Essexps Posted August 13, 2017 Share Posted August 13, 2017 Hi I changed over to M43 about 5 years ago for a variety of reasons and sold most of my FF gear except a couple of small primes which I hung on to. I'm prompted to ask about image preparation for FF sensors by a post in a recent M43 thread asking about visible dust spots. My abiding memory of shooting with a Nikon D700 was the amount of time I spent cleaning up dust spots especially on blue skies, even though I had the sensor cleaned regularly. I had several irritating QC fails when I missed one from large batches. Since changing over, I almost never have any dust spots to clean and now that Olympus bodies auto correct for fringing, I almost never have any CA to clean. This my my image prep very quick simple. At the time, I remember reading in several places the reason for the lack of visible dust spots was that M43 can be shot at smaller f numbers with ample depth of field and dust spots only a problem at higher f numbers - which you often need on FF to get sufficient depth of field to avoid SOLD fails on QC. I usually shoot around 5.6 with M43 and have been pushing that to F4 recently with the Olympus 12-40 and there is plenty of sharpness/depth of field to avoid SOLD fails. I rarely shot below F11 on the D700, often f16 on busy street scenes. Am contemplating a full frame camera again for some personal projects. If I took it out on local shoots for stock - can I expect to return to dust spotting and de-fringing on most images? Or was my FF technique below par in what was then my early days on Alamy and thus the cause of the time spent de-spotting and de- fringing? Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trevor Chriss Posted August 13, 2017 Share Posted August 13, 2017 Hi Chris I had/have the D700 and used to get dreadful spots, I am sure the mirror was flinging oil around with reckless abandon. Attempts to clean myself just did not work, despite cleaning previous sensors successfully. Had to return it to Nikon eventually. I now use the D750 nowhere near the problems. There are a few spots, not many, which are not visible in most shots, in some shots I might have 3 or 4 to clean. I have been using for approx 2 years now, never been cleaned. To sum up: go for it! Trev Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allan Bell Posted August 13, 2017 Share Posted August 13, 2017 +1 for the D750 Allan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andreas Posted August 13, 2017 Share Posted August 13, 2017 I moved from a D300/D800 to mFT (Olympus) - I usually had heavy dust spots on my first vacation. Olympus cleaning is pretty good compared to these 2 models. Any CA in Olympus raw files disappear when I tick the box in Lighroom to remove them, only in seldom cases I need to manually adjust CA. Shooting with a D800 had its issues, wouldnt go back to high MP count again if not mandatory. Read couple of people downgraded to a D750. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Nacke Posted August 14, 2017 Share Posted August 14, 2017 For the last several years I have been only using NIKON D800's and 700's and shoot at 5.6 to 16 and I have not had a problem with dust. For my commercial work I am outputting 7360 by and I see very little dust. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesH Posted August 18, 2017 Share Posted August 18, 2017 My D800 is at times a nightmare for dust spots, but it's a case of preparation, if I get lazy and not clean the sensor before a trip or shoot I can only blame myself. Changing lens frequently when out in dusty or windy places usually does it. I am a stickler for cleaning dust spots in LR or PS, I use the "visualise spots" in Lightroom. Alternatively I used to just push Contrast and Clarity to 100% and that showed most spots. I bought a "sensor gel stick" which is very fast to clean it. No more liquids and pads, just dab round the sensor and 99% of the dust is gone in a minute. My stick has lasted me years, so the initial cost isn't so bad. Now I can just quickly clean before heading somewhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orange Elephant Posted August 19, 2017 Share Posted August 19, 2017 I have a D810 & don't have any big sensor spot problems. If I've been shooting with a zoom lens on a windy day, I may notice a couple of spots here & there, but I just clean the sensor. I use Photosol swabs & eclipse fluid. My wife's D610 gets less spots, but she generally uses primes. My sensor cleaning process takes about 20 mins with before & after test shots - not a big deal. I have to clean about every 6 months or so. Interestingly, a friend has a Nikon J5 & she managed to put a finger print on the sensor while changing lenses. It seems easier to do on a mirrorless if you're not careful. The fingerprint was pretty hard to clean. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Essexps Posted August 19, 2017 Author Share Posted August 19, 2017 Thanks for the feedback. Looks like it might be worth getting back in to FF in a small scale way. Regards Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacecadet Posted August 19, 2017 Share Posted August 19, 2017 As always beware of beaches. I use SLT and rarely get anything at all but last week I had a flurry of crap within 10 frames of stepping onto Sizewell Beach without even changing lenses. Must be the neutrons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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