Dust behind sensor

[DougAxford]

I spent an hour trying to get one piece of lint off my sensor only to discover that it seems to be behind the top piece of glass on the sensor. It seemed like such a simple thing to grab with a tiny brush but just not so. I was just short of using a brillo pad to scrub the da*n thing. Paint scrapper?

Am I right in assuming that there is more than 1 layer. Has anyone else had this happen? How it got there I just don't know but it was mid way through a shoot. 1" long on an 8x10. Hard to hide that one on a portrait. Time for factory cleaning I guess. PITA.

[Dennis_Vied]

It may in fact need scrubbing, but not with the Brillo Pad! If you use the PecPad/spatula/Eclipse Solution method, you can scrub a bit with the spatula and that may be enough to do it. I'd try that before sending it off. You are correct in that there is an anti-aliasing filter on top of the sensor. It would be most unusual to get something under there. That usually happens only when you take the AA filter off, (and how would I know that, you ask?)

I did an IR filter conversion on my D70 a few years back, and had a lot of trouble with stuff under the filter.

[larry_angier]

When you do a wet cleaning from what I understand, you need to pick the proper version of Eclipse solution. Newer sensors with the ITO coating require Eclipse II so as not to dissolve the coating.

Older bodies (pre 2007), you can use the original Eclipse.

Best place for cleaning info is: Wet Methods For Cleaning Digital SLR Camera Sensors

HTH,

[DougAxford]

Ya, I scrubbed it pretty hard with a solution and when I look very carefully with a jeweller's magnifier I can see that it is behind the glass. I've been known to rip apart cameras and flashes, but have fought the urge to do that on a digital camera.

How it got there mid-shoot is a very strange mystery. I'm putting together a collection of things to send off to Canon. 1 with lint behind sensor, 2 with err99 need new shutter. See my post on replacing flash shoe also.

[Dennis_Vied]

Originally Posted by larry_angier

When you do a wet cleaning from what I understand, you need to pick the proper version of Eclipse solution. Newer sensors with the ITO coating require Eclipse II so as not to dissolve the coating.

Older bodies (pre 2007), you can use the original Eclipse.

Thanks, Larry. That's good info to know. (Not that I have one of the newer ones, drat.)

Have you got a link for more info on it?

[captionsoflife]

Yes, time for a factory cleaning... technically, you should have every camera body/lens cleaned once a year. (like slow season) I would not try to clean the sensor yourself - let the professionals take care of your equipment.. at least if they mess it up - they can fix it.