XT-1 sensor and dust

[Guest Ultrasonic]

Hello everyone,

I bought a xt1 last October. Unfortunately I used it only few times and I changed Lens 18-55 or 23mm at home just to make sure it worked.

Last week I went out to the seaside only with the kit 18-55 but it was very windy and the sensor was very spotted!

It has been clean in a pro shop at about 70€ and there are still some spot at f/22

Why the sensor attracts ao much dust? Just only because it has not a mirror in front of?

[Guest David B]

Yes xt1 (I am on my 4th one) attracts unusually high amount of sensor dust in comparison to most of my other cameras these days. Why I cannot explain but it is a fact. It attracts more dust than my full frame a7r. Out of my mirrorless cameras Olympus em5 was the best in that sense, lots of lens changes and zero dust on sensor after 20000 plus shots.

 

I do love to shoot my xt1 close to wide open most of the time so typically the sensor spots are not a major issue

[X-Man]

Usually dust can easily be removed by using a Rocket Blower or something like this.

But do you really shoot at f/22? Anything wider than f/11 dust spots should not be an issue.

[leland gaunt]

Dust is a problem when you change lenses often. I have clean my sensor chip today, because of too many black dots in the sky. For sure no UFOs, all parts of dust. I use the sensor cleaning system from the camera, but from time to time is needed to do this. With my old 5D II is was not so often needed. But this is no argument to going back to DSLR. 

[dziurek1008]

Hello everyone,

I bought a xt1 last October. Unfortunately I used it only few times and I changed Lens 18-55 or 23mm at home just to make sure it worked.

Last week I went out to the seaside only with the kit 18-55 but it was very windy and the sensor was very spotted!

It has been clean in a pro shop at about 70€ and there are still some spot at f/22

Why the sensor attracts ao much dust? Just only because it has not a mirror in front of?

I would recommend to buy a cleaning kit . My cost a few dollars and yesterday I shot on 22. It was clean as a whistle really. 

[vman]

First post.  

Just curious, is there anything special about the Fuji sensor that you can't do a DIY?  I used sensor swabs (wet system) on my Canon cameras.  I haven't encountered spots yet on the XT1 but I'm sure at some time I will.  Here's a few options unless it isn't really a no no to do it yourself.

http://www.amazon.com/Photographic-Solutions-Digital-Survival-Fujifilm/dp/B000PKEMS6/ref=sr_1_fkmr2_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1431436755&sr=8-1-fkmr2&keywords=sensor+swab+fuji+xt1

I also use a Visible Dust Brush from Arctic Butterfly but the newer ones have had bad reviews.  I've had mine for over five years now.

 

Hope this helps and please let me know why I can't clean the sensor myself.  Thanks!

[dziurek1008]

Hello everyone,

I bought a xt1 last October. Unfortunately I used it only few times and I changed Lens 18-55 or 23mm at home just to make sure it worked.

Last week I went out to the seaside only with the kit 18-55 but it was very windy and the sensor was very spotted!

It has been clean in a pro shop at about 70€ and there are still some spot at f/22

Why the sensor attracts ao much dust? Just only because it has not a mirror in front of?

Maybe the pro shop you are writing about used some expired cleaning fluid or something.. It should be electrostatic right?

[Guest David Whittley]

Ate you sure the spots are not on the lens. Spots on the sensor would probably show up at all apertures whereas spots on the lens generally only show when the lens is stopped down.

[jlmphotos]

I've yet to do a wet clean on my X-T1 sensor.  Normally, just a Giotto rocket blower takes care of it.  However, if you changed lenses at the shore, it could be some fine mist/sea spray got in there as it's being blown about by the wind.  I'm assuming you used F22 to test the cleanliness?  Unless you regularly shoot at that aperture, and the spots are just a few that can be seen when closed down that much, I wouldn't worry about it.  Unless the place you had the sensor cleaned before would do you a solid and clean it again for free.

