slowtwitch
Adventurer
We just got back from the desert, and I had the pleasant surprise of a large black dot on all of our pictures. Cleaning the external surfaces did nothing, and after some quick research I figured we had dust on the sensor. Of course we are well out of warranty, and a cleaning from Canon is $160, and it is a job for Canon only according to our local shop (dust free rooms and what not). Hah!
Anyways, get a #00 Phillips, some small tweezers, and soft work surface, and a can of compressed air for electronics. I originally intended to just take off the black 'skin' and shoot some air at it to see if I could dislodge the dust, but no luck. The black plastic bits come off pretty easy. The one to be careful with is the front.. it has a wire connection to the camera inner workings, so pull it off easy.. then unlatch the wire connector at the camera with tip of an exacto knife or similar. This doesn't need to come off, and I would just leave it. The LCD does need to off though. Pry up the left side, and undo Phillips at lower Rt corner. There are two wire connections for this, one visible upper Rt, and one behind the screen once you lift it up. Both have connectors that are small, flat, and hinge to clamp the male portion. Now we see the heart of the camera.. three silver Phillips with some clear retention goop on the heads. Unscrew those, blow any cracked compound away, and leave the camera face down at this point. To review, front black skin is still on (but loose), rear is off,bottom piece with serial# is off, LCD is off. Lift up the housing, and leave it attached to the wire harness. Watch for the three small coil springs that the housing screws down onto.. they slide into corresponding holes.. easy to figure out, but also easy to lose. There will be a black rectangular rubber boot that lifts out, and a small rectangular piece of glass that also lifts out (tweezers). Compressed air will shoot it across the room, so beware! At this point I could see my issue.. a large piece of something or other on that glass. How it got in there I have no idea! I used a combo of air, and brand new Zeiss wipe. Once clean, reverse steps. Clean LCD after it is back in.
It is *extremely* hard to get it clean enough so you can't see anything through the LCD. It took me a few times (the whole rambling process above taking only a few minutes) but there was immediate improvement. etc If under warranty, absolutely have Canon do the work. But for those on the edge.. not wanting to pay the $160 (minimum) or wait, almost time for a new camera, it's pretty easy. For sure not a job to do in the field. A nice side benefit is that replacing a broken LCD is absolute cake if you have a replacement, and I was able to get a bunch of grit/dust out the rest of the camera.
st
(sorry, no pics!)
Anyways, get a #00 Phillips, some small tweezers, and soft work surface, and a can of compressed air for electronics. I originally intended to just take off the black 'skin' and shoot some air at it to see if I could dislodge the dust, but no luck. The black plastic bits come off pretty easy. The one to be careful with is the front.. it has a wire connection to the camera inner workings, so pull it off easy.. then unlatch the wire connector at the camera with tip of an exacto knife or similar. This doesn't need to come off, and I would just leave it. The LCD does need to off though. Pry up the left side, and undo Phillips at lower Rt corner. There are two wire connections for this, one visible upper Rt, and one behind the screen once you lift it up. Both have connectors that are small, flat, and hinge to clamp the male portion. Now we see the heart of the camera.. three silver Phillips with some clear retention goop on the heads. Unscrew those, blow any cracked compound away, and leave the camera face down at this point. To review, front black skin is still on (but loose), rear is off,bottom piece with serial# is off, LCD is off. Lift up the housing, and leave it attached to the wire harness. Watch for the three small coil springs that the housing screws down onto.. they slide into corresponding holes.. easy to figure out, but also easy to lose. There will be a black rectangular rubber boot that lifts out, and a small rectangular piece of glass that also lifts out (tweezers). Compressed air will shoot it across the room, so beware! At this point I could see my issue.. a large piece of something or other on that glass. How it got in there I have no idea! I used a combo of air, and brand new Zeiss wipe. Once clean, reverse steps. Clean LCD after it is back in.
It is *extremely* hard to get it clean enough so you can't see anything through the LCD. It took me a few times (the whole rambling process above taking only a few minutes) but there was immediate improvement. etc If under warranty, absolutely have Canon do the work. But for those on the edge.. not wanting to pay the $160 (minimum) or wait, almost time for a new camera, it's pretty easy. For sure not a job to do in the field. A nice side benefit is that replacing a broken LCD is absolute cake if you have a replacement, and I was able to get a bunch of grit/dust out the rest of the camera.
st
(sorry, no pics!)