What do you think this is?

I would take it back to the store if I'd just bought it. Dust on the sensor will come eventually but I would not like to find that on a brand new camera.

Dust

what aperture was this even shot at...if it's like f22 or something, i'd say your sensor is pretty clean...

Handled.

The sensor was not clean and required swabbing. I called the camera store and he thought it would be better to send me to another guy who had better equipment. That he did...a cool machine (not just a little magnifier) and he showed me the dust on the sensor. There were other smaller pieces of dust but the two that I noticed were there in all their glory to see. Looked like boulders. Cleaned it for me completely and charged me 20 bucks. Normally he charges $50. I think he felt sorry for me. Said most normal people wouldn't even have noticed it. Hahaha...

So I'm good to go.

Thanks for all the advice!

Congrats on getting your sensor cleaned, but getting dust in a camera is like dust in your house. Just b/c you keep the windows and doors closed does not mean it won't get in.

If you are shooting above F11, stop...now that's normally $50, but special today is $20, I take cash, check, or PP.

ct1co2 wrote in post #14905859
Congrats on getting your sensor cleaned, but getting dust in a camera is like dust in your house. Just b/c you keep the windows and doors closed does not mean it won't get in.

If you are shooting above F11, stop...now that's normally $50, but special today is $20, I take cash, check, or PP.

Yeah I was messing around shooting at f16, 22 etc. So, why is that a bad thing? I really don't know.

My wife does not allow dust in the house.

Narrowing the aperture by that much not only cuts down on the amount of light, but among other things, it will bring out any dirt/dust issues with your sensor. It's uncommon to need to shoot closing down that much. The scene you shot would be fine at F8 or even F11 at worse, and I'd bet the dust would not be visible at all.

ct1co2 wrote in post #14905920
Narrowing the aperture by that much not only cuts down on the amount of light, but among other things, it will bring out any dirt/dust issues with your sensor. It's uncommon to need to shoot closing down that much. The scene you shot would be fine at F8 or even F11 at worse, and I'd bet the dust would not be visible at all.

Thank you. I had no idea.

It won't be long before more little such dust dots will appear. Get used to removing them in software. Using the Spot Healing Brush in Photoshop Elements (a $99.00 program) and numerous other programs will clear them up in less than 5 seconds.

I usually don't bother with any cleaning other than the auto clean until several such spots appear.

Eastport wrote in post #14905976
It won't be long before more little such dust dots will appear. Get used to removing them in software. Using the Spot Healing Brush in Photoshop Elements (a $99.00 program) and numerous other programs will clear them up in less than 5 seconds.

I usually don't bother with any cleaning other than the auto clean until several such spots appear.

I am going to remove them later in Aperture. If not...PS. Didn't really notice them until I viewed the photos larger full screen.

I'd say dust also.

Dust. When I got my first DSLR, I noticed a spot after a few months. I had no idea what it was, so I took my camera back to Best Buy and told them I needed to return it because every picture had a spot so something must be wrong with the camera. They gave me a new camera. Nowadays I just clean the sensor myself.

Since it's a brand new camera, it also might be a spot of oil on the sensor. Someone else posted that they noticed a halo and I thot I did too, and that usually is oil rather than dust.

The first cleaning on a new camera should always be a "wet cleaning". There is usually some oil contamination that needs to be removed before using any dry method such as bulb blower or a brush. In fact a brush would be contaminated by any oil.

OP, depending upon camera model, f16 and f22 aren't really necessary or very desirable a lot of the time. If it's an 18MP crop sensor camera an effect called "diffraction" starts occuring a little under f8 and gets stronger with each smaller stop. It loses fine detail from your image. I try not to use smaller than f11 with my crop cameras (7Ds). With full frame (5D MkII), I'll use f16 and occasionally f22. Full frame is less susceptible to diffraction.

I had similar type spots on some images after I stupidly removed my lens whilst walking through a park, just as the wind picked up and a lot of stuff got blown around ( this was on my 18-55mm as I was putting the lens mount cover on, stupid, I know...)

I put up with the blobs and photoshopped them out and put it down to experience.

Then I got my 50mm and had a better lens changing routine, and noticed that none of my shots had blobs anymore when done on the 50. So I did some sky shots at various apertures and still no blobs, but on the 18-55mm they came back.

Then in a "duh!" moment I had a look at the rear element on my 18-55 and noticed some teeny bits of dust there. So for me it wasn't sensor dust, just me being a bit stupid. Issue resolved by a very careful and gentle wipe with a soft lens cloth, which is a lot easier to to and has less potential for "fail" than me trying to clean the sensor.

Worth trying before you go the sensor route.

amfoto1 wrote in post #14906086
Since it's a brand new camera, it also might be a spot of oil on the sensor. Someone else posted that they noticed a halo and I thot I did too, and that usually is oil rather than dust.

The first cleaning on a new camera should always be a "wet cleaning". There is usually some oil contamination that needs to be removed before using any dry method such as bulb blower or a brush. In fact a brush would be contaminated by any oil.

OP, depending upon camera model, f16 and f22 aren't really necessary or very desirable a lot of the time. If it's an 18MP crop sensor camera an effect called "diffraction" starts occuring a little under f8 and gets stronger with each smaller stop. It loses fine detail from your image. I try not to use smaller than f11 with my crop cameras (7Ds). With full frame (5D MkII), I'll use f16 and occasionally f22. Full frame is less susceptible to diffraction.

Very helpful information. Yes, crop T4i...I had no idea. Thank you.

In fact, thanks to everybody who is helping me learn.

The man who cleaned the sensor today did it with a wet cleaning and really seemed to know what he was doing.