Cleaning my 300D - DPChallenge Forums

Tamron SP AF 28-75mm f/2.8 XR Di for Canon

07/21/2004 11:52:19 PM · #1

Do any of you DSLR guru's out there have any tips on the best way to clean all the dust particles off of my 300D sensor? When I take a look through the camera with the lens on or off (doesn't make any difference) there are LOTS of small dust specs. I have followed the sensor cleaning instructions in the camera manual but it hasn't made any difference. I had a can of compressed air which I carefully used to blow the sensor off, and it got rid of a few specs but not nearly all of them. The worst part is, I am seeing the spots on many of my pictures which is bad when entering challenges that allow no spot editing :(

Please help

Dan

BrennanOB

Canon EOS-1D Mark II

07/21/2004 11:59:23 PM · #2

It is fairly delicate work, but it isn't brain surgery. Check out Nicolas R's tutorial very clear and helpfull way of getting the job done.

TechnoShroom

Canon EOS-30D

Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 USM Macro

07/22/2004 12:52:48 AM · #3

From your description it doesn't sound like dust on the sensor. When you say look through the camera with the lens on or off what do you mean? How are you looking through the camera?

ClubJuggle

Canon EOS-400D Rebel XTi

Canon EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM

07/22/2004 12:54:55 AM · #4

That sounds like the dust is on your mirror, not the sensor. You are not looking through the sensor when you look through the viewfinder.

-Terry

cpanaioti

Canon EOS-40D

Canon EF 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 DO IS USM

07/22/2004 12:57:36 AM · #5

Compressed air products can sometimes expel propellant and this could be what is on the sensor.

BrennanOB

Canon EOS-1D Mark II

Tamron SP AF 28-75mm f/2.8 XR Di for Canon

07/22/2004 01:08:15 AM · #6

To see if you have dust on the sensor, stop the appature all the way down, pull the focus in as short as possible and shoot the sky where the feild is an even color. Develop the shot and hit the usm hard a few times. See any clumps? those are on your sensor. If you only see them through the view finder they are on your mirror. Try blowing the mirror clean with a BULB blower, not the canned air, propellant blobs are not good for your camera. I know no one who is willing to touch their mirror.

animes2k

07/22/2004 01:37:44 AM · #7

I've found that what I see through the viewfinder isn't typically on the mirror, but the focusing screen, which can be a PITA to clean, since it's got ridges. However, a bulb blower or a Pec Pad wrapped tightly on a q-tip (NOT the q-tip itself) with or without a drop of distilled water (not sure if the Eclipse is good on that plastic or not) can loosen or clean up those specs pretty well. They're distracting for sure.

Either way, you should have some Pec Pads and Eclipse on hand for sensor-cleaning time. The Sensor Swab would be good to have, as well, and the method (linked to earlier) is pretty much foolproof.

Here's a link to a before/after with my 10D's sensor (circled dust my own addition):
//www.noestudios.com/photo/fm/before_cleaning.jpg (195k)
//www.noestudios.com/photo/fm/after_cleaning.jpg (247k)

07/22/2004 01:40:16 AM · #8

Sorry all, I am very tired and I shouldn't have said I have a can of compressed air... I don't know what I was thinking. I should have said, I have a compressor for blowing compressed air... a very small compressor, used for air brushing. I have now blown clean the sensor and mirror and there are still dust specs visible when I look through the view finder. Not as many, but they are still there.

Sorry for saying there is dust on my sensor, I am still a realative newbie to DSLR's and should have said sensor and/or mirror lol.

Is it just something I will have to accept as a DSLR owner? Or should I take it in to a camera shop to get cleaned?

Thanks again

Dan

HRoxas

Canon EOS-5D

Sigma 105mm f/2.8 EX DG Macro for Canon

07/22/2004 03:18:05 AM · #9

There is an instruction on the 300D manual on page 34. I followed that instructions but it wasn't the clearest so I phoned technical support and said I'm not comfortable doing it myself. He gave a telephone number for Canon service Center in my area. Happens to be two blocks away from my work. So I phone them and told me to drop it off one morning I should have it the same day. So I did. Just brought the camera with me, they didn't ask proof that it was mine and it was free because it was my first time to do it and it was quiet soon after I bought it.

So try your local Canon service center. Don't bring it to the store where you bought if from, it'll take weeks before you get it back.

An aside, since my 300D will be one year old now in Sept, I traded it if for 50% of the price I paid for it. I'm getting the 10D body for Cdn$1,799. It works out to be that I used the rebel for at least 1 years, traded it in and they pay you back 50% of how much you originally paid for it. So for me it was like having the rebel for a year at half the price. I'm hoping i'll have it for the weekend.

Well my 10D is not immune to censor dust and small particles, I sill have to clean it by them.

Ok back to the subject at hand, cleaning the 300D.

Eidt: Henry's is the store I bought my rebel from, also my 70-300mm Sigma APO, the battery grip of the rebel, and my Tamron 28-200mm (XR or EX?) I will return those and get half price back.

I also got the 70-200mm F2.8L USM and the 24-70mm F2.8L USM. I went absolutely insane updrading my equipment. I'm hoping to make some money out of it.

Ok back to the subject at hand, cleaning the 300D.

Message edited by author 2004-07-22 03:25:16.

longlivenyhc

Canon EOS-300D Rebel

07/22/2004 03:48:30 AM · #10

Originally posted by daninbc:

i think i remember someone telling me compressors still emit a small amount of oil in the air

Chiqui

Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II

Olympus 12-40mm f/2.8 Pro

07/22/2004 09:32:22 AM · #11

Is isopropyl alcohol appropriate to clean the sensor or does it have to be ethanol?

June

cpanaioti

Canon EOS-40D

Canon EF 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 DO IS USM

07/22/2004 09:39:10 AM · #12

Actually, in the tutorial, only methanol is mentioned. I have yet to try cleaning my sensor. The dust only shows up in some images so I'm holding off.

//www.pbase.com/image/11442097

07/22/2004 01:02:20 PM · #13

Well, I'm not sure what I am going to do to get my camera clean. The sensor itself is clean, so the dust has got to be on the mirror. Now bear with me, as I said I am a DSLR newbie so I'm not sure what all the parts in the camera are actually called. If I carefully move the mirror back and forth, there is another small piece of glass behind it that moves with it. I have tried to blow this off as well, and I even blew off the piece of glass that sits above the mirror that has the focus points on it. There is no Canon service center where I live and while I know my camera shop can send it out for cleaning, that isn't cheap and I know it will need cleaning again in the future. As far as cleaning pads/papers/sheets go... the store where I bought the camera doesn't sell them so that's kind of a no go.

Do any of you take your 300D apart for a more thorough cleaning? No, I haven't tried this myself... I'm just grasping at a way to get this clean before I pull all my hair out lol.

Is there anything else that anyone can recommend?

animes2k

07/22/2004 05:08:44 PM · #14

if you see dust when you look through the viewfinder, it's likely on the focusing screen.

With the lens off, looking into the camera, it is the flat translucent piece of plastic ABOVE the mirror, parallel with the ground. If you were a photon, you would be traveling straight INTO the camera, the mirror would bounce you 90 degrees (directly up) THROUGH the focusing screen and into the viewfinder (where you get bounced another 90 degrees (straight to the back on your original course, just diverted an inch or two) through the actual viewfinder.

Does that help?

If your focusing screen is clean, perhaps you have dust between there and your viewfinder, in which case Canon needs to look at it.