I am furious - just picked up my camera from having it cleaned photos added

[DVC Jen]

I just got my camera - brought it home - put a lens on it and went outside to take some test shots.

Well before I even took a photo I noticed the dust was still there. Plus there was another very dark spot.

I took a few photos and the spots that I was seeing before I took the camera in are definately still there.

So I called them and they said they were closing in 5 minutes, but to bring the camera back in tomorrow.

I promised a co-worker that I would go to her house tomorrow night and take the pics of her kids she wants - and now I am not sure my camera is going to be in any better shape than it was - or if I will even have it.

So - if I can see the spots when I look into the eye peice is the dirt on the mirror or on the sensor or what? The dirt shows up both when I look through the eye peice AND on the photos.

I will get a photo up with the spots I am seeing in a few minutes.

Photos added below

 

[0bli0]

if you see dirt when looking through the eyepiece - it's generally on the mirror - or inthe eyepiece itself. it would have to be a big piece of dirt on the lens to appear through the viewfinder. you will not see any dust on the sensor until you look at the photos on the pc.

 

[DVC Jen]

dirt in the eye piece is not going to show up on the picture.. right?

Will dirt on the mirror show up on the picture?

 

[photo_chick]

Only dirt on the lens or sensor will really affect the image, the mirror drops down when you take the picture.

 

[Gdad]

Is it on the lens? Thats the only place I can imagine it being a problem both in the viewfinder and on the photo.

 

[DVC Jen]

Here are the spots that I see. I do not see all of them when I look through the eye piece, but I do see about 6 mostly in the upper left hand corner. There is also a very dark speck that I certainly did not see before I took the camera in to be cleaned. That spot is not showing up on the photo.

#1

#2

#3 - these do show up when I look through - it is harder to see them here in this photo, but I do see them when I am looking at the photo with photoshop

and here is a photo of all of the spots I see when I view the photo full size via photoshop. There was NO WAY I had this many spots before their amazing 200.00 cleaning.

It will be VERY interesting to see what they have to say when I take it back in tomorrow. I have to wonder if they even did anything.

 

[DVC Jen]

I can see it regardless of which lens I use. I thought of that as well and tested it using 2 different lenses.

 

[handicap18]

Any dust specs you see through the view finder and then also see on the picture would probably be the lens. Dust spots on the sensor can't (as far as everything I've ever read) be seen when viewing through the view finder. If there are spots on the mirror, they will not show up on the image because the mirror flips up so the light can hit the sensor.

When viewing with different lenses, are the spots in the same place?

Those look more like smudges rather than dust spots and the size looks more like something found on a lens. I could be wrong though.

 

[0bli0]

did anyone else think 'asteroids' when they saw the photos above ?!

how do the spots change at different apertures?

 

[DVC Jen]

did anyone else think 'asteroids' when they saw the photos above ?!

how do the spots change at different apertures?

I am checking that right now. I had always noticed them the most at a lower aperature - like when I would shoot at f/22 it was VERY noticable.

Just from what I can see right now I went from an f/11 to an f/5.6 and I can't see them nearly as well as I did at f/11.

What does that mean?

 

[DVC Jen]

OK I just checked the photos (taken with two different lenses - same settings) at f/22 and WOW - it looks like they didn't do a dang thing to my camera.

All of the spots I was noticing and having to photoshop are still there and in the same spots. AND there is the dust or spots in my eye piece now - that was NOT there when I took it in.

I took photos at 3 different aperatures f5/6, f/11 and f/22. At f/5.6 I could see one spot. At f/11 there were a few more. At f/22 they were all there just like I had always seen before.


I am livid.

 

[jann1033]

since they were supposed to clean the whole camera seems that should include the mirror and eyepiece...can you take in a photo from pre-cleaning just to prove it?

 

[DVC Jen]

since they were supposed to clean the whole camera seems that should include the mirror and eyepiece...can you take in a photo from pre-cleaning just to prove it?

I have a lot of photos from precleaning I can take in to show them the exact same spots that are there now.

 

[photo_chick]

They could have done what a place did to my sisters camera... they just blew it out with canned air effectively coating the sensor in a film of stuff and just blowing at the existing dust even farther into the camera.

She later found the problem she was originally having would not be fixed by a cleaning, but that is a different story entirely.

 

[deletedpenguin]

OOoh, they never should have cleaned a camera sensor with compressed air. Eeek!

 

[AndrewWG]

I wish it wouldn't be advertised as "compressed air". From my science classes, I don't think that "air" has freon and other chemicals in it. Does that stuff freeze on the sensor? I hold the can upside down and use it to freeze bugs at work. We get some nasty critters in the lab somedays!

Andy

 

[GrumpyOne]

I wish it wouldn't be advertised as "compressed air". From my science classes, I don't think that "air" has freon and other chemicals in it. Does that stuff freeze on the sensor? I hold the can upside down and use it to freeze bugs at work. We get some nasty critters in the lab somedays!

Andy

Natural air has a number of trace elements in it but I'm pretty sure that (most) canned air doesn't have any freon in it. Heck, it doesn't have much in the way of oxygen or nitroxen either. At least it used to be primarily some easily compressable inert gas. Well, after they discovered how bad butane can be.

Good luck with the shop, I hope you paid with a credit card in case things don't work out.

 

[Gdad]

The guy who cleaned my sensor said you can use compressed C02 only- not the canned stuff for blowing the crud out of your computer keyboard. I just use a rocket blower myself though.

 

[AndrewWG]

Natural air has a number of trace elements in it but I'm pretty sure that (most) canned air doesn't have any freon in it. Heck, it doesn't have much in the way of oxygen or nitroxen either. At least it used to be primarily some easily compressable inert gas. Well, after they discovered how bad butane can be.

Good luck with the shop, I hope you paid with a credit card in case things don't work out.

Actually, you are right. It is not freon as that is now federally banned from consumer products I believe. It is tetrafluoroethane. Same refridgerant properties but a different chemical. Still not "air" though.

Andy

 

[boBQuincy]

I had cleaned the sensor on my 10D maybe 10-20 times when one day my brain overheated and I left the cleaning stick in there too long and the shutter closed on it! I was using a long exposure instead of the sensor clean setting, don't ask.

$300 later I had my camera back from Canon with a new shutter, adjusted mirror, and clean sensor. Even with my stupid move, it looks like I came out ahead in the long run, and got a new shutter to boot (the camera had about 40K exposures on it and it was almost time to replace the shutter anyway).

So if you are worried about cleaning your sensor, figure this is about the worst that can happen, and even if you mess it up after a few cleanings you are still ahead.