Please help! spots on photos

[ewhite11]

I shot some fireworks for fun the other night and all my pictures have the same spots on them. I am just wondering what it is. I think it is dust, but where is it coming from? I have a D100.
What is the best and cheapest way to fix it!

 

[prodigy2k7]

Spots on pictures = glass or sensor dust... If its on the lens, clear the front and back with lint free micro fiber and lens cleaner (get from photo store)...

If its on the sensor i recommend getting it professionally cleaned, dont want to break anything by doing it yourself.

 

[timbearden]

Probably dust on the sensor, that is if it is in the same spot all the time. Try cleaning the sensory (with extreme caution) assuming you know what you are doing.

 

[Battou]

Post some pictures please, Spots of all shapes and sizes can result during fireworks. In order to accurately tell you what they are we need to see them.

 

[icassell]

Post a couple of the pix. If the dots remain in the same position, they are certainly from dust on the sensor. NEVER use canned compressed air to clean it. You can try carefully using a good quality bulb, but you must be careful of mirror, shutter, etc. If that doesn't work, get it cleaned (my photo shop charges $45). Replacing a sensor is VERY expensive -- be careful.

 

[ewhite11]

 

[ewhite11]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/15057244@N05/2651494073/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/15057244@N05/2651494301/

 

[icassell]

Hmmmm .... don't see the spots .... maybe my monitor

 

[ewhite11]

they are there!
How do you post pictures directly to the thread? A bigger picture will show the spots better.

 

[Battou]

I see them, What causes this is pixels giving out during long exposures. It happens on cameras that do not have internal noise reduction. Your sensor and lens are not dirty, this is a short comming in the equipment.

 

[Battou]

they are there!
How do you post pictures directly to the thread? A bigger picture will show the spots better.

You need an Image file url. Flickr has that multiple size dealie thing that makes it inappropriate to just copy past the url into image tags. You can retrieve this by right clicking and copying the location, then wraping it with img tags


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3175/2651494073_80259b8782_b.jpg

and

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3169/2651494301_0c65c68718_b.jpg


These are the photos you where trying to post

 

[ewhite11]

I see them, What causes this is pixels giving out during long exposures. It happens on cameras that do not have internal noise reduction. Your sensor and lens are not dirty, this is a short comming in the equipment.

Thank you! My other pictures in all other conditions didn't have these spots. Didn't think about the long exposure. It was my first time playing around with these longer exposures.

 

[Battou]

Thank you! My other pictures in all other conditions didn't have these spots. Didn't think about the long exposure. It was my first time playing around with these longer exposures.

This is why I said to post pics, otherwise no one would have guessed it and you would have been running in circles trying to figure it out and getting nothing but wrong answers because a lot of people around here don't have issues like that so it's not their first thought.

I have personally never experienced this but I have seen other have it happen.

 

[manaheim]

I see them, What causes this is pixels giving out during long exposures. It happens on cameras that do not have internal noise reduction. Your sensor and lens are not dirty, this is a short comming in the equipment.

More specifically, the D100 was baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad with this. LOL I have one and took some of my first night shots with it. Drove me buggy.


There are a couple ways to deal with it:

1. Manually: Just go over the shot and fix them with the clonestamp or healing tool in Photoshop (or equivelent in another tool).
2. Automatically: The D100 (and I think other cams as well, but haven't had the problem enough to bother in my D300) has a long exposure noise reduction feature (it may not be called that... I don't have my d100 in front of me to check)... it takes a reference picture first to get a sense of where the little spots will show up, and then takes the actual picture and uses the first to correct it. It's not perfect, it causes 2x the exposure time and likely 2x the battery drain, and it WILL NOT work on dynamic situations like your fireworks, but it is an option for other kinds of shots.

 

[Bifurcator]

Hmmmm .... don't see the spots .... maybe my monitor

I see the spots. "I see dead pixels" hehehe... It's pretty bad too. Those are weak, semi-dead, and dead cells for sure.

@ OP:
Another option is mapping them in your camera soft. Most software packages that come with the camera (and some 3rd party tools) have the ability to map bad pixels, dust specs, and etc. Then on import they autoagically remove the specs. I guess they use nearest neighbor to determine the replacement color. Anyway that's another option to consider.