Clean Sensor: How important is it?

[Manfred M]

As Colin says, KR is a colourful guy and half the time he says totally contradicts himself across his various postings. He is entertaining to read, but the one things that irks many readers is that he has trouble differentiating between facts and (his) opinion.

[AB26]

he has trouble differentiating between facts and (his) opinion.

Maybe it is a good thing reading his opinion and then find the facts some were else.

[Colin Southern]

As Colin says, KR is a colourful guy and half the time he says totally contradicts himself across his various postings. He is entertaining to read, but the one things that irks many readers is that he has trouble differentiating between facts and (his) opinion.

I don't follow KR too closely these days, but I'll give him his dues -- if nothing else, his views are often refreshingly thought-provoking though.

Probably best summarised as "having had my thoughts provoked, I then need to think about it and come to my own conclusions". Often it's a case of him being technically correct about some issue, but him giving a vastly different weight to the consequences of that issue ie "it seems a big ("over-inflated"?) issue to him, but not a big deal to me".

[nimitzbenedicto]

Clean sensors is a must. If left unclean, it may eventually ruin all our efforts to get that clear/focus shot.

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btw, Ken Rockwell's website is an ok source of info. Just like Thom Hogan, DPReview and others.

Perhaps , those who know KR is giving fictional info can post corrections for the benefit of all.

[xpatUSA]

Do you think a dirty sensor could cause incorrect exposure?

Indeed it could . . .

[Colin Southern]

Indeed it could . . .

Considering that its in the dark behind a closed shutter when exposure metering is taking place, I'd love to know how ...

[Colin Southern]

Perhaps , those who know KR is giving fictional info can post corrections for the benefit of all.

With Ken I've found that it's not so much the technical accuracy of the information (so it's not "fictional" per se) it's the weight that is given to some of those things. eg "making a big deal out of something that's not a big deal to me".

[AB26]

Considering that its in the dark behind a closed shutter when exposure metering is taking place, I'd love to know how ...

That one I figured out.
It is like driving a car with a dirty windscreen. You think you see what you see but you are actually not seeing what you seem to be seeing. You are not able to assess what is actually happening on the road.

[AB26]

Indeed it could . . .

I was waiting for this one.
Ted, they say "fools never differ". Without having to write a book, why do you also think it could?

[Colin Southern]

That one I figured out.
It is like driving a car with a dirty windscreen. You think you see what you see but you are actually not seeing what you seem to be seeing. You are not able to assess what is actually happening on the road.

It's a great theory, but in practice, if the sensor is so badly covered that it's attenuating all the light then under-exposure is the last of your worries. I've had sensors with hundreds of spots - I've had a sensor so bad that Canon had to use a $2,000,000 piece of kit to actually REMOVE the sensor to clean it properly ... and still exposures weren't even slightly affected.

[Colin Southern]

About the worst thing with sensor spots is that international recording artists use the shots on their websites when the raw shots were only released for initial selections (even though I've subsequently provided fully retouched versions!) ...

http://www.yulia.co.nz/Site/Reviews.html

http://www.yulia.co.nz/Site/Contact.html

http://www.yulia.co.nz/Site/Video.html

(look at the top right hand corner in all shots on the website)

[cliffmccartney]

After about 10,000 shutter presses on my D800, I had some pretty nasty crud on my sensor. It wasn't dust because the built-in sensor cleaner couldn't take care of it, and my Giottos blower couldn't either.

I don't want to advertise here, but I bought a Copper Hill cleaning system, and it worked like a charm.

I hope I don't have to clean my sensor often, but I'm no longer scared to do it.

[Glenn NK]

Considering that its in the dark behind a closed shutter when exposure metering is taking place, I'd love to know how ...

So would I.

Glenn

[Colin Southern]

So would I.

Glenn

Apparently the theory is that - in essence - the metering meters the scene correctly, but the under-exposure occurs due to - in essence - the sensor having the equivalent of an ND filter on it due to the dirt ...

[Colin Southern]

After about 10,000 shutter presses on my D800, I had some pretty nasty crud on my sensor. It wasn't dust because the built-in sensor cleaner couldn't take care of it, and my Giottos blower couldn't either.

I don't want to advertise here, but I bought a Copper Hill cleaning system, and it worked like a charm.

I hope I don't have to clean my sensor often, but I'm no longer scared to do it.

I think you summed it up pretty well Cliff - it's just one of the realities of owning a DSLR camera.

I've got pretty much all the sensor cleaning systems (blower, arctic butterfly, sensor pen, wet cleaning gear, sensor stamp, loupe) - I usually try to avoid a wet clean if I can as I seem to often pick up a touch of silicon grease on the wipe that flies off from the mirror mechanism, and leaves a smear. What usually does the trick is identifying the spots with the illuminated loupe - dislodge them with the sensor pen - and then remove them with either the blower or arctic butterfly or sensor stamp.

The other thing is that if one tries for perfection every time them they'll probably be chasing their tail for a long time.