Honestly I try NEVER to change lenses at the beach/sandy area.  No matter if there is no wind or not, there are still particles in the air.

[jlmphotos]

Ate you sure the spots are not on the lens. Spots on the sensor would probably show up at all apertures whereas spots on the lens generally only show when the lens is stopped down.

Doubtful.  Sensor spots would show up when you stop down the aperture.  Normally, unless the sensor is pretty filthy they won't show up at wider apertures UNLESS you crank up the contrast in post.  At least that's been my experience.

[X-Man]

Doubtful.  Sensor spots would show up when you stop down the aperture.  Normally, unless the sensor is pretty filthy they won't show up at wider apertures UNLESS you crank up the contrast in post.  At least that's been my experience.

 

+1

[Maurice]

+1

 

Try the 'Like This' button at the bottom right of his post.

[Antony]

No like button in the mobile version!

[Guest Walt]

I'm on web version, firefox latest version. only options are "report" and two buttons - MultiQuote and Quote

[Guest CAMeraphile]

Just making sure you keep the camera switched off while changing lenses as to not give the sensor any extra charge...

[Trenton Talbot]

There's an easy way to test if your sensor needs cleaning.

 

1. Set ISO to 200.
2. Stop down your lens to the maximum (f/16 or f/22 if available).
3. Set shutter speed to auto.
4. Switch to manual focus and rotate focusing ring to the closest distance.
5. Take a handheld shot of some more or less uniform surface in a relatively dimly lit room; exposure should be couple of seconds. Slightly wave and rotate the camera during exposure – there should be nothing in focus (see #4) and nothing steady.
6. Open the shot in camera, zoom in to the max and inspect the result navigating your zoomed in shot with D-pad buttons. All sharp or semi-sharp objects you see are various artifacts on the sensor (dust, lint, maybe even – God forbid – scratches…).

You can get rid of most dust specks with the blower. However, some artifacts (such as dried out water drops) require wet cleaning. If you don't know how to do it yourself, you should learn 

 

 

PS: I have an X-T1 since the day it hit retail shelves… and I change lenses at least 100x every day. So far, no need for a wet cleaning.

[Trenton Talbot]

Just making sure you keep the camera switched off while changing lenses as to not give the sensor any extra charge...

 

Most importantly, you should keep your camera facing down when changing lenses. Contrary to popular belief, switching it off is not so critical.

[Maurice]

Says here the X-T1 has a Sensor Cleaning system by Ultra Sonic Vibration:

 

http://www.fujifilm.com/products/digital_cameras/x/fujifilm_x_t1/specifications/

 

Anything about it in the menus ?

[Trenton Talbot]

Says here the X-T1 has a Sensor Cleaning system by Ultra Sonic Vibration:

 

http://www.fujifilm.com/products/digital_cameras/x/fujifilm_x_t1/specifications/

 

Anything about it in the menus ?

 

Of course. And it seems to be working just fine.

[Paul An]

I've got a check mark on the top right of posts. I think that's the like button on mobile.

[howlindaug]

Another vote for Sensor Swabs. I've just noticed my first sensor debris on my X-T1 but haven't take care of it yet.  I've used Sensor Swabs with great success on my Canon bodies over the last 10 years but I haven't yet purchased the smaller swabs for my X-T1 or X-E2.

[Guest Jerry Braun]

Ate you sure the spots are not on the lens. Spots on the sensor would probably show up at all apertures whereas spots on the lens generally only show when the lens is stopped down.

Not true at all. Sensor spots always require pretty high apertures due to their close proximity to the imaging sensor. Depending on where they are, some lens spots never show up.

[milandro]

... and it very much depends on the lens, since a hair, on the back lens of the 10-24 shows up so big that it is visible in the EVF.

 

Besides, not all dust ( or “oil” spots) might be easily removable.

