Bad Flash!

[rhibbert]

I was rather surprised to get no replies to my earlier post; this forum has always been helpful in the past. Has anybody else noticed problems with their S230 when using flash? I've checked with Canon and the firmware in the camera is up to date.

Some of the photos I have taken with my S230 have a circular blemish on them. I'm guessing that this is due to the focus assist lamp, but haven't tried turning the lamp off to prove this. It doesn't matter whether the subject matter is reflective or not, I still see the same effect.

You can check out an example photo (264KB) taken in my hotel room on the day I bought the camera at http://www.geocities.com/rh15230/IMG_0010x.JPG (The blemish is the round mark below the TV and above the dresser handle)

Do you think that I have a faulty camera?

Thanks for any feedback
Richard :?

[stopbath]

I can't load the picture. I get an error page from the server.

Anyway, is the blemish sort of pale, and transpearant? It is likely just a speck of dust in front of the lens and it was illuminated by the flash. This happens frequently with little itty bitty cameras (like my A70) where the flash is close to the lens.

Like the red-eye problem, it's one of the downsides to compact cameras.

[rhibbert]

Sorry about the web page problems. Are you following the link, or going to the base URL?

Try this link instead http://www.geocities.com/rh15230/index.htm
or http://geocities.com/rh15230/IMG_0010x.JPG

The blemish isn't dust. It moves from photo to phot, but is circular and significant in size and evidence!

Richard

[stduc]

It's quite obviously an internal reflection of the flash reflection off the TV. Quite normal. You have effectively pointed the camera at the light source. Watch the end of the movie Easy Rider to see lots of the same. If however you get this effect when you can't see a light source - you have problems!

P>S> - What's the mag?

[stopbath]

Ok, I see the photo, my guess is still dust since the spots move from spot to spot, and are transparent. The shape could be irregular (dust was in near depth of field (f8)) or round (out of focus so takes on shape of aperture opening.)

Cure: clean the air, turn off the flash, take another shot (when the dust has moved away...) or clone it out.