Cleaned 5D4 sensor for first time - remarkable finding of no dust

[[email protected]]

Just because I was testing out some cleaning equipment (love the Carson camera sensor lit sensor magnifier, by the way), I opted to clean my 5D4's sensor. What was remarkable was that there was *no* dust on it after having used it extensively since it came out, and in somewhat dusty environments with lots of lens changes. I really did not expect that.

I have not had much trouble with sensor dust generally, but I'd never had a camera with 0 dust after half a year. This has been my primary body, and I'm guessing I've gone through 300-500 lens changes with it since I received it.

-tig

PS: Equally remarkable is how MUCH dust my beloved 100-400 II has inside it. I think I'd classify it as "furry." I once owned the Mark I version of it, which came in for all sorts of dust criticism, but I think the new model is even better at collecting it. I got to thinking last night playing around with this carson sensor thing that I might be able to rig it with some gaffers tape to take an image of the dust on the internal elements of the lens. If I manage that, I'll post it here.

 

[Mt Spokane Photography]

Why clean a sensor that is not dirty? You do not need any of that equipment to find it.

All sensors have dust, its everywhere. Its only when the dust piles up enough to be easily visible that it becomes a issue.

 

[[email protected]]

I was testing the sensor magnifier that just came in the mail. I bought it as a precaution before a trip I'm going to out in a desert, to keep at basecamp. I know a cleaning wasn't necessary, but I figured I'd go through the motions once with the equipment I was humping out to the mountain. Better find the problems now than later.

 

[arthurbikemad]

Not one spec of dust on my 5d3 in four years, never been cleaned.

 

[pwp]

Why clean a clean sensor? In unskilled hands it can deposit as much crud on the sensor as you might remove.

I haven't taken a body to CPS for a sensor clean for years. Since the in-body sensor cleaning function first came out I had a 5DIII cleaned once. This would be across four or five bodies and close to a million clicks. Prior to that it was a regular trip to my nearby CPS for what were thankfully free cleans for CPS members.

As much as the built in sensor clean function, I think my clean sensors have a great deal to do with the care I take with lens changes. That involves being very quick, choosing the time and place to do the lens change and really keeping the changes to a practical minimum. If I'm working in an environment I know will be windy, gritty or dusty I'll often take three bodies, set up in the car or indoors and not do any lens changes at all.

Sensor dust may reveal a lot more often if I tended to shoot at small apertures. Shoot at f/11- 16 and see all sorts of sensor crud. But as I'm mostly shooting in the f/2.8-5.6 range it's been a non-issue.

-pw

 

[Sporgon]

It's interesting how the OP talk's about 'changing lenses a lot but no dust'. I've found that changing lenses isn't generally the cause of dust on the sensor, it's frequent use of lenses such as the standard zooms that physically change their length a great deal that draw dust into the camera. The original 100-400 was notorious for this, the 'dust pump'. Interesting that the OP is not getting this with the mark ii. I wonder if that is a coincidence or an improvement in the design.

 

[[email protected]]

It's interesting how the OP talk's about 'changing lenses a lot but no dust'. I've found that changing lenses isn't generally the cause of dust on the sensor, it's frequent use of lenses such as the standard zooms that physically change their length a great deal that draw dust into the camera. The original 100-400 was notorious for this, the 'dust pump'. Interesting that the OP is not getting this with the mark ii. I wonder if that is a coincidence or an improvement in the design.

Sporgon, my 100-400 mark II has terrible dust in it. There's certainly a good supply available to the sensor as a result. Yet, the 5D4 is managing to avoid having it collect on the sensor. I think that "shake" technology that Canon has in pretty much all of its cameras since 2012 is proving very effective.

I assumed that I was getting lucky, or it was something about the 5D4, but I just opened up my 7D2 and SL1 and found on those two sensors one piece of dust each, and I've owned both since the models came out.

That cleaning tech seems pretty effective.

 

[Sporgon]

It's interesting how the OP talk's about 'changing lenses a lot but no dust'. I've found that changing lenses isn't generally the cause of dust on the sensor, it's frequent use of lenses such as the standard zooms that physically change their length a great deal that draw dust into the camera. The original 100-400 was notorious for this, the 'dust pump'. Interesting that the OP is not getting this with the mark ii. I wonder if that is a coincidence or an improvement in the design.

Sporgon, my 100-400 mark II has terrible dust in it. There's certainly a good supply available to the sensor as a result. Yet, the 5D4 is managing to avoid having it collect on the sensor. I think that "shake" technology that Canon has in pretty much all of its cameras since 2012 is proving very effective.

I assumed that I was getting lucky, or it was something about the 5D4, but I just opened up my 7D2 and SL1 and found on those two sensors one piece of dust each, and I've owned both since the models came out.

That cleaning tech seems pretty effective.

You ought to see the dust on my 5D (mark i) sensor ! I think you are right though, the in-camera sensor cleaning is definitely getting better. For myself now I only blow clean the sensor now and again.

 

[drmikeinpdx]

I haven't had to clean a sensor since the sensor cleaning system came out a few years ago. Prior to that dust was an annoying problem. I still have the cleaning supplies around just in case I need them.

 

[IglooEater]

It's interesting how the OP talk's about 'changing lenses a lot but no dust'. I've found that changing lenses isn't generally the cause of dust on the sensor, it's frequent use of lenses such as the standard zooms that physically change their length a great deal that draw dust into the camera. The original 100-400 was notorious for this, the 'dust pump'. Interesting that the OP is not getting this with the mark ii. I wonder if that is a coincidence or an improvement in the design.

+1. I get nothing like the sensor dust I used to get since I offloaded my 55-250.

 

[IglooEater]

Why clean a clean sensor? In unskilled hands it can deposit as much crud on the sensor as you might remove.

Sensor dust may reveal a lot more often if I tended to shoot at small apertures. Shoot at f/11- 16 and see all sorts of sensor crud. But as I'm mostly shooting in the f/2.8-5.6 range it's been a non-issue.

-pw

I'm hardly what you'd call skilled, but there is vast improvement whenever I clean my sensor. On the other hand, I was getting such dust as to be seen at f/2.8