Scratched Sensor?

[Zerimar]

I believe to have found what appears to be a very tiny scratch on my sensor, however the unfortunate thing is it is towards the middle of the frame which is rather frustrating. This is on my P45+

This is at f32 where it is exaggerated.

From what I understand it is $1250 to fix it.. I am thinking to set up a spot tool profile that will eliminate it as it is perhaps 100 pixels long and 10-20 pixels wide.

Any thoughts or suggestions? I have tried cleaning the camera (picked it up today from samy's where they cleaned it) originally thinking it was a small smudge of sorts. They eliminated most of the problem but this is what persists.

 

[torger]

The scratch is on the protective glass rather than the sensor itself, so only the glass needs to be replaced, still costs a bit though.

I have a small damage on my glass too, but I haven't cared to fix it (yet) since I always shoot a LCC calibration shot which also cancel out this type of problem, at least at moderately small apertures. My scratch is towards the edge and not as sharp as that one though. I guess you could make a library of calibration shots for the different apertures, but I'd go for the $1250 fix...

 

[Zerimar]

After further testing (again the above shot was at f32 which is an aperture I do not use due to diffraction) It seems to not be apparent until f8-11, which it barely shows. I do use f11 a lot (with strobes as well as for landscapes) and think I may try to do a calibration for these apertures, as it is not a problem with a wider one, and I typically cut it off at f11.. lucky it was a very minor mark..

 

[Bob]

Assuming that it is indeed a scratch.
One end looks to be more OOF than the other.
I would try first a good blowing with a rocket blower to see if it moves and then a pass of wet cleaning.
I have seen many cases of mistaken identity so be sure it is what you think it is before jumping for the big dough.
-bob

 

[Shashin]

+1

I would clean your sensor first. I am not sure that is a scratch.

 

[Guy Mancuso]

Me neither. I would do a wet clean.

 

[johnnygoesdigital]

Scratches tend to be straight. As Guy mentioned, try a wet clean, with an E wipe, and make sure you use one side per cleaning motion.

 

[Guy Mancuso]

BTW this may not come off in one pass. You may actually have to work it a little. I would find the exact spot it is sitting on the sensor and put a strong lupe to it if it looks raised up its a pieces of junk stuck to the glass but if it looks recessed than it could be a scratch. If your uncomfortable about this than send it off to Phase or a good dealer with a great tech guy on board. The shape of it says crap on the sensor to me a scratch maybe more straight line and sharper in look.

 

[Guy Mancuso]

Phase does have a 2 part cleaning kit and for stubborn stuff like this not a bad idea to get.

 

[GrahamWelland]

You might even want to consider leveraging your dealer / Phase One or MAC to do a thorough check and clean before worrying about IR glass replacement (which they would do for you anyway). When I broke my sensor cover glass the back was initially sent to them for review before deciding upon a solution.

To your question about setting up a spot profile to fix the mark - yes it's possible but not ideal because it will affect images differently based on content. I have to do this with my Aptus 65 which has some minor sensor marks that look like dust spots and it works ok but sometimes you will want to manually override it when it blurs too much detail.

 

[Zerimar]

Despite being not straight it still appears to be a scratch of sorts.

I took it to samy's where they did a wet clean of the sensor, before I took it the area was larger, now it is just this one persistent spot.

I have used a blower, as well as some other cleaning tools (one that is like a pen and can get any kind of spot like this off) to no avail.

Attached is a shot with my 5d2 and 100 f2.8 macro of the actual mark on the sensor. I am unable to tell if it is recessed or not as it really is a small mark.

 

[Zerimar]

due to the last thumbnail being small here is a larger version..

 

[Ben Rubinstein]

Shoot a bunch of LCC shots and use the 'remove dust' feature to automatically hide it in future? Will be annoying having to match the LCC shot to the aperture but it might be a cost free solution?