Looking for some advice (Sensor cleaning)

[Rita]

Life seems to get in the way of photography sometimes which has been the case lately. I am shooting with a Canon 5d3 and lately I have been noticing a mark on some images. The mark is always in the top left of the image and it doesn't matter which lens I use. I have just tried out some settings and it seems to appear starting
at f10 and is seen through f22. Anything from f2.8 to f8 the mark doesn't seem to show. I am attaching a sample of the mark so you can see what I am talking about. It is easy to remove in post but if any of you have any idea as to what might be causing this I would be interested to hear your thoughts.

[Mike Buckley]

The helpful information you provided about the aperture settings points to the issue being caused probably by something that is on your sensor. Have your sensor cleaned or clean it yourself. There are lots of threads you can search for information about cleaning a sensor.

[Stagecoach]

I would say a dirty sensor Rita. Has it been wet cleaned recently as the top left corner marking looks like residue left from a cleaning fluid?

[Manfred M]

Have you cleaned your sensor? My first guess is that there is something sitting on it. As it doesn't show up at larger apertures suggests that the angle of light coming out of a stopped down lens makes it show up.

[Dave Humphries]

Looks like a; hair, bit of fur, or thread, to me Rita - which will be on your sensor.

Perhaps even a bristle from a blower brush if you've tried dusting the sensor before.

[Rita]

Mike, Grahame, and Manfred, thanks for the quick replies. You are all asking and saying the same thing. I have not cleaned my sensor, I will need to read up more on how to do this. I have heard that you can do damage to the sensor if you do it wrong so I am a bit nervous about doing it.

[Rita]

Dave, I haven't done anything with the sensor. See my previous comment.

[Dave Humphries]

Ah, yes, seems we were typing at the same time almost - ok, remove the bristle idea from my list.

Definitely worth some research, including seeing how it's done in some YouTube videos.

This search I just did should return some useful results - with some odd ones mixed in that are less useful.

Good luck, Dave

[Rita]

Thanks Dave.

[Tronhard]

Considering the quality of your camera, especially IF it is currently under warranty, attempting to clean it yourself may have warranty implications. While cleaning itself is not covered by warranty, an authorized shop will maintain your warranty if they do the cleaning. If you are ok with the risk then try it yourself. I have a 5DIII and personally would send it in as it is still under an extended warranty and I don't want any complications with warranty violation...

[Rita]

Thanks for the feedback Trev. I am not home but when I get back home I will check my papers. Did have something of an extended warranty on it but I just can't think when it expires.

[Mike Buckley]

I have heard that you can do damage to the sensor if you do it wrong so I am a bit nervous about doing it.

See this thread at least for starters.

[inkista]

I'd recommend trying a bulb blower before doing a sensor clean. For me, that clears off most sensor dirt issues without any problems. Just get a Rocketblower (good because they only blow, they don't vacuum, thanks to a one-way valve; there are "fins" so when you set it down on a table it doesn't roll and the intake doesn't come in contact with anything that could make it dirty; and the hard tip concentrates the airflow).

From there, you use the manual clean feature to flip up the mirrorbox, and holding the body face-down (i.e., with the mount hole pointed at the floor), blast air at the sensor, and wait for the dust to float out and down. See this video for reference:



If you do get into cleaning the sensor, you're not cleaning/touching the sensor itself. You're cleaning the glass filter over the sensor. I prefer the dry cleaning methods (lenspen, dustaid) for my mirrorless GX-7, where the sensor gets a lot dirtier than in my dSLRs, because there's no mirrorbox covering my sensor when I change lenses.

[Black Pearl]

You don't have to touch the sensor to clean major dust/hairs from it so there is absolutely no need to be worried, no need to check warranties, no need to take it to a local dealer and no need to watch complicated videos.

Get a Rocket Blower and give that a go first. If it is just a hair the likelihood is a puff of air will shift it and you can get beck to shooting - it might be more than that but I'd be surprised. The blowers are dead cheap, dead easy to use, virtually risk free - you'd need to be utterly cack handed to do any damage - and will shift the dirt 90% of the time.

[Tronhard]

I would definitely do the puff cleaning effort as Robin suggests, however it that doesn't shift it my initial comments stands.

[Dave Humphries]

I'd also start with the Rocket Blower idea Rita (I have one too).

[IzzieK]

Rocket Blower is fat, ugly and bulky and mine lives in my handbag, not in my camera bag, but it works Rita...

Welcome back...hope to see some of your shots again.

[Dave Humphries]

Izzie's comment made me recall two things about Rocket Blowers...

You do really need one of the larger sized ones to get enough 'puff' to do any good, I think mine stands about 6 inches tall, say 15 cm, so it must be the 'Medium' (in Kathy's link).
I initially started with a small, cheaper (non Giottos) one, but it wasn't good, no non-return valve and not enough puff.


However, with the Giottos; I found the rubber bulb part was very grippy and caused problems when extracting and inserting in to a camera bag (clinging to lining, etc.), therefore I keep mine permanently in a suitably sized slippy plastic bag and just roll down the top to expose the nozzle when I need a puff (no need to remove it from bag). This saves a lot of frustration.

In fact I now keep all my cleaning kit bits and pieces in a lens case, which I attach to whichever camera bag I take out for a day's shooting by looping the drawstrings through the camera bag's strap. My choice of camera bag for the day is dependent on the number and size of lenses required for the intended subject, so being able to swap the whole kit of odds and ends in one go, and know I've not left something tiny in the bottom of a bag left at home, is very useful. It just dangles outside the camera bag usually.

Sorry, I seem to have gone off topic

Cheers, Dave

[jcuknz]

I have yet to have to clean my sensor and since I got my current ILC two or so years ago I minimised the apparent need to clean the sensor by limiting the need to change my lens .. a zoom x10

I have also read about blowers simply shifting the 'offending thing' to another part of the camera's insides.

Since the mark is easy to edit out is it worth the trouble or worry about removing it? Do you use many images SOOC?

[Tronhard]

The moving of the contaminant to another part of the inside of the camera is very likely VERY good point!

I never change my lenses in the field, that's probably one of the reasons I have so many bodies... and so many aches and pains! That and the fact I have no hair any more may be another reason I don't have this issue...

I think my preference would be to get it cleaned properly and professionally. This is, after all an expensive piece of kit!