Canon Repair-New Jersey sensor cleaning.

I sent my camera and lens in for a back focusing problem which was not taken care of correctly. I also asked them that while it was there, please do a professional cleaning of the sensor for good measure.

As a sense of reference, this is NOT a crop. It is the entire frame. Also, when I sent it in, it only had one much smaller spot and that isn't where it was.

I know, I know, I hate it when people come in here and complain also but when the stuff is happening to you, it's a different story. FRUSTRATED!!!

I would be complaining too...Don't they check to see if the cleaning was thorough?
Rick
I feel your pain
--
Some of my stuff:
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v450/bejersey/
http://photosbyricksmith.carbonmade.com/

Canon Irvine replaced the sensor in my 1DS-mk3 and sent it back dirty. I returned it for cleaning and it was returned with the same spots in the same location. Said it was found dirty and cleaned to factory spec.

My spots were smaller, but there were around 6 that are visible at f22 before doing autolevels.

--
http://www.pbase.com/roserus/root

Ben

Thanks guys. Misery loves company. : -)

I'm afraid the news is worse than you think. The same thing happened to my 20D, and it is NOT dirt on the sensor. Rather, the sensor is delaminating. It started with one spot and progressed of a huge blemish which cannot be cleaned off. Canon gave me an estimate of $311 to fix it, which is more than the 20D is worth. This is a manufactuing or design defect which reduces the longevity of the camera, perhaps due to sensor heat. I was going to put the money towards a 40D rather than fix the 20D, but it is now distressing to learn that the same problem exists on the newer models. Canon should at least address this issue and be honest about it.

The thing you must remember is that even if they cleaned it perfectly, it'd get dusty on its trip back to you anyhow.

So it's not clear that they did anything wrong. It might have been totally pristine when it left their facility.

These bodies are not sealed.

And dust can hide anywhere in them and then come out to play as the camera is subjected to treatment befitting a football during its trip from them to you.

Imagine taking a couch pad that you think is clean out of your house and then hanging it from a tree and beating it severely with a tennis racket. I suspect you'd see a bit of dust come out ;-)

The same principal applies to your camera while being shipped.

Any dust deep down inside any part of the body can vibrate loose during shipment and then find its way to your sensor.

That's why it's kind of silly to send a camera away to have the sensor cleaned. It'll just pick up more dust on the way back to you.

It's much better to clean the sensor yourself because then you at least get to see it clean one time before it starts getting dusty again ;-)

I've used this analogy before on here, and I'll use it again:

Your camera sensor is like a cat box.

If you clean it out to perfection, but do it only once per year, the average cleanliness will be worse than if you clean it less thoroughly, but do it more frequently.

You may not do a perfect job cleaning it yourself, but the fact that you CAN do it, as needed, is far more valuable than being able to have it cleaned perfectly, but only being able to have that done very infrequently. And it's even worse if you must have the camera shipped from the cleaners back to you because you'll almost NEVER get to see it clean if it's being vibrated around over the roads between their place and yours each time.

If you can walk into the service center and hand them the camera and then pick it up in person, that's a different thing. But if it's got to be shipped, then I would not bother ever sending a camera someplace for a cleaning.

It'd be like sending your care across the country to have it washed and then having them drive it back across the country to deliver it to you. It might get back pretty clean. Then again, it might run into a bit of nasty weather on the way

--
Jim H.

Jim,
Thanks for your analogies. That does make some sense.

Bob,

I sure hope that you are wrong about it being delamination as apposed to dust because it is now just out of warranty. You're makin' me mighty nervous here!

JimH said:

The thing you must remember is that even if they cleaned it
perfectly, it'd get dusty on its trip back to you anyhow.

Click to expand...

Except my spots are identical to when I sent it.

JimH said:

So it's not clear that they did anything wrong. It might have been
totally pristine when it left their facility.

These bodies are not sealed.

And dust can hide anywhere in them and then come out to play as the
camera is subjected to treatment befitting a football during its trip
from them to you.

Imagine taking a couch pad that you think is clean out of your house
and then hanging it from a tree and beating it severely with a tennis
racket. I suspect you'd see a bit of dust come out ;-)

The same principal applies to your camera while being shipped.

Any dust deep down inside any part of the body can vibrate loose
during shipment and then find its way to your sensor.

That's why it's kind of silly to send a camera away to have the
sensor cleaned. It'll just pick up more dust on the way back to you.

It's much better to clean the sensor yourself because then you at
least get to see it clean one time before it starts getting dusty
again ;-)

Click to expand...

Accept for that $2295 charge for a new sensor. That 1DS-mk3 IR filter is only .011 inch thick. A whole new ballgame from previous sensor designs where the IR filter was thicker and backed up.

