Problem spots on pictures

[neilwortham]

I have an interesting glitch with my Canon A40 camera.

In a nutshell mostly when using the flash indoors the pictures come out with anything up to 5 small discs of light on them. The discs of light are out of focus and vary in size from very small to ¼ inch. It’s almost as though the lens had rain on it. The lens however is as clear as anything and it doesn't happen with macro work.

Anyone got any suggestions?

[Maestro]

We've had a lengthy discussion on this very problem with various digital cameras.. check out the discussion at:
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=2791

Basically, it's dust in the air that's reflecting the flash back to the camera out of focus. It has to do with the close proximity of the flash to the lens causing sharp angled light deflections back into the lens. Nothing we can do about it apparently (unless you hook up a slave flash to the camera and mount that farther away from the lens).

[neilwortham]

Thank you very much for the feedback. You pointed me to a ton of info. and I kinda guess that I will have to live with it.

Of course it now means I will avoid using the flash so much and concentrate on correct shutter speeds etc. without flash. Probably make me a better photographer.

There is always a silverlining.