On Sat, 14 Feb 2004 10:20:30 -0800, Shel Belinkoff wrote: >Read a few complaints about dusty sensors and their problems >here. Seems to be a complaint in many venues. Is it a big >problem or a minor annoyance for YOU? How do you deal with >the dust problem?
I had some spots that wouldn't come off with a small blower. After much reading about cleaning techniques and what NOT to use, I did it this way and it worked fine. Use blower brush on the mirror box to remove any dust likely to get back on the sensor (first time I tried to clean it I got rid of some dust and got more elsewhere). Mount camera on a tripod and point it down at about 60°. Kneel in front of camera and after appropriate prayers to the goddess of cleanliness put camera into clean mode. Hold the front of the blower in one hand so that it won't go closer than 5mm to the sensor and squeeze the other end hard several times while pointing where the dust is (I could see it). Turn camera off and put lens or body cap over the front to keep the dust from getting back in. Keep camera away from dusty environs when changing lenses! Then this weekend while I was away I noticed a spot in all my pictures and thought "More dust". So I cleaned it again and took the picture again. Same spot. I shone a torch in but couldn't see a spec of dust anywhere, but cleaned it again. Same spot. Getting worried at this point I took a white wall test shot using a different lens. No spot. I inspected the optics - FA50f1.4 reverse mounted on auto bellows M. THere is a spec of dust on an internal element of my FA50 that wasn't there last time I used it and no amount of air from a blower would dislodge. With the aperture open I couldn't see the spot in the viewfinder but it came into focus when closing down to f16 for the picture. Now it looks like I have to take my FA50 in for a CLA. Leon http://www.bluering.org.au http://www.bluering.org.au/leon
