Dirt....

[inkjunkie]

Anyone else have an impossible time keeping a cameras sensor clean. I have all 3 of the 1 DX models, the Mark III is incredible. I can understand when I go to the Motocross track dust finding its way on to the sensor but at the drag strip...not so much. I just shot at a drag strip. Changed lenses once. Camera mount was pointed at the ground the entire time. Lens mount was cleaned the day of the race. Lens was also blown out the morning of the race. Yet somehow I managed to get some boogers. They are not on every image...just randomly. I looked at the sensor with a loupe...several specs. I also have a 7D Mark II. Last time I was at the Motocross track I swapped lenses....as bikes were ripping by kicking up a dust storm. Went as far as laying the body down on a table, with the lens opening facing the track.....not a spec. Have fired over 100k shots on the 7D...never cleaned it.

All the gaskets on the lenses are good....except for the one Sigma which NEVER gets used. All the mounts are tight. Often times I can get by with just using a Rocket blower....but sometimes swabs are needed. Sure glad I am a CPS member. When I have the time I prefer to just send them to Canon.

[Waddizzle]

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@inkjunkie wrote:

Probably should add that I do my best to avoid lens changes. With the Mark III's stellar low light performance...for the drag strip....I put a Sigma 50 f/1.4 on it. The Mark II gets my 70-200L II, the 1DX will get my 300L II on it. The 7D...it gets "Bertha". I have a first gen 400 F/2.8. Thing weighs a ton. I mount it on a Tri Pod. At the MX track I find a hill to set it on...and spend some time behind it. At the drag strip I put a remote radio on the 7D and the Mark II and fire it remotely.

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I'M uncertain how well the Sigma 50mm f.1,4 might be.  I don't think it is weather sealed, not at all.  Your other lenses are much better sealed against dust and moisture.  Why don'T you get the cameras cleaned by Canon?

[ebiggs1]

It's really interesting to hear how people do things. I have a 1DX and either have or had all the other older 1 series bodies. I don't do any special tactics. I just change lenses when I need to. Of course that doesn't mean I do it in a dust storm but I have done it in a hurricane! Ivan to be specific.

I was a CPS member so they mostly went there yearly or every two years for a C&C. To me gear is just another tool. It either does what I want or I find one that will. There's not much reason to buy this expensive equipment than not use it. I will admit since retirement I am way more thoughtful of my cameras and lenses than when I was working.

My first version 600mm L lens has never been cleaned! 

[ebiggs1]

I have no scientific backing just my own sense,which sometimes comes in question, but I shot a Nikon D3 and D3X for several years. They just don't seem or feel as durable or sealed against "outdoors" as Canon 1 series are. Perhaps they are but they don't feel as good to me.  Guess that's why I stuck with Canon all these years, I mean decades. Plus CPS has been great for me. Nikon service not so much. Perhaps its better today than it was, too.

If I were you and had three 1DX models I would join CPS. You used to get a free C&C just for signing up.  I guess you still do?

It will come back looking like a brand new camera.