Is it just me or does it seem like the 1DsMk3 sensor seems to be dust magnet? Seems like no matter how many time I blow, brush, or wet clean it...it is dirty again far faster than any other 1D body I've even owned...any thoughts or experience on this?

It stays cleaner than my old 1DsMk2 body did or than my 5D body does.

jcbenner wrote:
It stays cleaner than my old 1DsMk2 body did or than my 5D body does.

Oh. Well, maybe I better get a little neater when changing lenses.

New cams always produce some internal dust/oil spots. Once the mechanical parts have settled this should become less. Of course there always remains dust that enters the cam from outside. I have found that the cleaning system is unsufficient to deal with this. So once in a while I get it cleaned. But since I use mostly wide to medium apertures it takes a while for me to notice dust anyway

There have always been claims that one body or another is worse for attracting dust. Daan B is correct that Canon seems to ship bodies with dust in them and some seem worse than others. For a while it was the 5D that everyone complained about. I am not sure if Canon makes all their cameras in the same place, but I would guess it is a manufacturing issue rather than something about the camera that attracts more dust.

When I get a new body I blow it out nearly every day for th first couple weeks I own it. Start clean and you will probably find that it stays cleans without attracting all that much dust later on.

FF=dust magnet, I get them on my 1D MK III too, but I get less on my 40D, and that has been proven many times. The bigger the sensor, the more susceptible it will be to dust. It depends on how often you change your lens as well, so it's normal to be cleaning your sensor regularly. If you don't know how to do it, start practicing, or just get a 2nd body to minimize changing your lens, you'd have less dust, & you'll have less sensor cleaning to do.

Mike1 wrote:
FF=dust magnet, I get them on my 1D MK III too, but I get less on my 40D, and that has been proven many times. The bigger the sensor, the more susceptible it will be to dust. It depends on how often you change your lens as well, so it's normal to be cleaning your sensor regularly. If you don't know how to do it, start practicing, or just get a 2nd body to minimize changing your lens, you'd have less dust, & you'll have less sensor cleaning to do.


I don't see any justification for the claim that FF attracts more dust than crop sensor. The sensor itself is technologically the same with the size being the only differentiator. The lens mount is the same size and therefore should allow equal amounts of dust to enter the shutter box.

What is the difference between the two that would account for FF attracting more dust? The only thing I can think of might be how you are measuring dust accumulation. If you measure total dust spots/sensor then it would be higher just because the sensor is larger. I would not measure dust that way. I would measure dust spots/sq mm and that should not be any different.

i have been shooting with a 1ds3 since last november, and have had no dust issues...
my own experience is that i have seen no more dust with ff than i saw with cropped sensors...but there are others who have had or may have different experiences.

Will just keep at cleaning it...it was not a scientific observation, but good to know experiences vary. I do shoot with two or three bodies all the time and have for years so it is not related to that, all 1D bodies. Will try blowing it out every time I use it for a while, maybe this one came with more dust than "usual" from the beginning.

Mine seems to stay cleaner than my 1DsII or 5D. I really haven't had any dust problems.

I have a 50D and noticed a small spot through the viewfinder. At first I thought it might be on the lens so changed the lenses and it was still there. The spot does not appear to be on any shots I am taking when loaded onto the iMac. Just visible when looking through the viewfinder. If a spot is on the sensor does it also show up on the picture that is taken? If that is true then the spot does not seem to be on the sensor. I am thinking maybe on the inside of the viewfinder Is there an easy way to clean the inside of the viewfinder? Any suggestions?

Doug Vann wrote:
I have a 50D and noticed a small spot through the viewfinder. At first I thought it might be on the lens so changed the lenses and it was still there. The spot does not appear to be on any shots I am taking when loaded onto the iMac. Just visible when looking through the viewfinder. If a spot is on the sensor does it also show up on the picture that is taken? If that is true then the spot does not seem to be on the sensor. I am thinking maybe on the inside of the viewfinder Is there an easy way to clean the inside of the viewfinder? Any suggestions?

Sounds like it is on the viewfinder. If the 50D has an interchangable screen you can drop it out and try cleaning it. If not, you can try very gently blowing the chamber side of the focusing screen. But, be very careful. It is possible to blow dust from the chamber to the area between the focusing screen and the SI plate. If that happens on a camera without an interchangable screen the best option is to send the camera to Canon for cleaning.

About like my 5D, worse than 1.6 crop.

I agree, when new or back from service, I get more grease than after it has been cleaned the first time after new/service. A FF is different because it is harder to clean, not as much room around the mirror mechanism or inside edges. The sensor is also closer to the mechanism. The mirror mechanism itself is larger, and with a faster burst rate may throw off more grease.

Mineral or any dry dust can be blown out, grease and the kind of soft dust that comes off your body can fuse to the sensor and require wet cleaning.

I go for months in landscape mode changing lenses in dirty spots. When eagle season arrives and I start putting on my 500F4, and using burst in sub freezing dry air, I get lots of dirt. They don't show up much at f5.6 but as soon as I go back to landscapes at f16, there will be maybe 15 or more showing and 50+ when tested for dust.

FF is the worst, compared to croppers. My 1Ds3 is cleaner than the 1Ds or 1Ds2 were, but it's a hell lot worse to clean once you need to clean it: all the sensor brushes just get the goo that accumulated on the sticky pads around the sensor back on the sensor, together with some of the sticky goo itself. So no brushes. And wet cleaning is for some reason harder, too. Or maybe I am just out of practice - since I shoot these days usually around f2 and faster, I pretty much never see dust

One nice touch of the 5D2 over the 1Ds3 is that the camera does a sensor clean when going to sleep. Since I pretty much never turn off my cameras, the 1Ds3 never brushes its teeth, so to speak, unless I explicitly invoke it. But the 5D2 it does it at least when going to sleep

D30, D60 , 20D No big problems at all( in fact I never cleaned the D60 sensor at all) didn`t I read it was because the AA filter was slightly further away from the chip.

5D was bad, dust seemed to get everywhere. 1Dsmk1 still very bad IMHO. !dsmk2 was better (slightly) 1dsmk3 was a lot better and still is and my 5Dmk2 is definitely the best of the bunch.

Unless you really do have something that just won`t come off the sensor then I say do not wet clean the sensor, period.
My 1dsmk3 and 5dmk2 just get a dab with my artic butterfly brush( not a sweep just a dab that spreads the bristles) and don`t forget to use the specific cleaning tablets for the brush with distilled water now and then. Also, I still only use the brush that is for the 1.6 crop chip on my FF chips rather than the larger FF brush, I tried the latest FF brush and found it was more difficult to position and it did seem to pick up dust from the edges.

When I got the Arctic Butterfly my dust problems just flew out of the window and not only did it become less frustrating to do the cleans, it unleashed me to change lenses as and when I wanted.
When I look back at those days of having a shower and taking the camera in the room with me so that I could clean the sensor (wet swabs) whilst standing their in the nude so that no dust came from any clothing and the moist air kept dust down it makes me roll around with laughter