Sensor cleaning, does it affect battery life?

[neilb]

Hi all.
Just bought a 7D (previously had a 1DIIN) and whilst playing I noticed its set to clean the sensor on start up and shut down.
Now I have reduced my collection to one lens (24-105 f4L) so the body won't be open to air very often, so assuming that most zoom lenses suck dust in (?) how often do I really need to let the camera clean its sensor? Also does auto cleaning flatten the battery?
Cheers.
Neil.
PS..Loving the7D so far..just took a couple of lives out of the cat playing with the remote flash!

[Muscat]

Re: Sensor cleaning, does it affect battery life?

Hi Neil,

I don't have a 7D but have a similar sensor cleaning system on my 50D, I have it set as th edefault and fidn that the impact on battery life is unnoticable, yes there must be something but I can still take several hundred shots and not worry, that is with the camera being turned on and off quite a few times.

Glad you are enjoying the camera it is a fine piece of engineering, I hope the cat doesn't run out of all its lives

[EOS_Jim]

Re: Sensor cleaning, does it affect battery life?

For the small amount of time it takes it will hardly be noticeable. If you never change lenses, switch it off if you feel more comfortable.

Really you should charge your batteries regularly anyway. Don't give them the chance to run out on you!

[colin C]

Re: Sensor cleaning, does it affect battery life?

Hello Neil

It activates, vibrates a little, then deactivates. I would have thought any battery drain would be negligable.

Colin

[raymon]

Re: Sensor cleaning, does it affect battery life?

Hello Neil, My 7d cleans the sensor both powering up and switching off, the battery life is amazing on the latest Canon SLR's, 100's of images taken in one day never been below 50% charge. sensor cleaning not a problem in my opinion.

Ray

[Nathaniel]

Re: Sensor cleaning, does it affect battery life?

Neilb,

It is very wise IMHO. The less you change you lens the less dirt and grit gets into the sensor. I try to over come this problem with 2 camera bodies- one fitted with a long tele and the other one fitted with a lens I think I will use for a particular purpose- such as standard photos for which I use my 17-50mm f2.8 Tamron lens. Of course I am prepared to change lenses depending on my objective- i.e if it's a landscape I'd fit my wide angle lens. I also have a P&S bridge camera which I take with me. So if I am photographing say wild life I will take my camera fitted with the tele lens as well as my P&S in case I have to photograph something close at hand, for which the tele lens will not be suitable. Perhaps you might like to invest in a P&S camera just in case you feel that the 24mm-105mm is not "long " enough!! OR short enough! These are my thoughts and I am happy with how I get about my very interesting and passionate hobby.

Both my DSLR's have got automatic senor cleaning which I think is one of the best technological advanacements, for a newbie like me. The battery drain is negligible.

[MartinR]

Re: Sensor cleaning, does it affect battery life?

"Now I have reduced my collection to one lens (24-105 f4L) so the body won't be open to air very often, so assuming that most zoom lenses suck dust in (?) how often do I really need to let the camera clean its sensor? Also does auto cleaning flatten the battery?"

Hello Neil,

A couple of thoughts prompted by what the other folks have said: I don't think that any dust sucked into a lens will get past the rear element and into the camera and, in my experience with a 40D and a couple of lenses with IS, it is the focussing and image stabilisation which really runs away with the battery (acknowledging that "chimping" is probably the worst offender). Sensor cleaning does not appear to have any ill effect - and even if it didI would consider it energy well spent.

Martin