POLL: 5D VF dust – encouraging all users who do NOT have this problem to post!

[Amanda Taylor]

The people that are saying "get a grip" are so extremely off base. What they are saying to is "I paid for a Pizza with three topping, and had it delivered with only one" I call the pizza place and demand my toppings and they say "Get a grip, Its good pizza, eat it and shut up" Excuse me I think not.

I don't care what income bracket or level of photography you are at. The only people I know that have no respect for $3000 are 20 year olds trying to act like "big shots" that need to be kicked out of the house and pay for their own roof.

 

[Amanda Taylor]

Nice camera, its a real shame but I can't attribute some mythical "it's just a tool and the photography is up to you" BS. That statement is absolutely moronic! Well Duh. You know what I mean?. It's a piece of merchandise just like any other period. A high price tag piece of merchandise at that.

"Photography" is not a piece of mechandise and I dare anything to argue with that.

 

[Diane B]

I have savings and particles in my camera straight out of the box.
The 5th digit in my serial number is 3. One thing is for sure this
debris is not coming from the outside and there lies the problem.
This unique debris was introduced at the factory. If would have
acquired a few dust specs after 6 months of use from lens changes
ect. that is one thing but my unit has barely seen the light of
day. The people that are saying "get a grip" are so extremely off
base. What they are saying to is "I paid for a Pizza with three
topping, and had it delivered with only one" I call the pizza
place and demand my toppings and they say "Get a grip, Its good
pizza, eat it and shut up" Excuse me I think not. I don't care
what income bracket or level of photography you are at. The only
people I know that have no respect for $3000 are 20 year olds
trying to act like "big shots" that need to be kicked out of the
house and pay for their own roof.

I asked this same question in reply to your similar post in RG. I remembered your initial posts about this and actually went back to read them. You said that you had 5 minute specks and that they didn't warrant sending the camera to Canon and if/when they did something about this you would send it under warranty for cleaning (I'm paraphrasing so maybe should add the link http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1032&message=17669863 ). My question is---did the amount of debris/dust grow a lot--due to blowing or otherwise---or did something else happen to escalate this whole thing?

I'm not trying to be argumentative--my debris/dust situation out of the box was cleaned up by a minor amount of blowing and I'm going to use a brush on the viewfinder screen from this point. I'm trying to understand if you accumulated a great deal more dust--or if that small amount you originally had became that annoying and then--Canon either didn't clean the viewfinder area (the pentaprism area) to suit you---or--as you stated somewhere, you think that there was more debris floating about and it lodged yet again in that area.

Diane
--
Diane B
http://www.pbase.com/picnic/galleries

 

[Paul Dold]

Dust in viewfinder and on sensor out of the box. Sent to Canon for cleaning.

 

[Amanda Taylor]

The dust was probobly blown off the area behind the S.I. plate during the first round at Canon Factory Service but resettled there during transport back to me from factory service.

 

[jpiano]

1. 1

So far no problems with dust anywhere. Love the camera and if I did have a dust problem with my viewfinder I would love the camera anyway. It's the beautiful photos it produces that count.

 

[dave havercamp]

--
Dave

 

[Amanda Taylor]

Privately I think you know what I am talking about. Very whacked out and over the top unjustifiable stuff on my side. Bad morning, no excuse. My sincerest and heartfelt apologies.

 

[Diane B]

Privately I think you know what I am talking about. Very whacked
out and over the top unjustifiable stuff on my side. Bad morning,
no excuse. My sincerest and heartfelt apologies.

I do--you notice that I deleted mine too. Apologies accepted and offered. We all have our moments--believe me, I have mine LOL.

Hope you get your 5D straightened out--and I'll follow this because, who knows, I may end up with problems down the road.

Best, Diane
--
Diane B
http://www.pbase.com/picnic/galleries

 

[vtpeters]

The dust was accumulated by using the camera, changing lenses and cleaning the mirror box and sensor with a blower. I didn't have (or notice) the dust when I bought the camera some two mounths ago.
--
Victor Peters

 

[Recovering Photo Addict]

I've owned the 5D since about the middle of Novemeber and have no issues at all with dust in the viewfinder. In fact, I don't have any issues with dust at all. Probably because I'm always mindful when changing lenses to not open the body in windy or contaminated air. I also make certain to change lenses VERY quickly. I'll also use my bulb blower after every shoot to get rid of anything that may be inside the body, but not yet visable.

When I first bought the camera, I was very concerned about sensor dust on a FF and ordered the Arctic Butterfly from VisibleDust, along with other cleaning equipment. I'm embarresed to say this, but I spent a few hundred dollars on cleaning stuff drom Visable Dust. To date, I've never needed to use anything other than a good blower.

I blow the sensor and chamber after after shoot so that any dust/dirt particles won't get trapped inside the body and ultimaley adhere to the hot and electro magnetically charged sensor. I've never had any serious issues with any DSLR I've owned.

Now, I use my camera very often, typically 2 or 3 days per week and I change lenses often but lately I use the 24-105 L F4 IS is my main lens, which accounts for about 60% of my shooting. I shoot both indoors and outdoors and in all sorts of weather/conditions.

I personally know and have seen both professional and amateur photographers who ONLY clean their chamber/sensor when a problem becomes apparent and by that time, it can become a stuborn problem to fix because dust can "stick" to a hot sensor and if left long enough, becomes difficult to remove. I think this fact often contributes to dust complaints. Just because you can't "see" dust doesn't mean it's not there.

