Sensor Dust

[Bachman]

I’ve had specks of dust of various sizes on my Nikon D70’s sensor or more exactly on the low-pass filter in front of the sensor. I think though there is more of an electrical field charge associated with CCD chips compared to CMOS chips that attracts dust to the sensor surface. Olympus, which uses CCD chips, use a dust membrane at the front that prevents dust from reaching the sensor surface, which is itself kept clear of dust by being vibrated (sonic, I believe). Having such a large sensor and therefore electric charge, I wonder if the RED has any such device and if not how much dust it will acquire on the sensor during operation.

This is of particular concern to us as we often shoot in dusty mine sites.

Tony

[MDP]

Bachman...not sure if you heard or not, but due to the extremely high resolution of RED, they actually had to bring back in a sensor attractor (opposite of sonic, I believe) to have it on the same level as 35mm. The nature of dust gave it that 35mm feel, helping keep RED in the same playing ground as 35mm.

[Bachman]

Bachman...not sure if you heard or not, but due to the extremely high resolution of RED, they actually had to bring back in a sensor attractor (opposite of sonic, I believe) to have it on the same level as 35mm. The nature of dust gave it that 35mm feel, helping keep RED in the same playing ground as 35mm.

Your saying they wanted dust?

[Chris Gearhart]

Your saying they wanted dust?

Sure! Red One Sensor dust is like pixie dust--it gives you all kinds of magical powers.

[Chris Gearhart]

Seriously, though. It'll be like any DSLR that way. Change it above ground, if you can. Otherwise, you'll just have to clean it. Not much for it.

[Nick Shaw]

It does bring up the issue though, of how easy it will be to check for dust on the sensor after a lens change, and how easy and quick it is to clean the sensor, replace the lens, and check for dust again.

It will obviously be more of an involved process that checking the gate of a film camera.

[Bachman]

I would assume we shouldnt be changing lenses when the camera is on because of the electric charge

[Bachman]

Bachman...not sure if you heard or not, but due to the extremely high resolution of RED, they actually had to bring back in a sensor attractor (opposite of sonic, I believe) to have it on the same level as 35mm. The nature of dust gave it that 35mm feel, helping keep RED in the same playing ground as 35mm.

Sorry, I simply cant believe they would do that. Its a crazy thing to do, specially because you have no control over it. You dont want dust. Period. If they are trying to create noise in the image there are better ways of doing it than putting dirt on your cmos chip.

[Jeremy Hughes]

Yeah, that really is terrible. Can't we just add dust in post?

[Bachman]

Yeah, that really is terrible. Can't we just add dust in post?

Yes. pretty common thing to do

I guess we'll have to wait for everyone in the States to wake up to get some answers on this.

[Chris Burket]

Arri dealt with the same problem of dust with the D20. To check it, they suggest taking a small 4x6 lightbox (battery powered) and simply stick it in the matte box. Take a look at the monitor and see if there is dust. If there is, clean it off. Red doesn't have a spinning mirror shutter that would cover the chip during a lense change so dust may be more common and you may need to be more careful, but I'm sure it won't be that troublesome.

[Martin Drew]

I use the "Visible Dust" Sensor brush (http://www.visibledust.com/products.php?PID=205) on my DSLR. It works flawlessly for cleaning the sensor.

M

[Brook Willard]

A little spit and a good 'ol wire brush should clean the sensor off. Noooooo problem. ;)

[IAN SUN]

A little spit and a good 'ol wire brush should clean the sensor off. Noooooo problem. ;)

What, you mean I don't have to use bleach and a Brillo pad?

[david farland]

Black & Decker with wire brush attachment for difficult to remove bits.

Note: Don't press too hard!

Hope it helps,

DF

[Sanjin Jukic]

A long ago I posted this link here on the forum about "Visible dust Flash tutorial". And I will do it AGAIN

http://www.visibledust.com/My%20Project_controller.swf

[Chris Gearhart]

Scubbing bubbles. They work hard, so you don't have toooooooooo.

[Phil Bates]

Seriously, is sensor dust going to be an issue? It's a huge problem with shooting timelapse on Canon DSLRs. I noticed some spots during the movie at NAB. I thought it was the lens, but now I wonder.

It's not a problem with the F900, I think because of some kind of sealed chamber. I was wondering if Red had a similar design. (?)

Phil
www.artbeats.com

[Chris Gearhart]

Red's will be fairly analogous to a DLSR, if I am not mistaken. It will be an issue, but it is all a matter of control and procedure. If you are able to control the environment in which you change the lens, there will be less of an issue. If you have to change it in a mine shaft, you run the risk of dust getting in your shot. But then again, if you are in a mine shaft, will a dusty sensor really hurt your look? :devil:

There should be some cleaning and care procedures put out by the community, if not Red itself.

[chuck colburn]

A little spit and a good 'ol wire brush should clean the sensor off. Noooooo problem. ;)

Or a slightly modified auto-suck from the sixties. ( I only know about these cause I saw an ad for them in Womens Day.)

[Sam Winzar]

Does REDCINE have any way to remove dust particles from footage?

[Rob Lohman]

It does not

[Chris Gearhart]

How about zits or moles?

[Bachman]

How about zits or moles?

That brings us to another issue... If this camera is so good (detailed) it's goin to make the makeup dept very busy.. especially with some actors. They may hate it. Bad enough with HD.