Ouch - scratched sensor

So, along with shopping for beds, and whinging about people not using open standards one of the other things I wanted to do over my vacation, was to clean the sensor on my 10D.

It had been a while since I've done that - the last time, was just after getting back from NZ, and so it was getting pretty grimy by this stage. Now, I've been doing this since 2003, and while it's the digital photography equivalent of open heart surgery, I wasn't too worried : I'd had no problems with it so far, so why should this be any different ?

It was.

I've somehow managed to create three very small scratches on the surface of the sensor (well, if you're nit-picking, they're actually on the glass filter that sits on top of the sensor) The result is invisible at wide apertures, but stopped down to f32, you can definitely see three scratches on resulting photos. Uhho.

Mailing the local camera shop, they suggested that this would be "uneconomical" to fix (their emphasis on that word is truely worrying) : I'm imagining at least an €800 repair bill - so the question is, can I live with the scratches, cloning them out on any photos I take at small apertures, or do I start saving now for a new body ? Advice welcome !

Posted on: Jul 05, 2005

Posted by: timf

Category: Off-topic

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Comments:

Check out eBay for used or broken cameras for parts. You may be able to salvage it from there if you're comfortable tinkering with it yourself. Also try sending the camera to Canon's factory repair center. They will send you an estimate in 2 days and will be the best bet. /s

Posted by Sameer Tyagi on July 06, 2005 at 07:55 PM IST #

Let's face it, the 10D is practically obsolete now anyway, so it's about time you replaced the body with a 20D isn't it (at least that's what I'd be telling my wife :))

Posted by Trevor Watson on July 13, 2005 at 03:57 PM IST #

Hah, are you kidding ?! I'm currently trying to float the idea of buying an Ultra 20 with the missus at the moment - so two pricey bits of tech might show up on the pursestrings-radar a little too brightly for the good of my health ;-)

As regards a getting a new body though, I'm going to try and hang on with this generation until Canon solve the dust-problem (which I'm sure they will eventually) and then upgrade to whatever comes next - having two working bodies would be really handy, so regardless, I'll probably just bite the bullet and get a Canon repair shop to do their worst ( between £350-300stg they say, so not as bad as I'd feared )

As regards fixing it myself, yes, I could possibly try - Al pointed me to this which looks promising, but I don't want to tempt fate and cause more damage...

Posted by Tim Foster on July 13, 2005 at 04:23 PM IST #

That looks like a scary procedure Tim, although £350 sounds hideously expensive for the same job. Do they replace the entire sensor for that or just the glass filter ?

Posted by Trevor Watson on July 13, 2005 at 04:34 PM IST #

Yep, it's the entire sensor - apparently it's fabricated as a single part, which is pretty annoying, given the relative costs of a large chunk of silicon + sensor assembly vs. the thin bit of glass that goes on top. As I say, I'm eagerly awaiting the next generation, which I hope will include something to fix this [ Olympus have an interesting mechanism in the E1 which attempts to shake dust off the sensor - wonder how well it works ? ]

Posted by Tim Foster on July 13, 2005 at 04:42 PM IST #

jpegpixi might help for cleaning up the scratches but that probably wasn't the kind answer you were really looking for. http://www.zero-based.org/software/jpegpixi/

Posted by Alan Horkan on August 01, 2005 at 04:52 PM IST #

Hello there Tim, Scratching Sensor glasses are indeed your worst nightmare - we're a couple of months later and I wander what's happened on the issue so far. I scratched my 300D sensor glass - fool I am - and am now in my week replacing this glass. The local service center also wanted to replace the complete sensor unit but I refused that deal (300 euros + labor) seing it as a nut case deal. I stressed that there MUST BE a smaller part being LESS EXPENSIVE. The lady at the counter said NO THERE ISN'T. However she gave me the part number of the 300 euro sensor unit (CY-1444). I checked altavista and found a pdf of the exploded view on which I found the partnumber for the glass/glass holder part. The preparation and method I found on the internet on http://ghonis2.ho8.com/rebelmodnew.html The part for the 300D IR-filter glass and holder is CY-1447. My order was packed in an all but dust-free package so I had allocated 3 days to secure dust free IR-filter aswell inner as outer surface using magnifying glass and green-clean wet and dry swabs. I'm still on the project and should expect results this weekend.

Posted by Ben on September 09, 2005 at 11:34 AM IST #

Hey Ben, Right - similar experiences here I guess. I did investigate what I'd need to do in order to fix it myself, but just decided I didn't want to go there. I did a bit of a Google around to see where the nearest Canon service center was to me (in the UK at the time, though I believe the Dublin one has just been promoted to that level)

I phoned Canon Ireland, to find out if they could send it to the UK for me, and they said sure - so I sent my camera in a at the beginning of August, and got it back at the end of August. They phoned me in the meantime, to give me the bad news : ~€300 to replace the low-pass filter)

The camera seems fine now, and having used it at a wedding last weekend, I'm happy with the results. It's an expensive mistake, but getting the time to fix it myself would have been just too much (plus, knowing my luck, I'd only screw up the repair and cause more damage ! :-)

I'll keep waiting for Canon to produce a body that attempts to fix the dust problem at it's cause.

Seriously, how hard would it be to come up with a mechanism that seals the sensor box when the lens is removed, with the sealing door retreating back into a dust-removing brush, along the lines of the ones they use in film rolls as the film winds back onto the spool ??

Posted by Tim Foster on September 09, 2005 at 11:47 AM IST #

Tim, I don't know what they will have to come up with to clear the dust issue - photography technology had to go digital per-se and now ... there's a new market :) I am taking pics again with the self replaced filter. At max aperture and/or macro I do see particles that are cought between sensor and filter so I'll have to find out an ultrasonic way to remove them before considering doing the complete job over with sensor brush. I'm not sure if apertures of more than 15 are necessary for wedding but try the test : set at max aperture (eg 32) and max ISO (eg 1600), take a clear sky pic and see if the service center has succeeded in also leaving particles out of the inner space + they had a dust free laboratory which I hadn't. Here a way to do the job quality test (only the Photoshop part of course) : http://dazza101.blogspot.com/2005/07/danger-of-cleaning-your-digital-slr.html . Let me know.

Posted by Ben on September 12, 2005 at 06:42 PM IST #

As I see on previous the sensor was completely replaced. Calculating the total of 300 euro it seems they didn't make much fuss of charging labor for replacement. I don't think you'll have to worry about inner space dust. Or maybe still check it out of curiosity.

Posted by Ben on September 13, 2005 at 01:10 PM IST #

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