Dust on sensor?

Hi all:

This is my first post.

The day after buying my first dSLR, the Digital Rebel XT (an upgrade over the PowerShot S3 IS), I noticed a spot or smudge, only on skies. After searching through the forums, I believe that it is a speck of dust, but I'm not 100% sure (so I attached an image). it is always in the same place and i only see it on blue sky. I went back to the store, but they are imbeciles, and directed me towards Canon service (which is actually relatively close to where I live) or their own customer service. I still have thirteen days if there is something really wrong or I'm not satisfied with the camera.

So, questions: is it dust? If yes, should I try fixing it myself, or just bring it in to Canon since it is still NEW and under warranty?

Thanks.

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It is dust. You can probably blow it out with a rocket blower and save yourself a trip.

Mark

Another vote for the rocket blower!

Thanks for the responses! I have such bad luck--what are the odds of having dust on a new camera? I'll do some more research on removing dust but if Canon can do it quickly for me, I may go there since they are close-by (and I'm not yet comfortable with the whole concept of accidentally ruining my camera if I make a mistake cleaning it). Do you know why the dust only shows up on blue skies?

It will show up on any even, light colored background. Darker, more detailed areas of the image will actually hide the dust shadow.

Mark

bigC wrote in post #3714123
Thanks for the responses! I have such bad luck--what are the odds of having dust on a new camera?

It's not uncommon. My 30D has dust bunnies pretty early on, but as stated, it's easy enough to blow them out.

Dust happens. It's no big deal. And it is not at all unusual to find it in new cameras. A blower brush will help but you will need to clone out spots as well in your image editor. I find the Healing Brush in Photoshop CS2 to be very effective. I have a 20D for more than two years and I have never cleaned the sensor.

carrigman wrote in post #3714667
Dust happens. It's no big deal. And it is not at all unusual to find it in new cameras. A blower brush will help but you will need to clone out spots as well in your image editor. I find the Healing Brush in Photoshop CS2 to be very effective. I have a 20D for more than two years and I have never cleaned the sensor.

Thanks for the advice--I've been using the Clone Tool in CS2 to disappear the offending spec, but the Healing Brush works very well, too. That'll have to do until I clean the sensor (since I am one of those people who need things to be as close to perfect as possible in order to be happy).

Dust is an issue no doubt. Get yourself a rocket blower, that will take care of most dust.

Mark_Cohran wrote in post #3714625
It will show up on any even, light colored background. Darker, more detailed areas of the image will actually hide the dust shadow.

Mark

Again, thanks for the info. I took some pics of my bird (background was a white wall) and saw the spot but pics of flowers in the garden were OK.

I, particularly, would prefer to use this pen http://cgi.ebay.com …ZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcm​dZViewItem , then blow out with rocket blower. Works like a charm.