So today I figured it'd be good to pick up a cleaning kit and clean the Digital Rebel XT. I was at the mall, so I ran into Best Buy, and picked up a "lens cleaning kit", specifically marketed for camera lenses and such. It had a blower (with detachable brush), cleaning solution and a lens cloth.

Now... I carefully set the camera for "Sensor cleaning" so it would lock up the mirror and I could blow out any dust on the sensor. That went fine, as far as I can tell, and there's no dust or anything on the sensor itself.

Then I went to clean the lens. It was a little dirty due to some waterfall photography that had gotten some spray back towards me. I'd temporarily removed the UV filter (didn't have a lens hood, was getting glare and was seeing if it would help taking it off). I then gently wiped down the mirror. And then I noticed the cleaning solution didn't dry clear at all, it left a cloudy film on everything! Ack! I tried a couple more times, the lens cloth seemed to just make the streaking and cloudiness worse, and I've now stopped lest I horribly break something.

In the process, I blew some dust spots up above the mirror (where the viewfinder is, is that the prism?). I haven't been able to blow all those dust particles off, and it's really annoying!

So I guess my question is.. Did I really screw up? Or can I get a better cleaning kit and everything will be fine? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I expected to just do a quick cleaning and be done, instead it's turned into a night of constant worry about breaking an expensive piece of electronics :(

Thanks.

-Melen

@melen...please read the other thread on sensor dust...

1)You won't be able to see most of the dust on your sensor with the naked eye( the particles are far too small!).....so, the only way to find out is to do the test identified in the other thread.  The ordinary brush type blowers are not designed for sensor blowing....again, some makes have a powder residue inside the bulb as part of the manufacturing process....if you used that, it will blow all that powder right onto your sensor. The sensor blowers that people have found to be satisfactory are the Giotto's Rocket and Jessops (which I think is actually a Giotto's).

2)One of the problems using a blower is exactly what you've now done.....you can blow particles into the viewfinder screen...although annoying, the good news is that it won't show up on your images.

3)Don't know why you'd ever want to touch the mirror....both it and the viewfinder are quite delicate...again though, even if you've screwed it up, it won't show on your images....

I don't think you've done any damage to your Rebel, but if things are really annoying, you can always send it back to Canon for servicing

Sometimes, it's just best to leave things alone until they get intolerable....

Sound advice above.

I would only add you get a free clean under warranty so when you can get it back to a Canon service centre and let them clean it for you. Things are best left as they are for now until you can do this.

The kit you bought is purely for lens cleaning do not use it on the inside of the camera body.  Use it for cleaning filters and the front part of the lens.

Hello There...

I really don't know Melen if you screwed something or not! But i really hope you didn't..

At the same time, i totally agree with Gradient and OnSlow! Very good advices! Now here is my advice..

Never ever use any cleaning kits no matter how good you are but a fiber cloth!! That is the only thing you can use if you are not pro in cleaning the sensors! Also specially with Canon Products.. They are tricky and built totally differently fron any other brand in the market!

Now i am going to add another hint that you all might get surprised or even laugh at me.. I carry 5 Canon high end products with about 27 lenses!

When it comes to clean my equipment! I use (DRY AIT CAN)!!!! i shake it well for about 30 Secs.

Let it cool down for about 10 Secs and then clean the sensor 2 sprays by 2 sec each and then the mirror with the same thing! I blow my lens also with the same can and then whipe them with the Fiber Cloths! Another blow and thats it!!

Here is one more thing! When ever you feel the can gets colder! Let is warm up to normal, other wise it will spray lequid and that will spoil everything! Sigh!

I really don't recommend any one to do this unless they know what are they doing! That is the best way to clean without any hastle and 100% clean! But so dangerous at the same time!

Thank you and hope things will go fine. Now have a nice day/night and weekend

JOE

Ok, all this sensor cleaning talk just makes me so nervous it's not even funny.  After returning twice to my camera technician, I had to figure out how to clean it on my own cause everytime I get my camera back, I find there's still dust on the sensor.  So much for trusting your local camera store huh? 

Hello Zeldie :)

In fact you mentioned a very important point here.. You are right about when you get your camera back from the dealer(s) and/or technician(s).. It will never be cleaned 100% or like it comes sealed in the box!

But those who never cleaned before.. They have nothing better to do till that day wich they will be able to clean it them selves..

You can share your ideas here and the way of cleaning, so the others will learn. Thank you again and have a nice week

JOE

Hey Joe, 

I think the secret to making sure your sensor has no dust on, is investing in a proper blower.  I've done exactly that and I haven't looked back since.  And of course testing whether your sensor is clean as described in the previous thread is always a good idea.  But man, lemme tell you, I get stressed endlessly when - after the third or fourth time of using the blower and cleaning the sensor and testing whether there's dust on - and it's still not clean.  Then I just feel like packing it all up and putting my cam away somewhere in a cupboard and forgetting about the art called photography.  LOL  Yeah, that bad...

Again you are right Zeldie about the blower..

And the funny thing is, that when you invest in a proper blower, it won't be that expensive as people think! It could be about US.$10.00 above the regular price. Sigh!

But beleive it or not.. With my method mentioned above, i never faced ever any kind of troubles or dust on 5 Canon expensive equipments i own! None of them sent to the dealer or camera warehouse so the technicians can clean it.. Never used double face tapes inside to suck the dust as some people do!

But again, that is really tricky way of cleaning, and i got that idea from some friends working inside the Japanese canon factory in Japan! Sigh! :)

In the dealers and factories here in the US/Canada, they use a different method of cleaning, they use some kinda sensor size sticker specially to clean the sensor, but again.. That is not the right way..

And i remember what happened to one of our friends here: PhotoGen (HADI) when he got his 5D back from Canon :(

Anyways.. I am sticking to my method since i am using it for the past three and half years without any problems.. Dust is annoying and i don't know why.. I am not facing that problem at all! Maybe becasue i clean all my equipments once a week! Its a fact tho. :)) Hummm.. What about opening a camera cleaning store! Will that work? :P

Thank you again and have a nice day... Me goto work now and will catcha all later

JOE

Hi all,

thank you for all your replies.

Here's what I did (stupidly). I put my Digital Rebel in sensor cleaning mode, and was blowing the sensor off with the little hand blower. Since I wasn't thinking, I left the brush on and accidently touched the sensor with the brush, and it left a big smear. Ugh!!!

I ended up getting all the smears off with some lens cleaner on a qtip and such. But of course, my 1 spot of dust turned into dozens! After much work, I got it so it's not horrible, although there's still around 10 seeable spots (when a white piece of paper is shot in Av mode, Fstop 22).

Now, most shots none of the dust shows up. Here's my next question... am I ok not to take it in to get it cleaned until it becomes a problem? Or is leaving the dust on the sensor a bad idea?

I totally agree with Zeldie in that cleaning the sensor is very stressful (if your goal is to completely rid it of dust). It pretty much ruined my weekend and I'm still stressing over it.

Thanks.

-Melen

Melen, I SO know how you feel!  Go check at your local photography shop, you're supposed to get qtips that's made out of some kind of rubber sponge thingy.  They clean up that dust in no time whatsoever.  They're a bit pricey though.  But then, I'd rather pay a bit of money than have sleepless nights over a filthy sensor - and I've been there before :sad: