# Dust On My Sensor



## ftacnikaustin (May 12, 2010)

So, I was taking some pictures outside with my 20D and when I went inside and uploaded the pictures I noticed that the only the last 3 pictures have little specks all over. So I went back out, took some more pictures and now every pictures I take I get little specks. The weird thing is that only the last 3 pictures have the "specks" all the other pictures are fine. I didn't change lenses or anything. How did this happen? What should I do? Sorry if this is the wrong forum to post in. Thanks in advance.:mrgreen:


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## pbelarge (May 12, 2010)

Is it possible the dust is on the exterior of the lens? Did you clean that portion?

Not all lenses are dust proof. It is possible the dust invaded your lens and settled on the sensor.


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## Overread (May 12, 2010)

Can you show the images to use - and make sure that the little specs are not noise generated by you accidentally letting your ISO get too high. Sensor dust and noise look very different and from what you say it sounds like dust - but example shots should show it up


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## ftacnikaustin (May 12, 2010)

pbelarge said:


> Is it possible the dust is on the exterior of the lens? Did you clean that portion?
> 
> Not all lenses are dust proof. It is possible the dust invaded your lens and settled on the sensor.



Yeah, I cleaned the lens. Still little "specks" I have a cheap 50mm 1.8 so maybe that's what it is. Any idea on how to get it off? I remember reading something about bringing it to a professional to get it cleaned. If so, I don't know where any photo shops are


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## ftacnikaustin (May 12, 2010)

Overread said:


> Can you show the images to use - and make sure that the little specs are not noise generated by you accidentally letting your ISO get too high. Sensor dust and noise look very different and from what you say it sounds like dust - but example shots should show it up



Well I've never uploaded photos on this site but i guess theres a first for everything. Do I need to upload them online first? Or can I just import them straight from my hard drive? 

I'm almost 100% positive it's not noise. I shoot manual and had my ISO at 100. Also I know what noise looks like. I will still try to upload some photos.


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## pbelarge (May 12, 2010)

I do not know your skill level or confidence in attempting to clean your lens.

Here are a couple of links for more info on the topic

Cleaning Digital Cameras - Photographic Solutions, Inc.

DUST-AID : DSLR Camera Sensor Cleaning Products

Introduction - Cleaning Digital Cameras - D-SLR Sensor Cleaning.


I had dust on my sensor (Canon T1i), I attempted the cleaning myself. It was not difficult. I am a very capable person who has a technical backround. You will have to decide whether you try to clean this yourself, hire someone, or maybe use software to remove the dust artifacts from your photos.


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## Overread (May 12, 2010)

As you are not a paid member of this forum you can't upload direct - you will have to use another service 
Welcome to Flickr - Photo Sharing
is a good place for photo uploads and you can get to grips with it with a free acount - just register and then you can upload images. I do  recomend that you do the following however - before you upload

1) take one of the original images with the spots on it and set the viewing size to 100% in your editer - then use the crop tool and (at that scale) cut out a chunk of the image - save that image (without resizing) to a new name.

2) Open up the original image again and resize it down to at least 1000pixels on the longest side. Save this as a JPEG and use a different file name again (so that you don't save over the original verison). 

Upload those two images (at least) that way we can get a look at the 100% size an quality without you having to upload the full image.


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## ftacnikaustin (May 13, 2010)

I tried uploading and it still won't let me upload from flickr.

Here's the link

http://www.flickr.com/photos/austinftacnik/4602816511/

 Sorry I didn't feel that I needed to uploaded two because you can clearly see it. If you still need me to upload another one just let me know. This is sensor dust, correct? 

While I'm already posting something I mind as well ask, How do I see threads that I have posted in or that I've created?


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## UUilliam (May 13, 2010)

looks-to-me-the-dust-is-on-the-front-element-of-the-lens


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## Garbz (May 13, 2010)

Err I didn't except so many people on this forum not to realise this. What portion of the lens element is covered by dust? That's basically the portion of effect it would have on each pixel of the image. You'd need something like mould covering half of your lens for there to be any visible problems with your image. 

*Dust on the lens elements do NOT show up in photos*

Look at cleaning the sensor if you must, but really you don't need to do that either. The smaller the aperture the more "in focus" the dust spots will be rendered on the image. Looking at a lot of those spots I'd say most if not all of them wouldn't show up under normal conditions. You shouldn't be shooting at f/22 unless you desperately have to anyway due to diffraction issues. 

Take a photo at f/11. Do you still see the dust?


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## Overread (May 13, 2010)

^^ +1 to what Garbz said. 
I shoot a lot of macro - where using smaller apertures (bigger f numbers) for depth of field is important most of the time - and I tend to have f13 as the smallest aperture I work with (sometimes using f16, but not often). Essentialy once you start getting smaller apertures than around f8 diffraction starts to take place and that softens your final image, no matter how well you took the shot. As I say I generally find that up to around f13 you still get very usable images, but going any smaller and what you gain in depth you quickly lose in sharpness.*

Also a point - when it comes to landscape work (becuase this is where manythink you need ultra small apertures to get the depth) you don't need to use ultra small apertures, but what you do need to learn is of "hyperfocal distance and focusing". Google/search and ask around that if you need more info on the subject

Further to embed the images into the site from flickr click the allsizes button in flickr (the little + symbol above your image. In the new window scroll down and copy all of the image code (the second box of tex, the smaller). 
Then in a post in here put:
[ img ] paste the link here [ /img ]
without any spaces and it should show the image here. Typically you don't want to show images greater than 800pixels on the longest side - so you can select the smaller sizes on the flickr page - embed the smaller one and then copy the link for the larger and just paste it below the  tags. It will appear as a hyperlink linking people to the larger version.

*note this a very rough working - specific diffraction limits are defined by the camera body, lens and also the personal standards and output of the photographer in question.


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## Jeff Colburn (May 13, 2010)

I would try cleaning the sensor. I use Sensor Swab from Photographic Solutions, Inc. Get them at B&H or a similar place.

Have Fun,
Jeff


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## KmH (May 13, 2010)

The "little specks" are noise, not sensor dust.

Sensor dust is round, fairly good size, dark in color, and only seen in light colored portions of an image like the sky.


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## ftacnikaustin (May 13, 2010)

KmH said:


> The "little specks" are noise, not sensor dust.
> 
> Sensor dust is round, fairly good size, dark in color, and only seen in light colored portions of an image like the sky.



Did you see the picture? I'm pretty sure it's not noise. Look at the picture if you haven't looked. It's big specks. Not all over the screen. Only a few of them


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## ftacnikaustin (May 13, 2010)

Hope this works


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