{"id":5301,"date":"2011-04-25T13:04:11","date_gmt":"2011-04-25T17:04:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.birdsasart-blog.com\/?p=5301"},"modified":"2011-04-25T15:27:15","modified_gmt":"2011-04-25T19:27:15","slug":"sensor-cleaning-update-with-a-surprise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.birdsasart-blog.com\/baa\/2011\/04\/25\/sensor-cleaning-update-with-a-surprise\/","title":{"rendered":"Sensor Cleaning Update with a Surprise!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
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Sensor Cleaning Update with a Surprise!<\/strong><\/h2>\n

On my recent trip to Midway I left my sensor cleaning kit at home to save a few ounces in my luggage; in retrospect, this was a bad move. \ud83d\ude42 And I had had some nasty sensor dust on my EOS-1D Mark IV <\/a body in Homer that I had neglected to deal with.... (Note: one of my EOS-1D Mark IV <\/a> bodies is micro-adjusted for the Canon 800mm f\/5.L IS lens<\/a>–both the 1.4X III TC<\/a> and the 2X III teleconverter<\/a> require separate micro-adjustments, and my other Mark IV is micro-adjusted for my Canon 70-200mm f\/2.8L IS II<\/a>–and again, both the 1.4X III<\/a> and the 2X III teleconverter<\/a> require separate micro-adjustments.) <\/p>\n

To about the Lens Align Mark II and to read the tutorial on how to micro-adjust your lenses and cameras, click here<\/a>. <\/p>\n

I any case I spent a lot of time cleaning dust bunnies off my best Midway images. One of the first things that I did when I got home was to clean the sensor on my 70-200 2.8 Mark IV. The first step of course was to find my sensor cleaning kit. Try as I might, I could not find it. Jim–who helps me find everything–is not here on the weekends so I grabbed a brand new Delkin Sensor Scope<\/a>, a Giotto’s Super Rocket Blower<\/a>, and a Lens Pen Combo Kit<\/a> from stock. When I opened the Sensor Scope<\/a> I had a pleasant surprise. First off the Sensor Scope<\/a> now comes in a neat, zippered, protective pouch. And in instead of having to press and hold a flat switch to keep the light on, you now press an on-off button; press it once and the lamp stays on. (Do remember to turn the lamp off when you are done.) Best of all, the lamp is brighter. <\/p>\n

Next I followed the detailed instructions as per the sensor cleaning guide that we send to everyone who purchases a Lens Pen Combo Kit<\/a> from us. To the letter. After the first cleaning I had eliminated 99% of the dust spots. Note: there are a lot more dust spots in the image than you can see in the before JPEG above. Those are the big ones. There were dozens more smaller ones; I call those f\/22 dust bunnies as they are evident only when you have worked at tiny apertures and then only when you blow the image up to 100% in Photoshop. And they are much softer\/fainter\/less noticeable than the big ones. It took me six more cleanings (ten minutes total) to achieve f\/22 perfection and even then there was one tiny, faint dust spot in the top left corner that I could not eliminate…. The idea is to get the sensor a lot cleaner than it was when you began. <\/p>\n

The procedure that we use and recommend is simple and safe. Thousands of folks have adapted our method with great results and a perfect safety record. We offer a complete package with all of the sensor cleaning gear that I use here<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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This Laysan Albatross image was created with the Canon 800mm f\/5.L IS lens<\/a> and the
\nCanon EOS-1D Mark IV<\/a>. ISO 400. Evaluative metering at +1 2\/3 stops off the sky: 1\/640 sec. at f\/5.6 in Manual mode. (Early morning light.)<\/p>\n

I tried hard to get at least a strip of the lagoon in the image to add interest. The waves in the distance are breaking on the reef that surrounds the atoll. Working with a camera with a clean sensor is a pleasure as you do not waste time during image optimization having to clean dust spots. I use the Spot Healing Brush to clean dust spots from uniform areas. For complete details and lots more check out our Digital Basics File<\/a>. <\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

BIRDS AS ART Bulletin #371<\/strong><\/h2>\n

BIRDS AS ART Bulletin #371 is on-line now and can be accessed here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

FEATURES<\/h3>\n