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katwil
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My experience with auto clean on any of the Canon bodies with this feature is if you see any dust or lint on your shots, it’s too late for that feature to work. My guess would be that auto clean only works on the smallest of spots on the sensor. Having said that, I must admit I never pop the mirror up to look at the sensor unless I see something on my images.
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Loswr
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It works for some dust, but I haven't found it to be very effective. Canon seems to agree, since the 1D X is getting an improved self-cleaning system. I have to manually clean my 5DII every couple of months (I use a Visible Dust Arctic Butterfly 724 Superbright). Conversely, I've never had to manually clean my 7D's sensor - not sure if it's the smaller size per se, or the self-cleaning is just more effective with a smaller sensor.
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It's not perfect, but it really helps. Canon is improving it in a new $$$ camera? Yes they are improving everything they can. That does not mean it does not help.
I used to clean my sensor every 2-3K images, with the 5DII, I go 10K+
I used to clean my sensor every 2-3K images, with the 5DII, I go 10K+
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branden
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That's why I made this thread.Canon-F1 said:
I end up having to clean the sensors on all my cameras at about the same rate, auto-clean or no, but the 5D2 is my only full-frame sensored camera. Today when I was cleaning it, I noticed an option to disable the auto-clean feature, and was wondering why I would ever want to do that, and if I'd notice a difference.
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branden said:
If you want to save your battery, and/or speed up the camera startup, turning it off is a huge help. That does not mean its off forever, perhaps just while you are away from power and need all the battery you can get.
Missing a money shot while waiting for the self clean could cost you $$$$
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It must do something. There was a definite reduction in the number of sensor cleans per year with the 5DII over the 5D Classic. The Classic is a dust magnet. My Mk4 only needs 1-2 cleans a year. These stats are way lower than with the pre-clean bodies.
It's not a magic bullet, but every bit helps.
Paul Wright
It's not a magic bullet, but every bit helps.
Paul Wright
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The autoclean is a nice feature. But I have learned not to depend on it. Though I always take care of my 7D when exchanging lenses, the sensor still caught dust. I was able to use a blower to clean that dust. I still believe you have to use the blower now and then. And, maybe even a more thorough approach of cleaning.
Some comparisons of cleaning tools are given here: http://www.cleaningdigitalcameras.com/methods.html
Some comparisons of cleaning tools are given here: http://www.cleaningdigitalcameras.com/methods.html
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JackSw1ss
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In my personal experience (7D) the auto clean did sh*t...
I got spots everywhere, but that was also because of continuos lens changing in bad environment (cycling events), so i can't blame it.
Though I found that using whenever I remember my trusty rocket blower helped incredibly!
I usually blow some air whenever I change the lens, or in case i forget, whenever I remember.
From that moment onwards I got almost little to zero dust spots ;D
cheers
I got spots everywhere, but that was also because of continuos lens changing in bad environment (cycling events), so i can't blame it.
Though I found that using whenever I remember my trusty rocket blower helped incredibly!
I usually blow some air whenever I change the lens, or in case i forget, whenever I remember.
From that moment onwards I got almost little to zero dust spots ;D
cheers
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willrobb
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pwp said:
Again I am finding myself agreeing with Paul, my 5D classic was a dust magnet and it was one of the reasons why I ended up upgrading to the 5DmkII. I remember after a month traveling in the UK and France a few years back and when I got home and started editing my images for my travel agency and I honestly felt that more than half my time was spent deleting dust spots from my photos. After several trips with my 5DmkII in the UK, Hong Kong, Korea and all over Japan I didn't really have that issue much at all. The sensor cleaning function doesn't keep the sensor 100% clean, but I think it does help a lot.
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Sensor cleaning, sensor dust and the techniques to manage it have been a perennial topic since digital DSLR's first started shipping.
The sensor-clean function found on most new DSLR's really is a useful feature, but keeping professional sensor cleans to a minimum means good habits and techniques. In some shooting environments I'll take three or even four bodies so I won't have to take any lenses off in dusty windy conditions. Sometimes I'll do a lens change in the car.
