Good day everyone,
I was hoping I could get some input/insight from the group. Several months back, I had the good fortune of stumbling across an Open Box 1DX Mark II being sold at ridiculous markdown by a local retailer. It had been their Display Unit, and as Canon had discontinued the model, I was able to pick it up for about $800USD - a deal which I thought was a steal for a 1DX Mark II with fewer than 1,000 actuations.
To avoid making this story too lengthy, what has blown me away about this 1DX Mark II so far has been how absolutely dirty the sensor is. At first, I assumed that as it was open box, that it must have been left without a cover in a high dust environment. No worries, off to Canon it goes for a free cleaning as a CPS member. It comes back - first shot afterwards, the sensor was still absolutely dirty. Emails with Canon result in them asking me to send it back in - no problem, maybe the folks in Newport News forgot to clean it somehow.
So this past weekend I have it back after a second cleaning at Canon, and this is what all of the images I took that day look like. Obviously this has been equalized, but the sheer volume of spots just stuns me. Is this normal for 1DX series bodies? I have seen some mention of oil spatter, with some folks saying it is worse than others, but the degree of dirtiness that I am encountering with this sensor is not anything that I am used to whatsoever. I shot for 7+ years with the old 100-400mm push pull "dust pump" and never even needed to spring for cleaning of my 7D. I know how to take care of my gear and not introduce dust etc. to the sensor when swapping lenses. Are these sample images below normal?
Airplanes and birds are my two biggest subjects photography-wise, dust spots of this magnitude are absolutely brutal against a blue sky background. I already have some PTSD from the few that I have tried to go and remove all of the individual spots from.
Is this just what life will look like with a 1DX series body? I am trying to resist the temptation to start using it as a paperweight on my desk while the 6DII goes back into the bag
NKP_3860 by Nicholas Peterman, on Flickr
I was hoping I could get some input/insight from the group. Several months back, I had the good fortune of stumbling across an Open Box 1DX Mark II being sold at ridiculous markdown by a local retailer. It had been their Display Unit, and as Canon had discontinued the model, I was able to pick it up for about $800USD - a deal which I thought was a steal for a 1DX Mark II with fewer than 1,000 actuations.
To avoid making this story too lengthy, what has blown me away about this 1DX Mark II so far has been how absolutely dirty the sensor is. At first, I assumed that as it was open box, that it must have been left without a cover in a high dust environment. No worries, off to Canon it goes for a free cleaning as a CPS member. It comes back - first shot afterwards, the sensor was still absolutely dirty. Emails with Canon result in them asking me to send it back in - no problem, maybe the folks in Newport News forgot to clean it somehow.
So this past weekend I have it back after a second cleaning at Canon, and this is what all of the images I took that day look like. Obviously this has been equalized, but the sheer volume of spots just stuns me. Is this normal for 1DX series bodies? I have seen some mention of oil spatter, with some folks saying it is worse than others, but the degree of dirtiness that I am encountering with this sensor is not anything that I am used to whatsoever. I shot for 7+ years with the old 100-400mm push pull "dust pump" and never even needed to spring for cleaning of my 7D. I know how to take care of my gear and not introduce dust etc. to the sensor when swapping lenses. Are these sample images below normal?
Airplanes and birds are my two biggest subjects photography-wise, dust spots of this magnitude are absolutely brutal against a blue sky background. I already have some PTSD from the few that I have tried to go and remove all of the individual spots from.
Is this just what life will look like with a 1DX series body? I am trying to resist the temptation to start using it as a paperweight on my desk while the 6DII goes back into the bag
NKP_3860 by Nicholas Peterman, on Flickr
