Spots on my pictures.

sumsar

Hi guys looking for a bit of help here..

I have a sony a200 and everytime i take a picture i get about 4 dirt spots on every picture in the same spot every time...

I know its dirt but the thing is I've used one of these guys in the picture,


To clean the lens on both ends... aswell as that, I have also tried blowing into the sensor and yet still no luck.... any ideas as to what this could be and whats the best way/s to go about getting rid of it...

This is really annoying me as it's getting in the way of me trying to get good at photography everytime I use it and I see those spots it angers me.

Here is a picture I took to show you. Thank you all tips and help appreciated.

challengemaster

Its just dust on the sensor. You don't have much compared to me! As someone once said to me, mine looks like I took off the lens, left sensor lock up turned on, and ran through a field dragging the camera along behind me...

Just bring it in to any reputable camera shop and they should be able to clean it for you in the space of 30-60 mins. Gunns camera shop would be my recommendation!

Otherwise, just remove it from the pics after with a healing brush..

sumsar

Ah thanks for that answer haha well I'm glad its not the worst around haha. I wasn't sure how long a shop would take to clean it now that clears things up thanks.. One more question.... about how much would you expect to pay??

Thecageyone

Aye, I've had worse, it's just stubborn dirt. Usually happens when changing lenses in fields or near a busy road, swirling dust in the air. Might have been wet bits of dust that glued themselves onto the sensor. You could try giving the sensor a wipe yourself with a swap, just remember you won't actually be touching the sensor but the protective layer over it. Which can take a good wipe.

Rocket blower usually shifts mine, give it a good few blasts.

Someone linked to a place that does free sensor cleans on here a while back if you do a search you might find it.

woop

Ive been asked for 40 euro in conns for it so I promptly turned around and walked to dublin camera exchange on georges street. Got charged less than 20 euro and was advised that I could equally buy the kit for 20 euro once off also but I decided not to. Go there unless youre getting it free

Thecageyone

€20 is a brilliant price if you are afraid to attempt it yourself.

pete4130

Best thing to do is get a rocket blower and a sensor pen and watch a youtube video on what to do. There is an anti-aliasing filter in front of your sensor but I wouldn't go poking it too hard and I'd avoid going down the route of using wet swabs as previously suggested. Sometimes it can take 2-3 swabs to fully clean a sensor (as the first one might leave smears, leading to fear and panic you've ruined your camera).

I use the rocket blower and sensor pen and it works fine. The rocket blower usually gets ride of most dust. Sometimes, especially around the edges and mainly in the corners you'll find the most stubborn dust.

- Charge your battery
- Set the camera to sensor cleaning mode
- Take lens off
- Activate sensor cleaning mode
- Have the camera facing down so any dust you blow out using the rocket blower falls away from the sensor
- Twist the cap of the sensor pen 2-3 times to clean it and build a slight static charge
- Run the sensor pen head gently across your sensor from top to bottom in a sweeping motion (don't let the tip of the sensor pen touch anything other than the inside of the cap and your sensor, you don't want to be putting dirt/grease from your hands/fingers onto the pen then onto the sensor).
- holding the camera face down again give it another shot of the rocket blower to get any dust particles that still might be resting inside the camera.

Pop your lenson and check for dust. If there is any still there just repeat the process. It's easy and painless and not as scary as you think.

Dust can get in anywhere when your changing lenses, not just outdoors. Theres nothign you can do to prevent it. You can only hope to minimise it (not on a windy day in a dusty environment etc....) or have a small blower to give the camera a little blast when you change lenses. Obviously this isn't practical all the time.

Thecageyone

Unless you've hands like a gorilla, using a swap gently is absolutely fine. You do it in one swift motion, you're not erasing pencil from a page or anything.

Best bet is to pay the €20 to have it cleaned for you.

TelePaul

Just a couple of things -

Don't blow on the sensor, certainly not with your mouth. To be honest, I wouldn't even use a roket air blower, as it'll only shift loose particles. You also run the risk of introducing further dust, but I guess I can be quite paranoid when it comes to the sensor.

