My Camera's "Hairline Fracture"

Sun was shining, waves were crashing and bridesmaids were swinging their barefeet off the edge of the boardwalk...simply glorious, but oh no! What's that?? 

There's a little line appearing on all of my photos! 

What's wrong with my wonderful Canon 5D Mark II. 

Please don't die on me...I need you!!!

Is my lens cracked!!!!! Heart racing & sending up quick prayers. 

I switch my lens and peer down through the glass. 

Nope, they're all fine and sparkly. 

Maybe there's a hair caught inside the camera.

Nope. Clean it anyway. The line's still there across the corner of every image.

Is the inside of my camera scratched?!?!?! Eek.... 

Squinting inside but I see nothing. 

Clean again.

Maybe it's just my LCD screen — plop the card into a backup camera but the little line is still there on every photo!

I've cleaned the inside of the camera three times and nothing's changing. 

And then it hits me.....LOOK DEEPER.

Where is the one place I haven't checked yet? The sensor — deep in the heart of the camera — a place to which I've never before ventured.

The only way to look into the sensor is to remove the lens, flip up the mirror and then open the shutter.

I needed the shutter to stay open longer than it's usual fraction of a second so I put my camera on "BULB." 

What's the BULB setting, you ask? 

Automatic — The camera decides how long the shutter stays open.

Manual — You tell the camera how long you want the shutter to stay open and it holds it open for you once you click the shutter button.

Bulb — You manually control how long the shutter stays open by holding down the shutter button. When you release the button the shutter closes.

So there I was with my vulnerable camera lying open before me, it's guts exposed to the heavens and voila... there it was. A strand of my own hair that somehow wiggled itself all the way inside. 

Careful to not touch the delicate sensor I used a soft brush to lift the hair up and out to freedom!!! And we were back in action! Phew.

Thank goodness for Photoshop!! :D