Mickey,
David Stone and a few other people put the 5D's CMOS through the ringer with Eclipse and it didn't show even a trace of breaking down, so all of us feel very confident in recommending it. And, yes, E2 for the xti400D, 40D, 1Dmk3 and the 1DsMk3.
Nicholas R. wrote:
ITO coatings used to be placed on the underside of the AA-filters, so the filter we were cleaning was similar to a glass surface. Then the maufacturers reversed the procedure hoping the coating would be less prone to accumulate dust and debris, which turned out to be wishful thinking. Of course this change probably saved them money, too.
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Can you point to a source for this?
It seems very silly to put an ITO coating on the underside of a filter. Indium tin oxide is one of the few ceramic coatings that is conductive and optically clear. Electrical conductivity of the top coating/surface is good, because that reduces the chance of particles adhering to it through static electrical charge.
In other words, putting an ITO coating underneath a filter seems pointless, so what gives?
As far as I can tell, based on posts I've read on the subject, the ITO coated 5D filter simply had a few problems with coatings being improperly applied, at least with earlier production runs. If the coating doesn't adhere properly to the glass, then it will easily come off. What I've seen from "broken" filters seems to be just that.
(Just to put it into perspective, I've got a background in Materials science & engineering.)
I just had an interesting sensor cleaning experience that I'll relate in case it saves someone some aggravation.
I was cleaning my 5D using “home rolled” swabs for the first time. Because it was my first time rolling my own I was experimenting a bit and swabbing more times than usual. The strange thing was, while the dust was coming off, some large “stains” started to appear. While the dust might be the size of the dot over an “i,” comparatively the stains were the size of nickels and quarters. It was driving me nuts for a while. Additional swabbing removed nothing, but occasionally added stains.
It was a relief when I had the thought that maybe it was not on the sensor, but on the glass on the mounting end of the lens. I cleaned that and all the “stains” disappeared.
I have cleaned sensors from my digital Rebel days, to my 20D and now my 5D and never experienced such a thing. I actually did not believe a dirty lens would even show up. But, even if it should not, in my case somehow I was getting the lens dirty when taking it on and off, and it was showing up under auto levels in Photoshop.
One word of warning... Be very careful with any auto leveling of completely uniform test shots. You may end up in a situation where you're worrying about stuff that will never show up in normal shots.
I understand your point, but your average common dust WILL start to show up in photos shot at f/8, 9 or 10 in any sort of light background. This debate has been going on as long as dust has been an issue, and maybe other forum members share my perspective. So, here goes.
• If you actually care about how clean your lens is when you shoot, why in the world wouldn't you do the same for your sensor? I feel that anyone who takes photography seriously makes absolute sure that there are no foreign particles or debris showing up in his images. This is called D-SLR Hygeine.
• OK, let's assume you NEVER worry about dust on your sensor and NEVER have even seen it. But what would happen if you woke up one day and decided to delve into landscape or macro photography. Assuming your camera is one or two years old, you're shocked to find about 100 dust bunnies contaminating your photos. And everyone who has done this knows it will take dozens of wet swabbings to remove all of the gunk.
Note: There are plenty of photos from cameras with dust-shakers that are covered up with dust.
• To prevent those 100 dust bunnies from accumulating, I ask what is wrong with using a sensor brush or SensorKlear a couple of times a week to keep things reasonable? I read the latest mantra on these forums which goes "Just send the camera in to Canon to clean. Don't take a chance ruining your sensor. They'll have it back to you in 7 to 10 days. If you live nearby, just drop in to the service center and they'll do it while you wait." Well, all this advice is OK, but using a sensor brush or SensorKlear is the most benign thing that can happen to a sensor and I haven't heard about ANY mishaps with these tools. So all of those warnings in the mantra conveniently disregard those tools as a daily, easy-as-pie to use sensor cleaning regimen.
Sorry for being wordy, but I wonder just how many others here do NOT like seeing gray, fuzzy dots in their images. And we actually don't hyperventilate at the thought of using one of the dry tools to clean our sensors.