Second, Gunns is a great shop, but I don't think they'll clean your sensor for you. They'll most likely refer you to Image Supply Systems (Liberty Lane) who'll take your camera for a couple of days. I can't remember the exact cost of a sensor clean for my 350D, but it was definitely more than twenty bills.

Finally, Conns provide free dry-dust cleaning while you wait if you purchased from them.

TelePaul

challengemaster wrote: »

Its just dust on the sensor. You don't have much compared to me! As someone once said to me, mine looks like I took off the lens, left sensor lock up turned on, and ran through a field dragging the camera along behind me...

Just bring it in to any reputable camera shop and they should be able to clean it for you in the space of 30-60 mins. Gunns camera shop would be my recommendation!

Otherwise, just remove it from the pics after with a healing brush..

Pics at F22 please!

challengemaster

TelePaul wrote: »

Pics at F22 please!

As requested




both @f22, one of pc monitor, other of white paint.

I'm terrible for taking care of things like that, sure, my backup camera (400D) has little pieces of burned rubber stuck to either the mirror or the sensor, I'm not entirely sure which. S'what I get for changing lenses at a drifting event! :pac:

Shiny

woop wrote: »

Ive been asked for 40 euro in conns for it so I promptly turned around and walked to dublin camera exchange on georges street. Got charged less than 20 euro and was advised that I could equally buy the kit for 20 euro once off also but I decided not to. Go there unless youre getting it free

That is a deadly price! I got quoted €60 in one of the camera shops.:eek:

Definitely getting mine cleaned there.

magicbastarder

just lick the sensor clean - there's rarely any dirt on your tongue.

pete4130

I usually clean my sensor 3-4 times a year when the dust gets too noticeable for me to bear. If I was to pay €20 a time it's costly over the period of a year. IF you don't change lenses that often then it shouldn't need to be cleaned that often so €20 isn't a bad price.

I've used wet swabs in the past and found them to be messy and more awkward.

I've also used a static dry brush (from Copper Hill Images) that needed to be rubbed vigorously on velum for 10-15 seconds to build a static charge to remove the dust. This too was awkward as you couldn't handle the velum directly with your fingers and wasn't practical to carry the brush, the box and the velum around.

Blower brushes can introduce dust that wasn't there but I've never really found this to be much of a problem. It's by far the easiest and cheapest method I've found coupled with the sensor pen. For an outlay of €20-€30 2 or 3 years ago its saved me about €240 in sensor cleaning, which isn't a small sum.

If you know someone who has cleaned their sensor before then get them to show you how its done. It really isn't as scary as it seems after the 1st or 2nd time. It takes me all of 45-60 seconds to clean my sensor.

chisel

Funny yis should mention that about Gunns. I ewnt into them about a year ago - asked about cleaning, and the girl behind the counter said why wouldn't I do it myself.... promptly took out my camera showed me the gear I needed, then did a clean showing me how to do it. Then asked for about 15 quid for the blower and swabs. Actually told me not to spend any more than that.......

Left with the best taste in my mouth ever after being in a camera shop. lets it, most of them look at you as if you're a bit of sh!t on the sole of their shoe.

Heebie

That could be dust on the sensor.. but I'd expect dust on the sensor to be more distinct.. much sharper and darker.
Those looks like water-spots on the lens, or worse, water spots on the IR filter just above the image sensor.
This can happen when you take a cold camera & bring it into a warm environment, or a warm camera into a cold environment, pretty easily. (It's why people advise to put your camera in a plastic bag before you go outdoors and keep it there for 20 minutes before taking it out to take photos.)

If it's on the OUTSIDE of the IR filter, then a wet sensor clean should take care of it. If it's on the INSIDE of the IR filter, it needs to see a professional technician to remove the IR filter, clean the inside, and put it back. (or replace it.)

One of my cameras has several spots on it like this. I initially thought it was spots on a particular lens.. then I noticed it wasn't just one lens, and it didn't go away if I changed lenses. Then I noted that the intensity of the distortion changed depending on the brightness of the particular part of the image it was in.

I asked a professional. I've got the wet-clean kit.. but I haven't been brave enough to actually do the cleaning to find out if it's inside or outside the IR filter.