what is this?

[Sugrat]

Can someone please tell me what the smear in the picture is? is it dust? from the images where members have pointed out dust, it looks a little too big for that. I have the same spot in all my pictures.

At first I thought it was the lens but I changed over to another one and the same thing.

I just want to make sure you guys think it's dust before paying out money for either a cleaning or a cleaning kit.

Thx

Dave

PS. Has anyone else used visible dust and what are there thoughts on it?

[Sugrat]

Sry for some reason the pic didn't come out good, so here's crop of the pic again in better detail.

[defordphoto]

Probably dust. Shoot a blank sky pic at F32

[Cadwell]

Looks like dust or possibly a small fibre on the sensor. Whatever way you cut it you're going to have to clean the sensor at some point so you may as well get the gear to do it with.

[RodneyCyr]

Whatever it is, it is out of focus. Probably not on the sensor. Was there a water droplet on the lens?

[tim]

Whatever it is, it is out of focus. Probably not on the sensor. Was there a water droplet on the lens?

I don't think you're correct, specks on the sensor look wide and blurred like that when a wide aperture is used.

[Jon, The Elder]

Yup-

[scottbergerphoto]

definitely a dust booger.

[scottbergerphoto]

definitely a dust booger on the sensor.

[fortinaa]

Looks exactly like the spots that showed up when my sensor needed cleaning. I never saw them till I shot some landscapes with lots of blue sky in them. A cleaning took care of the problem.

[Sugrat]

thxs guys - I just wanted to make sure.

I tried to do a manual cleaning last night but no matter how many times i used the blow trick it didn't do anything to that smear.

So i'm guessing that I've got to send it for a cleaning (Canon Irvine is around the corner) - does anyone know how much they charge? I called and they said they couldn't tell me...

Dave

[scottbergerphoto]

Have you considered the Copperhill cleaning method?
http://www.pbase.com/copperhill/ccd_cleaning

[Sugrat]

Thank you for the link, i'm going to give it a try first, there's no harm in trying.

Thanks again.

[glangston]

I think Canon will charge you around $50 minimum. I've been pretty lucky as the blower method has worked for me. If you let Canon do it make sure to test it right then.

[GenEOS]

Just try cleaning with a big bulb blower first per the directions before you get radical with cleaning agents, brushes, etc. Most times, blowing the sensor of using a big bulb type blower will take off this type dust.

Higher f-stops (f8~f32) make these things show up more so than f1.4~f4

[intechpcx]

Check the rear element of that lens, I'd be willing to bet that's where it is. As someone else mentioned, it seems too out of focus to be on the sensor. I've had spots from dirty lenses and a dirty sensor. What you've got there looks just like what I had when the rear element was dirty.

[Sugrat]

Check the rear element of that lens, I'd be willing to bet that's where it is. As someone else mentioned, it seems too out of focus to be on the sensor. I've had spots from dirty lenses and a dirty sensor. What you've got there looks just like what I had when the rear element was dirty.

I thought it was on the lens first also but I tried a different lens and the smear was there also.

But when i tried to clean the sensor with the blow, i looked closely at it with a bright light and i could not see anything on the sensor, is there any other places in the camera i can look at?

[intechpcx]

I thought it was on the lens first also but I tried a different lens and the smear was there also. But when i tried to clean the sensor with the blow, i looked closely at it with a bright light and i could not see anything on the sensor, is there any other places in the camera i can look at?


When I had dirt on my sensor, I was not able to see it visibly at all. Remember the pixels on that sensor are extremely small so it takes very little to make a spot the size of what you see on your shots. I would agree if you're getting the same spot with multiple lenses it sounds like a dirty sensor.