Photography Thailand Forum

[David Procter]

I have just found about 10 darkish spots while looking at an image in photoshop which is obviously something on the CCD (same place on pics with different lenses). Not sure where these have come from as I'm very careful and as quick as i can be when changing lenses. I'm going to take the camera (nikon20d) to be serviced. How do they actually clean the CCD?
I have heard that the CCD actually attracts dusk, is this true? and...is it wise to get your camera serviced regularly - what other problems can arise or should i be on the lookout for?
thanks!

[Paul Whitehead]

They clean it with a blow of air and then a brush and then a swab if its really gummed up. The blow of air and brush usually suffices.

Its true that the charged coupling device by nature of having a charge will attract v small particles with an opposite charge. I have also heard that (dont know how true it is) that apart from the normal issue of dust entering when changing lens in not 100% technique and conditions that the changing of the lens itself causes the dust (as metal shaving from the lens/body coupling).

I tend not to notice how gummed up mine gets with my normal shots, which are taken underwater, because they have "busy" backgrounds or dark backgrounds but as soon as I take a photo including a blue sky at a small aperture they (the dust marks) stick out a mile.

You can do it yourself easily but I always drop mine into Niks for the occasional wash curl and dry.

[Marc Schultz]

Good post Paul and I very much agree. Dust spots on sensors are an unavoidable eventuality for the exact reasons you mentioned. I myself try and be extremely careful about changing lenses only in still-air environments and use a blower to blow off the back of the lens before fitting it to the body, but it still doesn’t make a difference. Dust still accumulates on the sensor eventually.

I also noticed, as you said, that with small aperture settings the spots are more pronounced than what you see when using wider aperture settings and that on blue skies or any solid color background for that matter, like studio backgrounds for example in white, gray, and any other solid color (except black) they show up pretty well too.

You basically have two options as I see it, having it cleaned every couple of weeks, if you use your camera often, or having it cleaned less frequently and accepting that on some shots it will require a bit of cleanup to clone out any noticeable dust spots in Photoshop.

I don't get as bothered about it anymore since it is unavoidable. And the higher the resolution your camera, the more noticeable the spots will be.

If you ever scanned a piece of film at very hi-res inevitably there are often a few dust spots or imperfections in the film grain too which show up I found, so nothing is perfect really. It all takes a bit of massaging in the end to get a clean image digitally, but worth the extra bit of effort.

[David Procter]

I have notice the spots are more pronounced with smaller apertures. Thanks for the comments -I'll take my CANON to the service centre (nikon20d?? probably because i'd just read the nikon/canon debate - a compromise)

[Paul Whitehead]

btw, after once having a "farang moment" after collecting the camera and getting home to still find dust on the ccd I now always put on one of their lens, take the camera outside, shoot the sky and ask them to download the pic onto their computer to check it.

another tip is when checking your lens. Take off the front and back covers, open up to the largest aperture and view through the lens at something bright. Dust will show up clearly both on the front glass and internal lens'. If its internal then you have to pay to have them disassemble, clean and assemble.

[Josh White]

Hey David, let me know how you go, I think mine might need a tune up soon.

Josh