Not saying you can't clean it yourself, but it is not nearly as safe as it once was.

JimH said:

I've used this analogy before on here, and I'll use it again:

Your camera sensor is like a cat box.

If you clean it out to perfection, but do it only once per year, the
average cleanliness will be worse than if you clean it less
thoroughly, but do it more frequently.

Click to expand...

My strategy is this.

Use the best possible lens changing.

Stop using this camera for long lens and burst mode, and dirty changes in the cold.
Use the dust delete feature in DPP
Clone what's left

Have it professionally cleaned about once a year locally. Canon does not know what clean means.

JimH said:

You may not do a perfect job cleaning it yourself, but the fact that
you CAN do it, as needed, is far more valuable than being able to
have it cleaned perfectly, but only being able to have that done very
infrequently. And it's even worse if you must have the camera
shipped from the cleaners back to you because you'll almost NEVER get
to see it clean if it's being vibrated around over the roads between
their place and yours each time.

If you can walk into the service center and hand them the camera and
then pick it up in person, that's a different thing. But if it's got
to be shipped, then I would not bother ever sending a camera
someplace for a cleaning.

It'd be like sending your care across the country to have it washed
and then having them drive it back across the country to deliver it
to you. It might get back pretty clean. Then again, it might run
into a bit of nasty weather on the way

--
Jim H.

Click to expand...

--
http://www.pbase.com/roserus/root

Ben

I have been a user of Canon DSLRs for 8 years. I also get dirty sensors. The dust could also be sandwiched between the clear film that covers the senor. Canon showed me this once and it is a pain to clean. This is why I took their suggestion NOT to change lenses outside in the field because it will get dust inside the mirror box. I generally keep a lens on my camera and do not remove it. If I have to use three different lenses, then I use three different bodies.

Sent my 5d and 24-105 in for warranty work and the mirror recall. I also decided to send in my 20D and 17-40 lens for cleaning at the same time to see if they would slip them in at no charge. Man was I wrong, got and estimate for each today, Lens $119.64 including tax and shipping - I'm thinking not too bad and then I open the 20d estimate, $335!! - are you kidding me? No thanks I buy a refurbished one or save a little more for a rebel backup. I called to confirm the lens repair and deny the camera, I also verified that the camera estimate was just for cleaning. I then asked what it would cost to have just the sensor cleaned - $100. No thanks, just send it back.

JCK77 said:

Sent my 5d and 24-105 in for warranty work and the mirror recall. I
also decided to send in my 20D and 17-40 lens for cleaning at the
same time to see if they would slip them in at no charge. Man was I
wrong, got and estimate for each today, Lens $119.64 including tax
and shipping - I'm thinking not too bad and then I open the 20d
estimate, $335!! - are you kidding me? No thanks I buy a refurbished
one or save a little more for a rebel backup. I called to confirm the
lens repair and deny the camera, I also verified that the camera
estimate was just for cleaning. I then asked what it would cost to
have just the sensor cleaned - $100. No thanks, just send it back.

Click to expand...

Something sounds a little fishy. I just dropped my 5d and 40d off for sensor cleanings and mirror maintenance at Irvine on Tuesday and my 40d arrived at my work the next day by fedex! 5d should take 7-10 days. Free cleanings are ending this week and will subsequently cost $30.

So far I only have the one lens so it's never been taken off.

I sure hope that it IS dust at this point as apposed to the sensor delamination that Bob mentioned.

Do anyone else have an opinion on that. Do the spots on my example photo look like dust spots to those of you that have had dust?

Now I'm all freaked out.

I sent my 40D to Irvine because of lube spots on the sensor a couple months after I bought it.
It came back worse than when I sent it in as the lube spots were now lub smears.

I had a wedding to do and didn't have time to send it back so had to bit the bullet and take it to a local camera shop to get the sensor cleaned.
The guy who did the cleaning said he sees that a lot from Canon.

I have since bought the Copper Hill cleaning setup and do what cleaning it needs myself.

Vegasluvr said:

I have been a user of Canon DSLRs for 8 years. I also get dirty
sensors. The dust could also be sandwiched between the clear film
that covers the senor. Canon showed me this once and it is a pain to
clean. This is why I took their suggestion NOT to change lenses
outside in the field because it will get dust inside the mirror box.
I generally keep a lens on my camera and do not remove it. If I have
to use three different lenses, then I use three different bodies.

Click to expand...

Kinda makes one wonder what the value is of getting a camera with interchangeable lenses. When I got my 50D I decided to sell my 10D and 30D. Perhaps I should rethink that. But I have 4 lenses, so I suppose I had better get the 5D Mark II.