 

“ Spots” on the sensor of my X-E1 were the reason why I bought the X-T1 in the first place. This misadventure with it had shocked me deeply for a number of reasons. I had bought a X-E1 and was shooting happily with it on my only lens at the time, the 35mm. 

 

At some point I decided that I wanted to try adaptive photography on this camera before I got myself some more expensive Fuji lenses so, I got a cheap adapter on line and an Helios 44-b which was the lens, by the way, of my first reflex camera, the Zenith E ( but I had used no reflex cameras before that).

 

Got to play around with that set up and familiarize with this form of photography which ( after trying a radioactive Takumar 50 1.4 and a Cosina 28 2.8) I later on abandoned.

 

Anyway, after one of the change of lenses I noticed that my pictures had some dust ( did it came from the adapter?) so first of all I bought a dust blower  and blew the dust away or so I thought, but closer inspection ( shooting white walls or blue skyes) revealed some dust spots at the closer apertures.

 

Then made a fundamental mistake and that was buying a can of compressed gas to clean the sensor. That gas must have been containing some other things too because now I had “ oil” spots! The horror! ( I am getting sweaty and my pulse accelerate as I write!). Bring the camera to the shop to have it serviced. The camera was still under guarantee, if I had it serviced by a third party and anything would have gone wrong this would have made my 2 years guarantee void.

 

Anyway, the shop, after sending the camera to their own technical service, announces that it will be repaired under guarantee, but that it takes 6 weeks to ship it to Fuji Germany ( the Netherlands doesn’t or didn’t at the time have their own repair lab). So they give me a X-M1 and my camera goes to Germany.

 

I play around with the X-M1 for 6 weeks ( not bad a camera but not my cup of tea) then the X-E1 comes back to the shop.

 

I go an get it and go home to discover that the original spots ( "oil “ and or dust)  had gone but that now I have a hair visible even in the evf. So I go back to the shop, they take a look at i and were blowing and puffing this thing away, that thy take it to the back of the shop ( to do some wet cleaning) and don’t succeed because the hair was UNDER the protection of the sensor.

 

I am desperate, a quick consultation of the manager returns 3 possibilities

 

1) They give me another X-E1 but they don’t have one right now and might take some time to get another one.

 

2) they sell me another camera of my choice discounting the money that I had paid ( in  the meantime the X-E1 had become substantially cheaper).

 

 

At that point I could have chosen for another system had it not been the case that I had bought, while I was waiting, a 60mm and a 10-24mm ( the first one by the way had enormous pice of something inside just after the rear element, I got another one from the shop).

 

 

So now I am heavily committed to Fuji with 3 expensive lenses ( 10-24, 35, 60mm ), I had briefly peaked into a X-T1 and so I decide to pay some extra money and get the best Fuji that money could buy at the time.

 

I go home and start enjoying the camera until, one day, I am shooting some pictures with a friend and after a lens change I peak into the EVF and what do I see? I huge hair.

 

My heart started pounding like crazy and I sit down open the camera again and see that the hair is on the lens and not on the sensor.

 

So I blew that away.

 

Frankly speaking I dread the idea that the story might repeat itself on the X-T1 too and I am very careful with lens changing Every now and again I get a shock but then realize that the black dot is a bird in the sky. But it is fatal, sooner or later it will happen again.

 

This is one thing that makes digital photography a PITA.

[MTPhotography]

I usually use clone in LR...it's the best solution. 

[milandro]

well, much depends on where the annoying particles are. As for rebuilding the area by cloning or repairing or whatever one uses.

 

if the number of particles or area affected is large enough, It might be time consuming and eventually lead to completely change the nature of the picture that you’ve taken.

 

In an era when digital photography ( and some of the pictures that many of us take) looks increasingly like painting this might not be seen as a problem. Of course wanting a “ clean’ sensor might just be the symptom of a touch of an obsessive compulsive disorder ( and I am only half joking here because I know that I have some of it in other areas  ).