Black spots on my pictures...

[Storm420]

I noticed black spots in my pictures since changing the lens on the camera. Same area on all pictures. I believe it to be dust, but am not 100% sure. I am wondering if I pull the lens off and clean the senor myself using a blower and/or brush or should I just send it out to be cleaned? Please help!

 

[Electric Shepherd]

Defo dust on your sensor. Nothing at all to be lost by a simple blast with a blower. I wet clean my sensors myself and it's not that scary really [especially a camera like the Nex without a physical shutter], but if you're uncertain then get a pro clean it.

 

[GabrielPhoto]

Rocket Air is what I use all the time. No big deal to clean it since you are not touching anything

 

[Jefenator]

What they said.

A few other things:

- If you don't stop down the lens as much, the spots will be less prominent. They also tend not to stick out when there's a lot of detail in the area. I routinely shoot landscapes around f/5.6 or f/8 and hardly ever notice anything. OTOH I also shoot product at f/16 and f/22 against a smooth background so I'm all too aware of where the dust spots are.

- The sensor spots are usually very easy to digitally retouch IME. Lightroom has a "Spot Removal" tool that has proven to be quite handy and effective. (You can even copy your retouching work from one frame and paste it onto everything else.) I have yet to encounter a sensor dust spot that required more than this. (Chunks of dust and little hairs on the actual subject, now that's another thing altogether - got to fire up Photoshop and bring out the big guns...)

I just did my first ever wet cleaning last night and it went not too bad. (I really like working with Eclipse fluid and Sensor Swabs / Pec Pads.) There was one or two big spots that just got rolled around but I was able to get most of the other stuff that the blower was failing to dislodge.

I'll take dust on the digital sensor over old-school retouching (analog, with a mix of dyes and a tiny brush) any day!

 

[Rich]

Had some dust issues with my 6 recently. Gave it a few good blasts with a rocket blower, that sorted it out.

 

[Larry]

I find I'm having more dust issues now that I'm changing lenses more often. I'm careful to keep the open ends pointed down. Does anyone use canned air when changing a lens?

Larry

 

[Bimjo]

I find I'm having more dust issues now that I'm changing lenses more often. I'm careful to keep the open ends pointed down. Does anyone use canned air when changing a lens?

Larry

NO! Canned air can deposit nasty stuff that's very difficult to get off the sensor. Use a filtered blower bulb (Giottos Rocket blower or similar) instead. If you use a blower bulb won't get dust off you may have to resort to actually cleaning the sensor. If you use canned air you will have to resort to actually cleaning the sensor.

That's my opinion/experience, YMMV.

 

[Larry]

Thanks Bimjo. I'll can that idea.

Larry

 

[NickCyprus]

I was recently told that using zoom lenses is far more prone to letting dust entering the sensor...don't know how true this is though

 

[Bimjo]

I was recently told that using zoom lenses is far more prone to letting dust entering the sensor...don't know how true this is though

If you consider that the zoom lens/sensor modules for the Ricoh GXR are sealed units (user can't easily remove the lens) and they suffer from sensor dust, it stands to reason that a zoom lens is at least somewhat prone to being "dust sucker".