Seeing spots

Mary Sparrow · 01-21-2005, 08:54 AM

I was just taking a picture of this to check it on my monitor before I finish it and there are spots all over it, like the lense is dirty. I cleaned the lense several times and to my naked eye the lens looks clean. When I look through the view finder I can see the spots and try to wipe them off from that direction and nothing happens. Does anyone have any thoughts on what the problem is? I have never seen this camera do this before.

Look at the dot over her (our left) right eye, then over on the right side of the paper, those are the most obvious then upon closer inspection there are many more small ones.

Holly Snyder · 01-21-2005, 10:00 AM

Hi Mary,

You must be using an SLR with a removable lens? You probably have some dust on the inner glass of your lens or on the mirror inside the camera. You can take it to a camera shop to clean it, or you can use a blower to blow the dust off the mirror, but it's extremely fragile, so I wouldn't do it if you're not sure about it. Or do you have a filter (daylight or other) on your lens? You could have some dust between that and the lens. I like to keep a daylight filter (essentially another piece of glass) screwed on the lens to protect it, particularly when it's used outside.

Holly

Mary Sparrow · 01-21-2005, 10:09 AM

Holly, no, it doesn't have a removable lens.

Holly Snyder · 01-21-2005, 10:48 AM

Is it a digital camera? You might have some dead pixels, although from your image it looks like dust. Try taking a photo with the lens cap on (all dark), and zoom in to the bad areas on your image, and see if it looks like squares (or pixels) are a different color than the surrounding area..

Mary Sparrow · 01-25-2005, 11:13 AM

Hi Holly, sorry it has taken a few days to get back to you.

I tried what you said, it made sense to me, but got a perfectly black screen...so I don't think it is that.

I then took a picture of my kids and didn't see the spots anymore so thought maybe it was gone. Unfortunately, I think the reason I didn't see it was because so much was going on in the picture. I again tried to take a picture of a WIP and the spots are there again. I can see them through the lense, I tried to clean the lense while looking through the viewfinder, I can see the spots, but the lense rag didn't move anything, it is almost like whatever it is is on the inside of the lense.

When I really stare at the lense in different light, I see a couple of places that possibly look like tiny scratches, the only thing that seems wierd to me is that they are small lines, not perfect circles like what is showing up on the pictures and in my view finder.

Yes, it is a digital camera. Im very frustrated, and worried that this is not a problem that can be fixed...or at the very least fixed for cheap.

Janel Maples · 01-26-2005, 07:02 PM

Mary,

Don't you have the Canon Digital Rebel? That lens is removable.

Keep us posted with what the problem is. I will watch closely because I have the same camera.