However, what happiness I had a great hotel was dampened the next night when I was out on top of 30 Rockafella Plaza. I was doing some (bad) long exposure photography when I noticed something.
Dust
Now for those of you who are not photography inclined or don’t have a digital SLR/Compact Mirrorless Camera can skip this bit. Those of you who are… will know what this is.
That’s right. A DSLR’s biggest enemy -
Sensor dust.
Closeup of the dust contaminated sensor.
Whilst I did an emergency blow to clean off some of the crap, there was still an enormous amount of dust on the sensor which would had put a major crimp in some of my plans for this trip. It was therefore off to Adorama or B&H to sort out the next step. For the sake of convenience I chose Adorama (as B^H closes early on a Friday afternoon and Saturday, whilst Adorama closes only on Saturday).
Initially, I decided to try to clean the sensor myself… which ended… well not badly – just very very unsatisfactory. So I had a few choices:
- Drop the camera off for a sensor clean and hope I have it back quickly (bear in mind, this was into Friday afternoon now)
- Try and clean it again and pray for the best
- Switch to the camera phone
- Get a new camera
Option 1 was out of the question due to the time left in hand.
Option 2… by this point, I had zero heart in getting another cleaning kit and doing it again.
Option 3 was a possibility, but that cameraphone’s performance isn’t what I’d call “stellar” (even though it would force me to obey the photographer's maxim of "The best camera you have is the one you have in your hand").
Therefore it was Option 4. Firstly I went to Adorama to get a sensor cleaning kit... and the clean ended badly. I returned and got a second hand sales agent who knew what I was going through and made some suggestions. I could had got away with a second hand EOS-20D for $150++, but part of me has to plan for future events and work - so I plumped for a slightly newer model (and a camera I have a good working relationship with) a second hand Canon EOS-40D for the grand total of $369 (£250 or so).
By using a 40D, I’d maintain compatibility with the high capacity Compact Flash cards, yet maintain ease of use that I have become familiar with.
Additionally, the 40D has inbuilt sensor cleaning (which not perfect, it’s better than nothing). Another nice feature of the 40D is that it doesn’t chew through memory cards (10 to 12mb/RAW file on a 40D vs 16 to 20mb on a 50D)
To put it blunt - 1200 pictures on a 16GB card on a 40D vs 700 or so on a 50D.
First production photo - won't win any awards, but the camera is working - and it's clean
Obviously, it takes time to adjust back to a different camera, but I tested it, and it worked... and I walked out of the store, ready to shoot again... with a camera that works as I want it to.
Overall: If you’re a photographer, it’s important to know what the state of your equipment is, if you have a spare and if you can get a spare. I failed on the first part, but a bit of research helped me out to put me in a position to shoot again. I just wish I didn’t have to spend £250 for the privilege....