Damaged Sensor from Eclipse Trip in 2017
Here's a cautionary tale for photographers going to the eclipse.
Only just now, seven years later, while looking at photos from my 2017 eclipse trip, it seems a few frames, just before totality, ruined my 5DMkIII's sensor!
Though they don't seem to line up, the dust mote is clearly visible in a photo taken seven days later, and it was not there at or before the eclipse. What happened and how, I don't know, but it sure seems related.
I always thought it was a mysterious, and large dust particle. The Camera Company tech couldn't get it off, saying it was stuck to the sensor and he didn't want to risk damage trying a more aggressive cleaning. He advised sending it to Canon. (Canon's repair estimate was $500.) It would seem the reason he couldn't get it clean is because that area of the sensor was melted! (That explains the estimated repair cost.) It remains there to this day.
The eclipse frame was shot at 1/8000 second at f/18.
This is what I sent to Canon in 2019 asking for a repair estimate: "There is a crystal-like dust mote on the sensor, will not come off. Experienced professionals at Camera Craft in Rockford cleaned sensor, but could not get it to budge from the surface of sensor, and were afraid of damaging the sensor trying to force it off. This "speck" is large enough to easily see with naked eye. On images at F8 or higher it is about 30 pixels in diameter."
Damaged Sensor from Eclipse Trip in 2017
Here's a cautionary tale for photographers going to the eclipse.
Only just now, seven years later, while looking at photos from my 2017 eclipse trip, it seems a few frames, just before totality, ruined my 5DMkIII's sensor!
Though they don't seem to line up, the dust mote is clearly visible in a photo taken seven days later, and it was not there at or before the eclipse. What happened and how, I don't know, but it sure seems related.
I always thought it was a mysterious, and large dust particle. The Camera Company tech couldn't get it off, saying it was stuck to the sensor and he didn't want to risk damage trying a more aggressive cleaning. He advised sending it to Canon. (Canon's repair estimate was $500.) It would seem the reason he couldn't get it clean is because that area of the sensor was melted! (That explains the estimated repair cost.) It remains there to this day.
The eclipse frame was shot at 1/8000 second at f/18.
This is what I sent to Canon in 2019 asking for a repair estimate: "There is a crystal-like dust mote on the sensor, will not come off. Experienced professionals at Camera Craft in Rockford cleaned sensor, but could not get it to budge from the surface of sensor, and were afraid of damaging the sensor trying to force it off. This "speck" is large enough to easily see with naked eye. On images at F8 or higher it is about 30 pixels in diameter."