Large blemish on images

John E. · Feb 21, 2005

I cleaned the lens thoughly.

Camera is a canon point and shoot A85

Not sure if its the ccd or something on back of the lense. Tried taking it apart but these camera's are damn hard to take apart. Was able to open it up enough to blow some canned compressed air inside but that didn't work. If it's a ccd electronic problem it would not be worth going any further, if it's dust then I will try to get it apart without breaking it, hopefully Blemish is on the same spot on all photo's.
Does anybody know what it is?

Digital Matt · Feb 21, 2005

I can't be sure, but it looks like a UFO.

Just kiddin. Are you sure you have the lens absolutely clean? Alot of times, blowing compressed air just aggravates the problem by stirring up more dust.

Christie Photo · Feb 21, 2005

You say the spot appears in the same place on all photos... hmmm.

Nothing on the front of your lens would cause this.

Does the spot shape and size remain the same, even at different focal legnths? If so, my guess is there's something on the sensor.

I wouldn't recomend trying to get into this camera yourself. Remember... any adjustment a camera store charges $50 to make can be done with a butter knife. And, a camera store charges $200 to fix cameras that have been adjusted with a butter knife.

Contra|Brett| · Feb 21, 2005

Digital Matt said:
I can't be sure, but it looks like a UFO.

IT IS A UFO, NO QUESTION.

Dear Cruzin,

It is definitly the ccd, at our store we have even sent back a couple of cameras for this "UFO" problem, one was a 20D. Aperantly Canon's yeild rates are a little lower than they estimate.

Keep in mind that this is a normal problem to have with a camera, just not normal for a consumer. Most of these defects are caught by QC at the factory, and if not there, then usually in the store and sent back to the manufacturer as defective. But the fact sadly remains that some do get to the consumer, and that's not cool.

If you bought it at a store, take it back. If you bought it online, get an RMA. If it's a grey market...

Warm Regards,
Brett

spike000 · Feb 22, 2005

Black marks are generally CCD based.

Recommend taking it back as you'll never manage to get this little one clean.

Best of luck

Spike

John E. · Feb 22, 2005

Thanks for the replies guys.

The size and placement always remains the same even after blowing the inside with air although I could not get very far into the camera..

I dreaded having to send it back as it's a real hazzle to do where I live. I really shouldn't have opened it up, but it was such a great day and I wanted to take pictures. Man was I pissed when cleaning the lense with alchole did not work. I think contraBrett and Christi Photo is right. It's peculiar that after a year of use it would show up now.

Ah well, more incentive to get the 20D or possibly the new Rebel 350xt. In either case it will be awhile before I can take digital pictures again.