5D sensor dust showing in bokeh circles and f22 sky shot?

Noticed some debris in my bokeh circles from the xmas tree so I checked my rear element but all was fine. Shot with a different lenses and they showed up again in same spot. So I shot the sky at f22 and there is debris in the same place. I thought sensor dust would not show up in bokeh circles, especially shot at f1.8 or f2?

The one of the sky is shot on the 35/2 @ f22 and the other 3 are shot with 200, 85 and 35 wide open. I circled the biggest spot but there are more small ones. I tried rocket blower but no luck. Any ideas?

Sky shot @ f22 with 35/2 (I know it's a horrible sky, nonetheless it's plain to see)

35/2 Bokeh shot

85/1.8 Bokeh shot

200/4 Bokeh shot

Ive now notice hundreds of white pixels in shots at 400iso 1/100s in the dark areas. They are in the same spot in each photo. I tried the "hot pixel remap" fix via sensor clean with cap on but no luck.

This is not normal, right?

You have dust on your sensor. Time for a cleaning.

If a blower wont clear it, it's time for a wet clean.

Looks like sensor dust.

You can try Dust Aid or lens pen. Pick/stick it up rather than wipe the whole sensor.

DON'T PANIC!
It's a 5D, this is perfectly normal and nothing to worry about, it is going to get dust on the sensor no matter what you do.
Fully research the options for cleaning the sensor, weigh up the pros and cons of actually doing it yourself.
You may find that cloning out the spots is far more cost effective and less hazardous.

What ever you do, do not use a Lens Pen!

Thanks for responses everyone, I didn't realize sensor dust could show up in bokeh as well!

How about the hot/white pixels I'm seeing in my low iso/short exp. photos? I haven't found any similar cases when searching google. Most only report a "few" white pixels that they were able to fix with the clean sensor method. I on the other hand see hundreds and can't get rid of them!

Loxley wrote in post #16556851
Thanks for responses everyone, I didn't realize sensor dust could show up in bokeh as well!

If you have dust on your sensor it shows up 100% of the time. In busy areas it is just harder to see. When the image gets uniform, it stands out clearly. But to see it all over, do the sensor dust test.
1. take a picture at a small aperture. f/22 or higher. Take it of a uniformly colored subject. A clear blue sky does well as does a blank word document on your screen.
2. When taking the picture make it as OOF as possible. If shooting the sky, focus to MFD. If shooting your monitor, focus to infinity. Also, move the lens as well to introduce as much motion blur as possible.

What you will get is an extremely OOF image of a uniformly lit area. Only the dust specks sitting on the sensor will be somewhat in focus. To further enhance the dust specks, importing the image in to PS and using something like "auto-levels" will make the specks pop right out.

gjl711 wrote in post #16556857
If you have dust on your sensor it shows up 100% of the time. In busy areas it is just harder to see. When the image gets uniform, it stands out clearly. But to see it all over, do the sensor dust test.
1. take a picture at a small aperture. f/22 or higher. Take it of a uniformly colored subject. A clear blue sky does well as does a blank word document on your screen.
2. When taking the picture make it as OOF as possible. If shooting the sky, focus to MFD. If shooting your monitor, focus to infinity. Also, move the lens as well to introduce as much motion blur as possible.

What you will get is an extremely OOF image of a uniformly lit area. Only the dust specks sitting on the sensor will be somewhat in focus. To further enhance the dust specks, importing the image in to PS and using something like "auto-levels" will make the specks pop right out.

Yes, it will show up anywhere if it is there, including bokeh, just to mess with ya!:p My 600D's sensor has been very clean generally, but just this weekend, I noticed some white spots in some dark early morning shots I took, and a couple that looked big and dark as the sun rose. Didn't know where it came from, then realized it was because I had my rig on my cloth car seat. When I went to change lenses in the car to avoid drizzle or mist, I had moved my bag around and other things stiring up dust, so even in that short time with the body open, some dust fell into it and landed on the sensor. If I'd switched it off knowing it was there, it probably would have self cleaned, but with the moist air, it stuck, and leaving the camera on for pretty much the whole shoot, the spots showed up on everything, so had to do quite a bit of pp cleanup.

I got lucky, and was able to remove the dust with just a Rocket Blower later in the day.
if it's stubborn enough to not come off, I'd recommend a wet clean, but as mentioned, make sure you're comfortable doing so. do some research, and yes YouTube can be a great source of info with the better pro channels. It's not hard to do, but you've got to be physically comfortable (ie good workspace), interuption free, with good light, and most imprtantly...Have a reliable, and fully charged battery when locking up the mirror. This is the number one mistake people make when cleaning their sensors. The camera will also give out warning beeps if a battery is low or failing, so heed the warnings of the camera, and remove the swab immediately, and get the battery issue addressed. Your main risk is the mirror coming down, and (a. damaging the mirror mech., and/or (b. maring the sensor surface. The swabs themselves are very soft, and will not scratch, but the stick or handle end the cleaning material is attached to can poke through hitting the sensor if the mirror comes down on it.
Not saying this to scare you....Just things to keep in mind when doing it yourself. Again, it's pretty simple, and you will save yourself some time and money learning how.
Good luck!

Loxley wrote in post #16556851
Thanks for responses everyone, I didn't realize sensor dust could show up in bokeh as well!

How about the hot/white pixels I'm seeing in my low iso/short exp. photos? I haven't found any similar cases when searching google. Most only report a "few" white pixels that they were able to fix with the clean sensor method. I on the other hand see hundreds and can't get rid of them!

I have the same problem although mine is not as bad, maybe below 10 white spots. Shows up at F22. They are obvious from 1/5 seconds and above exposure. Only a problem in landscape shots.

Not too sure if it's sensor dust or sensor noise but after I've cleaned the sensor recently, I don't see them anymore.

It's the only time I've had this problem. Dust?

One solution is to stop using f22.... after all, there's lots of loss to diffraction at so small an f-stop, too.

amfoto1 wrote in post #16558849
One solution is to stop using f22.... after all, there's lots of loss to diffraction at so small an f-stop, too.

Seldom do F22 but I needed that 2 minute burn in and did not have my big stopper with me.

amfoto1 wrote in post #16558849
One solution is to stop using f22.... after all, there's lots of loss to diffraction at so small an f-stop, too.

That's not really a solution. It is there in shots at f/8 or f/4 as well, it's just more diffuse and less easy to see. The real solution is to clean your sensor every once in a while. It's really not that complicated.