I understand your point, but your average common dust WILL start to show up in photos shot at f/8, 9 or 10 in any sort of light background. This debate has been going on as long as dust has been an issue, and maybe other forum members share my perspective. So, here goes.
• If you actually care about how clean your lens is when you shoot, why in the world wouldn't you do the same for your sensor? I feel that anyone who takes photography seriously makes absolute sure that there are no foreign particles or debris showing up in his images. This is called D-SLR Hygeine....Show more →
Sorry if I gave the wrong impression. There is nothing wrong with checking your sensor and cleaning it if that's required. Just shoot at f/[highest] against a bright and uniform target/background and see if there are any particles on the sensor.
If you don't see any with the naked eye under those conditions, then leave it at that. Don't do any auto leveling because then you may see stuff under extremely enhanced contrast that will not show up under normal conditions. In that case you're chasing ghosts.
[...]
Note: There are plenty of photos from cameras with dust-shakers that are covered up with dust.
Because even a shaking front filter can't shake sticky pollen loose. Or particles that are semi fluid in the first place. No one ever said that the ultrasonic filter vibration systems will shed every possible dust particle.
• To prevent those 100 dust bunnies from accumulating, I ask what is wrong with using a sensor brush or SensorKlear a couple of times a week to keep things reasonable? I read the latest mantra on these forums which goes "Just send the camera in to Canon to clean. Don't take a chance ruining your sensor. They'll have it back to you in 7 to 10 days. If you live nearby, just drop in to the service center and they'll do it while you wait." Well, all this advice is OK, but using a sensor brush or SensorKlear is the most benign thing that can happen to a sensor and I haven't heard about ANY mishaps with these tools. So all of those warnings in the mantra conveniently disregard those tools as a daily, easy-as-pie to use sensor cleaning regimen.
Sorry for being wordy, but I wonder just how many others here do NOT like seeing gray, fuzzy dots in their images. And we actually don't hyperventilate at the thought of using one of the dry tools to clean our sensors....Show more →
As I said, there is nothing wrong with cleaning. Just don't take it a proverbial bridge too far. Common sense and a healthy dose of precaution is enough.
If I've got a big shoot, I will check my camera sensor for dust. And, oh horrors of horrors, I will move in with qtips and generic lens cleaning fluid if blowing isn't enough to do the trick. Admittedly, I do have tippys that hardly seem to shed any fibers (it happened only twice that a single strand got left on my sensor which was easily blown off with a Giotto Air Rocket) and I keep them separate as to not to contaminate them with any dust/sand/debris.
My educational background is in materials science & engineering, so I have some idea of what I'm dealing with. The dichroic coating on top of the glass filter will stand up to wet and dry qtips under the gentlest of pressure. So far so good, my 10D sensor filter is still in pristine condition, despite numerous encounters with qtips and generic lens cleaning fluid.
Nicholas R. wrote:
Even though we don't recommend the tools that you use, I think "common sense and precaution" are the order of the day.
When people ask me if it's worth the money to buy expensive cleaning products I'll reply with something along the lines of "You don't need to, but it will give you peace of mind if you do." You buy a product which a manufacturer is willing to stand behind. That's not the case with qtips.
The filter on top of a sensor is coated. The whole idea of a dichroic mirror is to use alternate layers of material with differing index of refraction so you can tune the wavelengths you want to transmit or reflect. Those coatings are ceramic. Ceramic layers tend to have a high hardness. It's not like you have a coating with the scratch resistance of talc on your filter. (Even though talc is also a ceramic compound.) My 10D will probably have a magnesium fluorite coating on top, which is very hard and wear resistant. ITO (Indium tin oxide) as on the newer models may not have the same hardness, but it will not exactly be like talc either.
In a way, what's on top of the sensor filter is similar in nature to anti-reflection coatings on CRT monitors. Do you touch your screen? Sometimes. How do you clean it? With a cloth. Does that wreck the anti-reflection coating? No it doesn't.
