek friend )

 

[shoes]

Indeed the canon does self clean:

EOS Integrated Cleaning System
Canon’s built-in dust prevention system uses three methods to keep images blemish-free. (1) Specialised materials reduce dust generation within the camera. (2) A Self-Cleaning Sensor Unit shakes dust from the sensor each time the camera is turned on or off. (3) Stubborn dust spots are mapped for easy removal in Digital Photo Professional.

http://www.canon.co.uk/For_Home/Product_Finder/Cameras/Digital_SLR/EOS_450D/index.asp

Skim any forum and you will find much advise against going anywhere near the sensor. I do agree about not using compressed air in the chamber though it will definitely do more harm than good.

Also: re the rocket - bloody useless. as JM said, it just shifts dust around and not even that well, although that is personal experience.

Your camera will get dirty, mine is filthy but still performs like new so i wouldn't worry too much.

You never use the bloody thing anyway

 

[gdavies]

for alot of dslr they do have self cleaning built in to stop alot of us geeks from thinking hmmm, slow day today guess i will just take this apart and clean it. - demises from the saying if it isn't broke don't fix it, if it still takes good photos don't worry about it.

off topic but good to see spoons keeps the name shoes lol

 

[shoes]

i wouldn't dream of taking my camera apart, its one gadget i just cannot bring myself to potentially destroy, i love it. It's also a nikon and therefore won't break so no need to rip it apart. I'd imagine the same applies to the canon, they're not exactly well known for falling apart or worrying about a spot of dirt.

Stop being such a pansy and get shooting

 

[gdavies]

cannon know what they are doing with regards to camera's lets face it raw format didn't just pop ups face and say hi cannon had a lot to do with it, just use the camera and don't worry about it

 

[shoes]

this is true although most other manufacturers have their own derivative now. raw is great for serious stuff, for everyday use its a ballache.

some of the canon catalogue does make you a little stiff though

not as much as the nikon one though

Meet "the boss":

 

[gdavies]

certainly a serious camera but so is the raw format for when you take photography to a serious level with fixing computers a lot i have had my head bored off with the limits of cannons raw format, only reason i know it is great stuff as only one i truly looked into, nikon are a big contendor but there are alot of other big players in the camera field

 

[shoes]

certainly a serious camera but so is the raw format for when you take photography to a serious level with fixing computers a lot i have had my head bored off with the limits of cannons raw format, only reason i know it is great stuff as only one i truly looked into, nikon are a big contendor but there are alot of other big players in the camera field

Not any more, go to any press release and you'll see a field of nikon and canon straps. anything else is almost pointless, particularly for old timers who have lots of lenses already.

raw format is absolutely fantastic in the right application i agree, but i have forgotten to switch back to jpeg on several occasions and then shot a full card (say 500 shots) and got home only to say "bollocks".

the d3 is a beast of a camera, unfortunately far far too expensive for a toy. I think maybe an upgrade to one of the slightly cheaper offerings from nikon is in order soon though, this trusty old D40 is becoming laborious, especially after a session with a borrowed D300.

One other thing I have noticed, and this is almost certainly user error I hasten to add, is that the nikon autofocus is much faster and more accurate in low light than canon's system. gotta love the 51-point AF from nikon too!

 

[gdavies]

i am a photoshop cs fanboy to be honest an the raw works perfect with it, thats not to just limit myself to that one format god knows i use a hell of a lot of other formats with computer programming along with web development. I am not hugely into photos but if i think the speed that a camera will depend on the compact flash speeds, but with regards to the auto focus in low lights the cannon d5 does not seem to bad at all but expensive toy in all accounts.

 

[shoes]

nah its to do with contrast - for autofocus to work you need a clear point of contrast to focus on, for example you cannon focus on a flat matt surface which is the same colour all over unless there are shadows to provide a darker area.

whilst photoshop can deal with raw fine (i too am a photoshop lover, probably what you would call a fairly experienced user), i urge you to try and download 500 photos and then get them up to scratch quickly and output them as jpeg in photoshop. it will take you hours. as i said before, lightroom is good, the best in my experience, for dealing with lots of raw images at a time, however it is stlil a ballache.

for every day photography i am more than happy for my camera to guestimate the sharpening/saturation/input/output/vignetting etc. before committing it to jpeg.

shooting in jpeg also allows my lowly D40 to maintain 3fps at full (jpeg) quality. I am using a sandisk ultra II SD card, they are very very good for a 6MPix DSLR, although for a 10 or 12 MPix you would probably want at least an Extreme III card.

 

[John Marwood]

"A higly paid Consultant writes"

Going back a bit.. What I should have said was if you have a Canon full fram camera, like the 5D series the idea of a self cleaning sensor is absolutely shyteuseless"

"RAW is not a panacea, it may have more detail in the shadows but this often comes with more grain or noise as the young people like to call it"

That will be 700 Guineas - An overpaid agent

 

[Furbal]

I know I don't need to clean it as the photos aren't affected, it's just kinda annoying to see several of what look like tiny pubes eveytime I go to take a picture. I'm wondering how all that crap has got in there as well tbh, cos I don't take the lens off

Shoes, I am ashamed of how little I've used the thing, but me being a pansy has nothing to do with me not taking photos, it's just my really short attention sp

 

[shoes]

"A higly paid Consultant writes"

Going back a bit.. What I should have said was if you have a Canon full fram camera, like the 5D series the idea of a self cleaning sensor is absolutely shyteuseless"

"RAW is not a panacea, it may have more detail in the shadows but this often comes with more grain or noise as the young people like to call it"

That will be 700 Guineas - An overpaid agent

Thats a fair point, becuae it is an uncompressed format you will find more details in under/over lit areas, but not without fault.

I guess it depends what you want to achieve also, some photos, in my opinion, demand a night high ISO to get the characteristic grain effect. Mainly B&W photos.

I have shot and sold photographs which were converted to Jpeg in camera, and more recently blew one of my jpegs up onto an A1 print and it looks superb. Considering I only have 6 MPix to play with I am suprised at that size (around 180 dpi).

Also worth noting is your target audience. Whilst you may see the need to shoot in RAW all the time, a less discerning viewer will not be able to tell what format you shot/edited/printed/stored the photograph in.

When printing from RAW I tend to convert to 8 bit tiff first anyway.

 

[John Marwood]

Crap is all around us ..


"A mad professor writes"


It is not the number of pixels that enables an image to be 'blown up' to a many times its origin, but a combination of a decent sensor, and more importantly that glass thingy bit at the front

 

[basil]

that glass thingy will no doubt be the bottom of your pint pot?.........

 

[John Marwood]

i am told by a man in the street you can make a photograph with a biscuit tin

why not sharpen it up a little with a beer