Black Spots on Lenses

[Justine87]

I have had my Canon Rebel XS for almost two years now, but lately I've noticed black spots all over my pictures. I've cleaned both of my lenses as best I can on the outside, and the body, as well, but they're still there. If I remove my lens from the body and look through it, I can see the spots, so that leads me to believe they are inside my lenses. I have no idea how to deal with this. Has this happened to anyone else? What do I do to fix it?

[baycruisers]

Have you checked your sensor? It is very possible that the spots you're seeing on your images are dust on the sensor.

[Justine87]

Originally Posted by baycruisers

Have you checked your sensor? It is very possible that the spots you're seeing on your images are dust on the sensor.

Stupid question - where is the sensor? Is it on the camera body?

[Justine87]

Okay, I looked up sensor cleaning and I did it, but the spots are still there. I'm fairly certain that the dust or whatever is in there, is actually in the lenses. If I remove the lens from the body and look through it, I can see the spots in the lens.

[PamEli]

Originally Posted by Justine87

I have had my Canon Rebel XS for almost two years now, but lately I've noticed black spots all over my pictures. I've cleaned both of my lenses as best I can on the outside, and the body, as well, but they're still there. If I remove my lens from the body and look through it, I can see the spots, so that leads me to believe they are inside my lenses. I have no idea how to deal with this. Has this happened to anyone else? What do I do to fix it?

You may want to take the camera to a camera shop for sensor cleaning, usually costs between $40-$50. Bring your lenses too and they'll tell you if it's the sensor or lenses... but maybe it started with the lenses... dust can fall from the lens on the sensor, and stick. I learned the hard way to not change lenses outside in the wind where things can blow in. Always turn your camera off before changing lenses to reduce static, and hold your camera in the down position so when you remove the lens any dust will fall into the lens that is much more easy to clean. The Camera shop may give you more advice.

hope this helps...

Pam

[OsmosisStudios]

Originally Posted by Justine87

Stupid question - where is the sensor? Is it on the camera body?

10 foot pole. I'm not touching this with one.

Originally Posted by Justine87

Okay, I looked up sensor cleaning and I did it, but the spots are still there. I'm fairly certain that the dust or whatever is in there, is actually in the lenses. If I remove the lens from the body and look through it, I can see the spots in the lens.

If the dust is in the lens, it wont affect image. Black spots on images are caused by something on the sensor. If it were a blurry spot on a UWA or fisheye lens, it could be on the front element, but if it's a darker grey or black spot, that's sensor.

Can you provide a sample image?

[inkista]

Easiest way to test for dust on the sensor: Go outside, stop down to f/22, and take a shot of a featureless blue (or gray) portion of the sky. Go back inside, download the photo and inspect it. Dust appears at the smaller apertures, not at the larger ones.

The camera's auto-sensor-cleaning system vibrates the sensor to try and shake some dust off, but it can be stuck to the glass filter that's on top of the sensor (the filter is there to protect the sensor as well as filter out UV/IR light that can affect the visible light colors).

The first thing to try is a bulb blower. NOT canned air. NOT blowing from your mouth. You make sure your battery is charged, you take off the lens, you turn on the manual cleaning to lock the mirror up and out of the way, and then you hold the camera face down (so the dust will drift out of the chamber), and blast some air up at the sensor. Turn the camera off, and test to see if the dust is still there.

If it is, then you're likely to have to get into contact cleaning methods. This is where some people choose to pay someone else to clean it, since the sensor is, essentially, your camera. But others do it on their own. Lensrentals has a great video on their cleaning methods and tools [Arctic Butterfly, Lenspen Sensorklear, Dust-Aid] so you can get a feel for whether or not this is something you want to risk trying yourself.