to buy or not to buy - advice needed on dusty sensor please!

BrightonPiers

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Hi, I'm new to this forum and this is my first post. I recently got back into photography after not really doing any since my teens in the pre-digital age. I got a used e-500 which I'm very happy with but the bug has bitten and I'm very keen on buying a used Canon 5d from a local seller. I've just been to look at the camera today and everything seems fine - I really don't think it's seen a lot of use. The first owner bought it new as a retirement hobby but never found much time to use it. After looking for some tips on buying a used body, I took some photos of a white wall, de-focused and at f22, and had a look at the image at 100% on the computer and am not entirely pleased with what I see. So I thought I'd post the picture up and hopefully some of the forum members can offer me their opinions, such as whether it is likely to need cleaning and how much this might cost. I'll also put up a comparison shot taken with my e-500. I know they're are reduced res jpegs but I they illustrate satisfactorily. The e-500 looks perfectly clean to me except from some hot pixels which admittedly are more noticeable in the full res version. I look forward to any replies. Thank you.
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(if there's a problem with the images coming up please let me know - I've never posted pictures on a forum before)
just in case
Flickr Photo Download: dust check Canon 5d
Flickr Photo Download: dust check e500
 
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They're pretty easy to clean yourself, I've done fuji's and nikons, all your cleaning is the aa filter, follow instructions in the manual, be careful/delicate whichever method you use and it'll be fine, cleaning products are now cheaper/easier to find so no big deal. You could demand they clean it as it is dirty before you buy. H
 
alright, does anyone know how to get the pictures appearing on the thread?
 
thanks for the links but the attach files option doesn't seem to be available under additional options. thanks for the tips anyway.
 
Forget photobucket he already has flickr - no need to have two image hosts (esp as photobucket is the poorer of the two).

1)Go into flickr
2)click on the all sizes option for the photo
3)scroll down and you should have two little windows below the picture - one with a multi line block of text and one with a single line - copy the whole of the single line
4) Use the following [ img ] paste the copied text here [ /img ]
without spaces between any of it.

That should embed the photo into the forum.

And yes that camera sensor does need a cleaning - many highstreet camera shops will do this and you can also do it yourself. I currently use a blower to blow out the dust, but for a more effective clean there are wet swab methods you can use (I'm currently looking into these and trying to research it - they can get very expensive). For a sensor as mucked up as the one you have there I would be tempted to send it to a shop to get it done for the first time. I'm afraid I can't quote any prices for you however.
 
BrightonPiers you've stripped the ExIF data of the E500 so I have no idea what settings you shot at.

Dust on the sensor is lost at lower apertures due to light not hitting the sensor perpendicularly. The Canon 5D shot while also devoid of ExIF data looks like an f/22 example shot given how perfectly defined the dust looks. This would reveal far more dust than practically relevant (unless you spend all day at f/22).

Cleaning a sensor is trivial.

Also do a test shot with your E500 at f/22 and see if the picture still comes out so clean.
 
Ah, I think this has worked, thanks for the help Overread. The shot of the e500 is at f22 but was just shown as a comparison shot to show a clean sensor (because it has the ultrasonic cleaner). This means I've never had to deal with dusty sensors before but I'm moving away from the idea of a 5d, because although dust on sensors is an issue for most dslr users it does seem, based on my research that many 5d owners think the problem is particularly persistent. I know this picture might not look too bad at this size but at 100% it looks horrible.

4733240988_64ded9ff38_b.jpg
 
You think that looks bad - try looking at the dust you get with 5:1 macro ;)

Seriously though a clean of the sensor would be the first step and would remove most of that dust and problem. Also remember that f22 is very small and even on fullframe you are entering into the diffraction limitation area (where a smaller apertures (bigger f numbers) yeald softer and softer images no matter how well you take them). So first its a correctable problem that is just part of living with a digital sensor and secondly f22 is not the most common aperture you will shoot with.

Further in editing you can use the spot heal tool to remove most dust from a shot - It will ad a bit of time to processing but its quick and easy to do.
 
Ah, I think this has worked, thanks for the help Overread. The shot of the e500 is at f22 but was just shown as a comparison shot to show a clean sensor (because it has the ultrasonic cleaner). This means I've never had to deal with dusty sensors before but I'm moving away from the idea of a 5d, because although dust on sensors is an issue for most dslr users it does seem, based on my research that many 5d owners think the problem is particularly persistent. I know this picture might not look too bad at this size but at 100% it looks horrible.

4733240988_64ded9ff38_b.jpg


So what, whats the problem with cleaning it, when you can get clean iso3200 shots
780212635_SxKHE-L.jpg
 

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