dirt inside my lens? what to do?

Hello everyone,

 

I'm new to the whole photography world, I got myself a D70s few months ago and

realized today while shooting some pictures that I can see some "dots" on certain area of

my images (full resolution). If I move and recompose, the dots are still on the same areas,

which tend to point to the lens. After cleaning my lens (a 18-70 kit lens), I realized that

there seems to be few dirt *inside* the lens itself!! As I mentioned, I only got that

equipment few months ago and took extremely good care of it, but obviously not enough :

(

 

Here is a link of a picture showing the spots ... you can find at least 5 on the sky :

 

http://www.nokoston.com/test/dirty.jpg

 

What am I suppose to do now? I'm so frustrated to have spent all that money if now all my

pictures are going to show unwanted spots on them ... I bought all my gear at B&H.com

and I'm bummed and not sure what to do now ... does anyone have any advices?

 

Thanks,

-Jerome.

It's not dirt inside the lens.

 

Dirt in between the lens elements only causes a general loss of resolving power and

'dimming', but only in quite significant quantities. It can't be 'resolved' in the image.

 

What you're seeing is dust on the camera sensor itself. You can get this off, but you need

to exercise a fair bit of caution.

 

Read up on it extensively before you do it. Don't try to use any blower device that uses a

propellant, and bear in mind, Nikon don't want you to use anything but a blower bulb.

They will tell you that anything else invalidates the warranty.

 

If you're squeamish, take it into a camera shop or return it to Nikon for them to do it.

 

Other people here will have advice about recommended methods. I haven't tried any of

them as yet.

And as an aside, don't worry too much about dust inside the lens. Most zoom lenses acquire

some.

That looks like dirt on the sensor to me. common with digital cameras. More than likely if can be removed with a blast of air. (Don't used caned air). Your pic doesn't seem that bad mine were much worse and using air removed the dirt. there are plenty of guides on the net with instructions on the process, if you follow them its a painless prcedure. Copperhill has sensor cleaning kits available, I ordered mine along with a bellows air pump from them. there are other places that carry these products. Once again, FOLLOW THE INSTUCTIONS. The sensor is the camera's brain! Hope this helps.

All right, that sounds like an extremely meticulous process (sensor cleaning) but I guess it's

fixable so it

sounds a lot better! I'm going to read and learn how to do it now ...

 

Thank you all for your advices,

 

-J.

After reading some more, I did the test (focus set to infinity, aperture to f/22 and shot a

blank display - tried with another lens and got the same result) and sadely I can see a dozen

of spots ... arg!

 

FYI, I found this article which seems to be recommended by other folks as well : http://

www.pbase.com/copperhill/ccd_cleaning.

Jerome,

DO NOT TRY TO CLEAN YOUR SENSOR BY YOURSELF!

NO! NO! NO!

YOU ARE STILL UNDER WARRENTY.

If you go to Nikon USA located in Long Island or send the camera to Long Island base, then they will clean your dirty sensor for you for FREE.

I MEAN FREE, so don't risk yourself from destroying your camera by handling it yourself. If you do, you are going to regret it.

If you go there in person you can drop it off and pick the camera up within an hour (TRUST ME! I'VE DONE THIS MANY TIMES!)

If you mail it, then it will take roughly 2 weeks or so and you'll spend lots of money sending and etc.

That's indeed dust on the sensor. Dust on the lens is almost never visible directly on shots, it only contributes in slightly reduced contrast.

 

(OK, maybe a big blob of dust on the front of an 8mm fish-eye at f/16 would be visible, but that's really pushing the envelope).

 

You don't need to physically touch the sensor to clean it. Get a good rubber air blower (I use giotto's rocket), it'll take care of most cases of dust on your sensor, and will let you clean the rest of your equipment safely and easily - I really like how easy it blows dust off the front of my lenses.

Jamison, I totally understand your point of view and it would be so convenient to be able to

do that but unfortunately I live in Austin, TX. That would mean shipping my camera away for

few weeks and some $$ too (now of course, if I messed up, it'll be way more expensive and

will take longer as well).

 

I have to say, it is a big dilemma so far and I wish I wouldn't have to deal with it (at least not

so soon). I need to continue reading about it in order to make a (somewhat) constructive

decision. I mean, if this happens quite often, I might as well learn how to do it.

Jerome, If you're going to shoot digital, you need to get used to the fact that you'll need to clean your sensor from time to time. Learn to do it properly and just do it. I use the rocket blower regularly on my cameras. It's simple and safe. You never touch the sensor. So far, that's all I've ever had to do to clean my sensors. (I use the Rocket blower).

 

The only way to avoid dust on your sensor is to never use your camera (or change lenses). It's just part of shooting. Even with film, dust is something that just needs to be dealt with.

I have a Fuji S2 Pro and I had a similar issue because of a spec of dust on my sensor. I bought a Sensor brush and cleaned it myself. It was pretty darn easy and seemed to be very gentle on my sensor (CCD). Anyway, do your homework and I think you'll find that you can do a good job cleaning it just be cautious and learn as much as you can about doing it before you attempt it. Also please note that I tried cleaning it with one of those squeeze blower type deals, but I had a stubborn particle on mine that wouldn't come off until I used the brush.

If there is really a bit of dust inside the lens, sell the lens, buy another one.

 

If the new one catches dust inside, proceed as above. This way you will saturate the used market with perfectly good lenses.

 

Dust is everywhere. Simply try not to obsess too much about this, or repeat what I said above ...

 

But your problem is dirt on your sensor or burnt out pixels. That is not your problem: return the camera and have it professionally cleaned.

 

How do you think you can render a bit of dirt inside the lens as sharp on the sensor a your pics indicate? Terrific macro capabilities, eh? No way!

Hi, I had this problem with my new D70. Discovered a blob in photos well after i bought the camera. I went through the same investigation period you seem to be doing. It is a mark/marks on the CCD sensor. This is a job for your Nikon warranty agent. In australia they offer one free clean with new cameras. After that it is $40AU to clean the CCD. My mark was quite large but only showed on light backgrounds like sky and such. DO NOT CLEAN THIS YOURSELF. This job only takes them 10 minutes or so while you wait.

I bought the copperhill cleaning tool and pec pads, but lived with the dust for about a year because I was nervous of cleaning the CCD. Eventually tried it on an old D100 I was selling as it had lots of dust on the sensor. 2 mins process with one pad cleaned all the dust off - no problems. As long as you are careful and follow the instructions you should be OK - remember despite their warnings Nikon actually market a CCD cleaning kit for home users in Japan!