Camera cleaning

I am not referring to making sure there is no dirt on the camera, but rather that the camera sensor is relatively clean of dust and other particulars. I have a Canon 30D, before they introduced the 'micro shake' of the sensor to have small dust drop off every time the camera is turned on. 

I can tell there is stuff on my sensor when the specs show up in shots. I then turn to this shooting to confirm: on a solid sky in the day, push up the F/ to about 15+, and snap. Today the result was this:


Specs all over the place! On no!


When I first encountered this problem, I wasn't sure what I could do. I thought about canned air, but decided against that.
I read up on the issue, and discovered the Gitzo Air Blower. For a Canon, there was a setting for clean sensor. It would cause the reflector mirror to lock up in place exposing the sensor for cleaning. I would turn the body so the sensor would face down, and be careful not to get the blow any close to the sensor than I had to. Then I would have blower do its thing. At first this was enough for me.


After a few times of doing the blower method, it provided to be not enough to clean it properly. I did more research. Some folks refused to do it themselves, and sent the camera body in to a shop to have it professionally cleaned. Then again, most of those folks either had the money or photography was their livelihood and depended on super clean images. Another crowd recommended doing a more through cleaning by hand. I tracked down one cleaning kit from Copper Hill Images.

 I picked up a kit and got nervous. I read horror stories of people who did something wrong and scratched the surface of the sensor... or whatever. For the Copper Hill kit, there were two levels of cleaning- a brush that worked with static cling, and the other that worked with a lint free cloth and a solution. So combined with my blower, I was up to three levels of cleaning. 

Here is the results of today's cleaning from all three, because they were all needed:

I also try two different lenses on the camera, just to make sure the dirt isn't on the lens. You never know!


Finally, here is what the table looked like when I was done cleaning:

Don't get me wrong, sending it in to get it cleaned professionally is great. I have done that once when I was getting another issue taken care of. However, I know that isn't always the best answer. Between time, money, and effort, I am taking the home cleaning first. If it is something beyond my skills, then I have no problem sending it off. Just realize that the sensor is everything for your camera. It isn't like you can just stick a fresh roll of film in if you mess up!

Speedlite

When I finally decided to get a flash for photography, I broke a barrier I had set for myself. I was very happy with just available light. I didn't have to do much else other than checking to see the image was bright enough. Even that could have been tweaked slightly. I was trying to get away with not doing much with as little as possible. Often that meant cranking up the ISO to a high, and usually unacceptable, level.

The break through was seeing what people were able to do with their lighting. Photos with additional light was entirely different. With and without photos of extra light made me a believer. Even short movie clips of people showing what they could do with extra light finally convinced me. Available light was not enough, and most likely would never be. I had to come to that conclusion.

It's official- Canon 7D

Color me confused! I was honestly thinking this was a clever ruse. I was wrong!

The only thing I can think of is that it is the tweener body- between the Canon 5D Mark II and the Canon 50D- which means it is targeted at me.
Not sure if I would use the Wireless file transmission, but it is an expensive option- $700.

I do like the artificial horizon overlay. That does rock.
Dual processors for wicked fast processing.
Still has the 1.6x cropped sensor.
ISO up to 3200, or a possible 128000 in H mode.
Still uses CF cards, no SD dual slots.
19 points of AF
weather-sealing
oh, and HD video.
It is something I will be seriously considering when I am going to replace my aging 30D. Now, can a brother spare $1600 for the body- please? I'd be willing to give up my 30D in trade!

(update: one thing I am not sure I like- it uses a new vertical battery grip. Another $300 investment. Grrrrrrr)


Read a hands on review from DPreview.
Read the official Canon press release here.