Cosmetic changes on the EOS 50D include the addition of a silver coated Main Control dial with
knurled wheel pattern,a classier paint finish overall and a modified r ubber pad next to the grip.To
increase the sensors’resistance to microscopic and larger dust particles, several improvements
were made to the existing design of the Integrated Cleaning System found in the EOS 40D
and in the full-frame EOS-1Ds Mark III.These improvements are found in the EOS 50D
and in the newly designed, Integrated Cleaning System on the full-frame EOS 5D Mark II.
The first involves the careful choice of camera components with low particle wear characteristics.
Next,a fluorine coating is added to the front low-pass filter. This coating is more resistant to
dust adhesion,making the use of a bulb blower (compressed air is not recommended) more
effective at removing air-borne dust particles.
A fundamental aspect of the Integrated Cleaning System is the Self Cleaning Sensor Unit,
which uses a piezoelectric element to ultrasonically shake dust off the sensor.This occurs
automatically at camera startup and shutdown, and can also be activated manually via menu
control.With both camer as,if sensor cleaning is manuall y activated,the shutter blades cycle
(you’ll hear a click as they do) to insure nothing on the rear of the blades could later fall onto
the face of the sensor.Particles of dust that fall off during this vibration stick to absorbent
materials lining the outer edges of the filter system.The third
component of the Integrated Cleaning System is a software
solution,allowing users to automatical ly “clone”any remaining
dust from their RAW or JPEG images with the included Canon
Digital Photo Professional (DPP) software. You can map the dust
on the sensor using the Dust Delete Data function. DPP software
can use that data to remove the trouble spots on all images.And
unlike typical image-editing software, this automatic removal
can be done to batches of images, automatically—even when
the subjects in each image are completely different.
34
IV. PERFORMANCE AND RELIABILITY
EOSIntegrated Cleaning
System
Piezoelectric
element
Support material
Phaser layer
Infrared-absorption glass
Low-pass filter -2
CMOS sensor
Sealing material
Low-pass filter -1
SelfCleaning Sensor Unit Construction Diagram