Another thing I've seen by both amateurs and professional photographers which suprises me, is that they will change lenses while the camera is powered on. This is asking for trouble. The sensor becomes electo-statically charged (more so with CCDs) and further attacts dust and airborne particles into the chamber, ultimately destined to stick to a hot sensor. What is everyone thinking?

I also make it a point to check for dust about every month or so. Blowing the sensor and chamber only takes about 10 seconds. It's really not an issue.

It's for the reasons I've mentioned that I think that the dust issues are more a direct result of poor handling techniques and lack of preventive maintenance than any other reason.

As ana*l as some people are about dust, it seems impossible for me to believe that they would have purchased a new body with dust being visable. I know I wouldn't. So it stands to reason that whatever dust has accumulated, must (for the most part) have entered the chamber after the purchase. The only exception to this that I can think of is for particles which develp as a result of new moving parts within the body (shutter) breaking in and as a result, creating trapped particles within the chamber.

Oh, and one last thing...after every shoot and just before I put the camera back in my bag, I always give the exterior of the body/lens a blast of air and a wipe from a MF cloth to reduce exterior dust and also help to keep the bag as dust free and reasonably possible. Like I said, it only takes a few seconds.

The other thing you can try is using one of those white contamination suits with a breathing device attached and working out of a clean room. Something out of a SCI-FI movie I know, but doable. Let me know when you put that together and make sure to post an image!

 

[rjconklin]

dear jp: so far you have been fortunate, but sooner or later the dust bunnies chasing carrots in your viewfinder will turn you into an elmer fudd. its just a matter of time and you will be singing a different tune.
You guys are such worry warts!

Hey, I have news for you... you also get dust on the body as well!
Yep.. You will get dust on the body too.. it will happen.. I sure
hope you don't freak out over this either..

The 5D is a tool. I use mine and my other bodies as tools, and yes,
they will collect dust, and finger prints, and other stuff all over
them, inside and outside, and that won't stop me from buying
another, because I actually USE my tools to do what they were
intended for, TAKING PICTURES with them!!

Get a grip!

JP
--
Please don't look at my GLAMOUR photography websites on my Profile!!

 

[duckboy]

--
Quack.

 

[Gary Jean]

...that the sensor is "electro-statically" or "electro-magnetically" charged?

Can you provide any evidence of this?

I see this claim made frequently, but nobody has ever provided evidence. I think this is an urban legend.
--
Gary

 

[PaulyOly]

What I see is a very thin piece of fiber(eyelash was the term used by the OP), i have two that are large (smaller than your pinky nail is wide). They were there since day one and seem to move around. They aren't on the focus screen or mirror. They are so thin that people with poor eyesight might not even see them.

--

http://www.pbase.com/paulyoly/root

 

[toto le robot]

I see this claim made frequently, but nobody has ever provided
evidence. I think this is an urban legend.
--
Gary

you are right .the evidence that this is a urban legend was less than 30s from you.
this is what I found googling "cmos electrostatic"

http://www.fairchildsemi.com/an/AN/AN-248.pdf

some people are really good at telling story, this makes this urban legend even scarier.

now more scarier, when you look at computer manuals, all the companies are saying not to touch the semiconductors, CPU, memory with hands, always wear gloves to prevent destruction by electrostatic charge. I think that this is the proof of the existence of a plot of aliens,it's clear, if all the electronic companies are spreading this urban legend, it is because they are managed by aliens who don't want us human to slow down our research in those new technology so that when they will arrive we won't have the weapons to fight them, so that they can make us their slaves and food.

let's fight the urban legends!

 

[jr]

My D60 got spots in the viewfinder after using a blower to clean the sensor... 20D had half a dozen or so after one year of use, one quite big. 5D has two tiny ones after a few weeks, they were there to start with and no additional ones have appeared so far. In case they start accumulating, I might get a bit pi..ed off, too
--
Jouko
http://kotisivu.mtv3.fi/galleries

 

[Gary Jean]

And, further...the fact that you cannot touch the CMOS because there is a low pass filter and a piece of glass between it and you.

I'm still looking for any evidence that turning a camera on charges a CMOS sensor so that it attracts dust. I don't believe there is any evidence.
--
Gary

 

[toto le robot]

it is hard for me for me to explain it in english, if you would have done two years of physics in the university you will know why. charges are acting like a fields that decrease with 1/r^2 so it has nothing to do with direct contact with the charge.it's a field. never see dust attracted by the glass of a CRT?never scratch a ruler on a wool cloth and attract little piece of paper with it when you were young? some dust are also charged, so the set " sensor + dust "acts like two magnets. even if you put glass between. it's just a matter a distance.

err.... as you seem not wanting to believe me...
go here

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/hframe.html

(all your answers are there.if you know where and what to search).

click electricity, coulomb law.

be aware that if you want to do the calculation of the force between the dust and the sensor,
q1 is the charge of the sensor,
q2 is the charge of your dust,
r is distance between sensor and dust.

you will have to replace epsilon 0, (e0), by epsilon =epsilon0*epsilon r (e=e0.er) where er is the relative permitivity of the filter on the sensor.

in short if your electric force is bigger than the force of the weight of your dust (F=mg) then the dust is attracted. simple no?

 

[Amanda Taylor]

You don't understand because your particular 5D unit is not affected and we all know at this point that only a percentage of units are affected. Believe me if your 5D was affected you would know it. This has nothing to do with dust. These units have shavings and hairlike fibers deposited in the camera body from the factory. These shavings and fibers deposit themselves behind the AF Plate (S.I. Plate) and is not accessible for cleaning without dismantling the camera.