I was afraid to look, but I did..

I've had my 20D for 7 months. I've been afraid (don't know why) to check for sensor dust until 2 days ago. Yep, there be sensor dust alrignt. Enough to cause concern.

So, I checked out the copperhill method and ordered a kit. I will be receiving it in a few days.

in the meantime, I'm practicing my swabbing. wish me luck!!

--
Beauty is in the eye of the photographer

...my every day photos, I don't even bother.

Olga

...very little will show in everyday pictures.

After all the fuzz and reading I checked a month ago. It was there but never showed in my day to day pics. I blew most of it away with a normal big "rocket" blower. for or vife specs wil show only when I shoot the sky at minimum aperture, F22 and on. But even then I can only discern them on the monitor when viewed at 100%. They don't show up in prints, at least to A4 since that's the biggest I can print myself. But I'll bet it will even barely be noticable at A3 too.
--
Digifan

the dust rarely shows up in my photos.
--
Juli
http://www.pbase.com/julivalley/galleries
Canon 2oD, Canon Gee3, and Canon S7o.

I keep trying to find an artist's eye in the B & H catalog

I think Canon has a real serioius quality control problem, at least with its sensors anyway. I bought a 20D from B&H a couple weeks ago. Within a few days I noticed there was considerable dust on the sensor. B&H agreed to exchange it for another body. I got the new body yesterday. Sure enough, there is dust on this sensor too. And just as with the 1st camera, my rocket blower doesn't get rid of it.

Fortunately, it is not as bad as the first camera and I think I can live with it. It doesn't show up in most pics and when they do show up in situations like a clear blue sky focused at infinity with a small aperture, I think I can remove them with photoshop without any real problem. One of these days I'll get up the courage to actually try cleaning the sensor myself.

But I would expect better quality control from a large, long established camera company like Canon. Is it too much to ask for a clean sensor straight from the factory considering how much money I paid for this camera?

--
Allan Plucinik
Colorado Springs, CO
http://www.sevenarrow.com/

aplucini said:

But I would expect better quality control from a large, long
established camera company like Canon. Is it too much to ask for
a clean sensor straight from the factory considering how much money
I paid for this camera?

Click to expand...

I guess so. It's the same with other brands... I think it's too expensive to seal the camera in a clean air bag at the factory, and I don't think the assembly hall is dustfree as a chipfactory is.

By the way, I don't see any real problems in dust. Clean it or leave it...

...at Canon, package might be opened by shop personel. Once it's left the conditioned factory and you take off the protection cap from the body dust will fall be sucked in. Don't forget there's a lot of static plastic in the box. The same goes for Nikon Pentax and K&M.
--
Digifan

I used to think the same way. I cleaned my sensor about twice a year, only when I could see the dust in the pictures.

Now I have a few spots which will not go away no matter how I clean it. They are relatively small and I don't think I will ever see them on the pictures. But I think that some dust can actually diffuse into the filter, which may be coated with something. This coating may absorb some oily dust over the years.

So, I'd recommend to clean the sensor every few of months even if you don't see the dust. It's up to you what to risk: scratch the sensor with unnecessary cleaning or build up the dust.

I still think that frequent cleaning is more risky. So, let the dust grow and get a new camera in a few years. This is what you will do anyhow, right?
--
http://www.pbase.com/andybelov

What you could have is dried spots of dirt mixed with aerosolized drops of water, oil, solvent etc.

--
RichO
http://www.pbase.com/richo

aplucini said:

But I would expect better quality control from a large, long
established camera company like Canon. Is it too much to ask for
a clean sensor straight from the factory considering how much money
I paid for this camera?

Click to expand...

Maintaining a "clean room" assembly hall is quite expensive. It would add substantially to the cost and would not provide any benefit beyond the moment the camera left the clean room.

--
RDKirk
'TANSTAAFL: The only unbreakable rule in photography.'