Dust on the sensor

[roryhinds]

What is the latest on dust on the sensor and managing it?

[Unwounded]

Are we all certian there won't be a clear glass built into the body mount?

[jbeale]

It was my understanding that "Crossing the Line" was shot literally in the trenches with dirt flying everywhere. It seems to me that the result has been examined about as closely as any film ever has, but I have not heard dust complaints- so that seems encouraging, at least.

[Kevin Halverson]

Its more likely that dust on the OLPF is the real question. Since there isn't a mechanical shutter, it should be pretty straight forward to clean.

[roryhinds]

would be good to hear it from the horse's mouth

[Rocco Schult]

don't think that anything changed.
Good ol' handwork.
Check the gate.

[jbeale]

>Good ol' handwork. Check the gate.

but you don't really need to do anything by hand, do you? After all this is a video camera, so the image is visible right away.

But if you are worried about small dust that might show on a big screen but not your monitor / LCD / etc, then I wonder if there's a firmware fix. Basically, stop down the lens and shoot a light surface far out of focus, and push the "check dust" button. The camera loads a frame grab, does a high pass filter, and searches out any dust visible above the sensor noise floor, presenting an annotated image of anything it detects ("5-pixel-wide dust mote detected at 3 o'clock, sir...")

If you have dust, but you shoot an entirely OOF frame before / after the take, you could use that in post with appropriate software to automatically remove dust from every frame. Assuming new dust doesn't appear during the take.

[Bob Chappell]

Is there an official Red factory recommended sensor cleaning approach? I have dust issues with my Nikon D2x because I use prime lenses and change lenses often on location. I have tried various mini-vacuums, blowers and sensor swabs. The swabs with a methanol solution seem to work the best. However, after repeated cleaning I got a hairline scratch on the IR filter, and needed it replaced. I don't want anything like that to happen to my Red and am looking for advice.

[Gavin Greenwalt]

>Good ol' handwork. Check the gate.

but you don't really need to do anything by hand, do you? After all this is a video camera, so the image is visible right away.


I've never noticed dust in a viewfinder or monitor under normal shooting conditions. I would guess your second option would be the only visual method of discovering it without using the old fashioned pointing your camera at a bright light technique (works like magic!).

[Martin Drew]

I used to use sensor swabs but I have switched to the sensor brush by visibledust with my 20D. The brush picks up a static charge when you blow canned air over it, then a light brush or 2 over the filter picks up everything. Works like a charm.

My plan is to carry a small lightbox to give an even light source for checking the gate when changing lenses.

M

[Phil Bates]

It was my understanding that "Crossing the Line" was shot literally in the trenches with dirt flying everywhere. It seems to me that the result has been examined about as closely as any film ever has, but I have not heard dust complaints- so that seems encouraging, at least.

I was watching for this closely at the NAB premier and did see some spots. Some might argue that it could have been dust on the lens, but at the time it felt like I was looking at dust on the sensor.

Phil
www.artbeats.com