Some people swear that you'll pick up less sensor dust if you switch off the camera before taking the lens off because there is an increased static charge across the sensor while the camera is on. I don't know about this one but I do it anyway. Clean/blow the rear lens elements and the inside of back-caps in the studio before a location shoot.
I keep the sensor aimed towards the ground while I change lenses...and give it a shake while it's open. I do the same with lenses. The time that the body is lens-free is kept to a smooth, highly practiced almost military minimum.
But on location unexpected things always happen. If something incredible is unfolding in front of you that needs the 300 f/2.8 while you've got the 24 f/1.4 attached, and you're in a gusty dirty air environment you just do the lens change as quick as you can to get the money shot. First things first! You can always clean the dirty sensor later on but you got that shot of the day.
Paul Wright
The sensor-clean function found on most new DSLR's really is a useful feature, but keeping professional sensor cleans to a minimum means good habits and techniques. In some shooting environments I'll take three or even four bodies so I won't have to take any lenses off in dusty windy conditions. Sometimes I'll do a lens change in the car.
Some people swear that you'll pick up less sensor dust if you switch off the camera before taking the lens off because there is an increased static charge across the sensor while the camera is on. I don't know about this one but I do it anyway. Clean/blow the rear lens elements and the inside of back-caps in the studio before a location shoot.
I keep the sensor aimed towards the ground while I change lenses...and give it a shake while it's open. I do the same with lenses. The time that the body is lens-free is kept to a smooth, highly practiced almost military minimum.
But on location unexpected things always happen. If something incredible is unfolding in front of you that needs the 300 f/2.8 while you've got the 24 f/1.4 attached, and you're in a gusty dirty air environment you just do the lens change as quick as you can to get the money shot. First things first! You can always clean the dirty sensor later on but you got that shot of the day.
Paul Wright
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One thing Canon could do is make auto clean work a little more often. How about after every lens change, and every couple hundred photos if there has been no change. Give the junk less time to weld itself on.
If you never had a DSLR that had no lens cleaning technique, I can see how you might think the current system is not working. But what we have is way better than no cleaning.
If you never had a DSLR that had no lens cleaning technique, I can see how you might think the current system is not working. But what we have is way better than no cleaning.
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TexPhoto said:
How about every time you switch your camera on/off? That's the default on the cameras I've used.
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Since the "auto-cleaning" feature is nothing more than the normal ultra-sound self-cleaning done every time you power on/off your camera (albeit for a bit longer duration), the dust not removed by the 'normal' sensor cleaning is not likely to be removed by the 'auto-clean' either. Most of the dust grains the 'auto-clean' feature is able to remove have likely already been removed by the regular 'self-clean', so it's not entirely fair to say it's ineffective...branden said:
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Perhaps it's hard to tell if it's doing anything IF there's dust already on there that's visible, however from what I remember on my 10D and 30D days (pre-autoclean) I'd have to regularly clean my sensors every few months because I would get these white flying snakes floating in my scene and other crap... It was hard to miss... Since i've moved to the 50D and subsequently the 7d and 5d2, which all had the feature, I haven't noticed any glaring dust in my scenes... And i could say I've been using my cameras more now than back then... So it's hard to say... Perhaps the dust is still there but especially the 7D with the magnification of details, I'm sure it would have stood out like a sore thumb... Could be coincidence but as long as I dont have problems then I'll pretend in my feeble mind that it's working like a champ.
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Maybe you're using faster lenses now than you did back thenawinphoto said:
With faster f-ratios, the dust particles tend to get much less visible. If you really want to see some dust in your image, use the smallest available aperture (say f/22) and shoot a de-focused image of the sky (without worrying about motion blur). I promise you'll see some annoying dust specks...
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epsiloneri said:Maybe you're using faster lenses now than you did back thenawinphoto said:
Very well could be... I just have not noticed them at all since they added the feature... that being said, I do have to ask... Dust on the sensor, much like the annoying dust on film, especially large format film, was not apperture specific... if the dust was there, it would be seen whether shooting 1.4 or f22... Couldn't it suggest the F22 dust is more dust in the lens because I would think dust on the sensor would be same hard outline of light not getting to the sensor either way...
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