Dust on Sensor

<p>I got my K50 less than 10 days ago. obviously I tested it out around the house and what not but tonight I took it on a walk with the dog and got a real nice shot of the moon ( day light) except for the damn big dust line on the picture!!<br />one of the reasons I back off the K10D was the constant ruined shots with dust. <br /><br />admittedly its apparent that I am not good with cleaning the sensor based on my lack of success with the K100D.<br /><br />I bought an Olympus E-PL3 and have never had one spec of dust on that sensor<br /><br />I have this K50 for less than 2 weeks changed lenses twice---carefully because I know the risks----and now this crap again.<br /><br />before coming here and crying to you guys I did a google search and it seems there was a major issue with Nikon D600 specifically.<br /><br />Right now I am so disappointed in this that I feel like thats about it for me in the "amateur Photography " world<br /><br />is this a major problem for you guys too and you have to take just as much time cleaning sensors as you do taking pictures or are you using software to remove the spots from your pictures.<br /><br /> <br /><br /><br /></p>

<p>I hardly encounter enough light to stop down to see my dust. I also thought the K20D's sensor shaking is already an improvement over the *ist D?<br>

I cleaned a few times. - if its just dust you get parts of it removed by blowbomb - I own some speck grabber too. and if really needed there is clone-stamping in the software.</p>

<p>I've got no Pentax, but dust issues are part of working with systems with exchangable lenses. But...</p>

<ol>

<li>The issue with the Nikon D600 is completely unrelated to your camera, and it is not a dust issue (it's lubricant oil 'leaking');</li>

<li>Dust does not enter only when changing lenses. This is a bit an internet myth, the idea that you will not have dust when you do not change your lenses. It's still happen - most zoomlenses suck in air while extending them, and blow back out when zooming back - which may include dust. Lenses are not dust proof. That said, of course when you change lenses, consider the environment. Dusty, windy areas do bear more risk.</li>

</ol>

<p>Currently, my camera has about 25 dustspots visible from f/11 on; 4 of them are visible at f/8, when shooting against the sky. With the blower, these are spots that won't go, so it'll need wet cleaning some time soon. In the software I use, this is fixed in a matter of minutes to fix up these images, so there isn't a lot of pressure for me to do this wet cleaning. And even if I do not do the software brush-up, I don't feel it really "wrecks" my images in the vast majority of cases.<br>

So, a major problem it sure isn't. It's a little problem, easily dealt with. Given that I like my DSLR quite a lot, it's part of the deal; the end result doesn't suffer enough to make a big fuzz over it.</p>

<p>I do a wet cleaning when needed, maybe 4 times a year or so, usually after shooting a dusty event.<br>

Between those times and also always before a wet cleaning a quick look at the sensor in good light will allow me to see the dust and I can just hit it with the rocket blower. That does the trick the majority of the time and it take about a minute. <br>

<a href="http://www.adorama.com/GTRABM.html"><img src="http://www.adorama.com/images/Large/gtrabm.jpg" alt="" width="450" height="450" /></a></p>

<p>I've changed lenses under all circumstances, even during a sandstorm once, and it doesn't worry me a bit.<br>

Several spots I have, one normally visible, the others only when exaggerating images in post processing.<br />try dry cleaning first (check youtube), Ive done that 3 times in 8 years of K10, and not yet in 3 years of K5.<br>

it's like the frontscreen of a car, too much cleaning makes you oversensitive :)</p>

<p>I also change lenses freely and I have not found dust to be a significant bother. In the somewhat unlikely case that it is actually noticeable (generally the lens needs to be stopped down a bunch and the dust needs to be covering a part of the image where it will stand out (for example on a light-toned, evenly colored sky/wall/ceiling) it's usually relatively small and easily cloned away when post-processing.</p>

<p>You mention "big dust line" in your description -- I much more frequently see small rounder dust bunnies, where when lens aperture is wide-ish its not especially well defined but it gets sharper when significantly stopped down. Can you share an image of this "big dust line"?</p>

<p>I do not spend a lot of time worrying about this, and as far as 'sensor cleaning', it's usually just an occasional hit with a rocket blower like the one Matt mentioned.</p>

<p>For what it's worth, I think I've tended to have Pentax's built-in dust removal shake enabled on camera power on or off (forget which, it's been a while). Maybe this has helped over the years?</p>

<p>thanks people<br /><br />I was/am very upset about this. I know its part of it but I didnt expect it within less than 2 weeks of owning the camera. <br />I think what shocked me more is that it was visible on the display screen. I never saw that on the K100D. on pictures viewed on the computer yes but never that I noticed on the display...maybe because it was som much smaller with less resolution.<br /><br />I also not very good with the photoshop stuff. I guess Ill have to get better.<br /><br />Wouter, thank you I never considered the lens sucking air to be part of it.<br /><br />funny thing is, I have a Olympus E-PL3. ILC micro four thirds.............change lenses all the time....no dust ever<br /><br />why not on that camera but on DLSR's??<br /><br />maybe I should just send back the Pentax and get an OMD<br /><br />:(<br /><br />that would make me sad. I have been shooting pentax for 41 years</p>

<p>Pentax 18-250mm lens</p><div></div>

<p>Tamron Lens</p><div></div>

<p>this is my Olympus E-PL3<br /><br />just shot this out the window of my car this morning</p><div></div>

<p>that's not dust, that's a thingy. Should be easy to remove through dry cleaning</p>

<p>"that's not dust, that's a thingy. Should be easy to remove through dry cleaning"<br>

-I was unaware your local dry cleaners could remove thingys from your sensor, although they did a pretty good job removing lint from one of my sweaters once !</p>

<p>Christopher, why not post a photo to see how bad it is; dust for me has never been visible on the camera screen, it's much too small for that. Just to make sure it is really dust, and maybe see if the Pentax owners have specific tips. Dust will also happen on an Olympus, so it's not worth changing brands for.</p>

<p>To clean dust spots, you do not need Photoshop. Programs as Lightroom, CaptureOne and others can do it, and these programs are somewhat easier to learn and more optimised towards photographers.</p>

Thanks Dorus

 

Will be looking at it later today

 

lol Wayne �

 

Wouter. I once had Lightroom and

agree it's easier to use than PS. Will

look to get it again

<p>Sorry, my message asking for pictures - I should learn to refresh the browser window.... Yes, Lightroom would make it easy to repair these images.<br>

I agree it is too large to be dust. So either it should come off fairly easy with a rocketblower, or it's a bit of oil, in which case it'll need wet cleaning.</p>

No problem Wouter... I'll be checking it

out later and post my findings

 

Thank you all for your input

Dorus wins the prize for dealing with an

alarmist!

 

It most certainly was a thingy and it

was visible to the naked eye.

 

Blew right off with little effort

 

Thank you

<p>I used a K10D for many years, I had sometimes trouble with dust or small things which had landed on the sensor. Cleaning the sensor sometimes and sometimes post-processing were the tricks for me then. I noticed that the dust was disturbing usually when stopped down to f8 or more, and if there were some kind of simple surface on the photo, for example lots of the sky visible. Then my K10D died and I bought K-5II, I have now used it almost two years and luckily I have not had trouble with dust. I guess there are two reasons for that, I haven't used so much my old pump zoom lens, and probably the K5 has more sophisticated method for removing dust from the sensor.</p>