The new Canon 1D Mark III, the very new Canon 1Ds Mark III, and, I believe, some of the non-pro new models, all offer an automatic cleaning feature that is supposed to clean the camera's sensor. The baine of digital photography is dirt on the sensor, and if one doesn't check, or clean, a sensor frequently one generally comes to regret it. On one of our Arizona hummingbird shoots, for example, I didn't do so as often as I should have, and although I thought I was not changing lenses often, and was careful when I did, I found, to my absolute horror, that my featureless backgrounds for many of my hummingbird shots looked awful -- spots, motes, specks, they were everywhere.
Mary and I have been shooting the 1D Mark III since mid-August,
and for the last few months we've been in one of the dustiest
environments we can shoot in - the plains of Kenya during a drought.
With the Mark III, we have the option of having the sensor cleaning
feature activated, so that every time the camera is turned on
or off the sensor is cleaned. We've done that with three of our
cameras, while my fourth, I've disabled that feature and I do
a manual clean every few days.
Well, here's the answer. It works, far beyond our expectations.
In the entire time we were in Africa I cleaned our sensors in
a conventional fashion only once, and that was only with a large
blower to dislodge a large speck that ended up on one of my cameras.
In short, it is a terrific feature, and I'd suggest that feature
alone is worth upgrading to, whether its a pro model like the
Mark III or a D40.
Still not convinced, then consider the ISO capacity of the new cameras. I'll say more about that in a later Question!
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How
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format worthwhile?
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Wildlife
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Can
a Wimberley Head be used with small lenses?
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Is Digital Manipulation
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Film
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Does the Visibledust
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Using Zoom
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Hyperfocal Distance
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Flash and
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How Easy is Whale Photography?
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