Camera lens causing dust on sensor

lance70 · Jul 25, 2012

Hello, has anyone ever had issues with their camera lens causing dust to get inside their DSLR? I just had my D300s cleaned and it was perfect for about 5 test shots at small apertures, no dust showed up in the pictures. Then after a few more shots I have dust showing up again, and the lens was not taken off the camera during that set of pictures. I have a Tamron 17-50 f/2.8 and the sensor will be perfect for about 5 pictures but once I zoom in or out with the lens and check the sensor again the dust will be back. If I take the lens off the camera I can actually feel air at the bottom as I zoom in or out with the lens.

Psytrox · Jul 25, 2012

Do you have any other lenses? If you do, try putting that on, and see if you still get the draft of air blowing in and out of your camera. Atleast this way you'll know if its something wrong with your camera or you lens.

lance70 · Jul 25, 2012

Psytrox said:
Do you have any other lenses? If you do, try putting that on, and see if you still get the draft of air blowing in and out of your camera. Atleast this way you'll know if its something wrong with your camera or you lens.

Thanks, right now I don't have another lens but it's actually when I take the lens off the camera I can feel air at the bottom when I zoom, not sure if that's normal or not. It must be just enough air flow when mounted to either push dust into the camera or move dust around that's left inside the camera.

KmH · Jul 25, 2012

Air is moved when zoom lenses are zoomed.

Now you know part of why that Tamron lens cost $1000 less than it's Nikon counterpart.

lance70 · Jul 25, 2012

you got that right! I plan on buying a Nikon lens next.

KmH · Jul 25, 2012

The shutter curtains cover the image sensor except when the shutter release is activated.

So unless you are zooming the lens during an exposure, I wonder how it is your image sensor is getting dust on it that quickly.

You didn't say what facility did the cleaning of your D300s.

lance70 · Jul 25, 2012

hmmm that's a good point, I don't know what's going on there

but it was done at a local camera shop here that's been around for ages. I used f22 and tested against a blue sky.

KmH · Jul 25, 2012

Do you have the D300s sensor cleaning function enabled? I had my Nikon cameras set to shake the sensor whenever I turned the camera on, or off.

How often do you actually use a small lens opening?

Overread · Jul 25, 2012

Eh the matter of lens motions sucking in dust and causing dust spots on the sensor is a factor which is somewhat overblown for the majority of photographers. It DOES happen and it can and will happen even with top end lenses; heck even if you are fast the normal changing over of lenses is going to add dust to the setup - dust is a part of the DSLR world and you'll have to accept it.

You can limit its influence and there are more extreme cases where you'll want to take extra precautions of course, but general use it shouldn't be a problem at all. Also remember f22 shooting a very blank scene like they sky is a great way to see dust, but you've got to temper what you see there with how and what you shoot. Most of the time you'll never be closing down your aperture to f22 and you'll also likelly shoot far more detailed scenes that will simply lose the dust spot in the scene itself.

Also don't forget the "spot heal tool" - you can correct dust spots in a seconds so minor spots can easily be removed from your photos as part of your editing process.

If you want to add additional protection you can do the following:

1) use a changing bag, a simply bag of any kind that you put lens and camera into whilst changing the lens; good for a very dusty environment, but a bit overkill for most places unless you are a very slow at changing the lens.

2) use a weather cover over the lens and camera to help reduce the intake of dust into the setup (generally you'd only ever need this in a very windblown dusty environment - a very sandy beach in strong wind or a dessert scene or sand storm).

lance70 · Jul 25, 2012

Both good points, I usually don't use that small of a aperture for my pictures, usually not much smaller than f11. I do have mine set to shake the sensor every time I turn it on. Maybe I should just shoot and not worry about it and see how my regular pictures look.

Overread · Jul 25, 2012

Sounds like a sound plan

Like I say it is something to be aware of and cleaning the sensor is part of the normal cycle of keeping your equipment in good condition; but its also something you don't want to get obsessed over nor to overly worry too much about.

Most of the time that dust is a serious problem is in high magnification macro photography - its just a part of life there (unless you can afford to hotglue your camera to the lens and totally seal it against any possible dust what so ever).

Derrel · Jul 25, 2012

Overread said:
SNIP>dust spots on the sensor is a factor which is somewhat overblown>SNIP>you'll have to accept it.>SNIP>remember f22 shooting a very blank scene like the sky is a great way to see dust>SNIP>Also don't forget the "spot heal tool" - you can correct dust spots in a seconds>

That about covers the dust issue. Get used to it. Try not to be OCD-ish about dust bunnies showing up, 'cause if you are, you'll be insane in short order!

lance70 · Jul 25, 2012

Derrel said:
Overread said:

SNIP>dust spots on the sensor is a factor which is somewhat overblown>SNIP>you'll have to accept it.>SNIP>remember f22 shooting a very blank scene like the sky is a great way to see dust>SNIP>Also don't forget the "spot heal tool" - you can correct dust spots in a seconds>

Click to expand...

That about covers the dust issue. Get used to it. Try not to be OCD-ish about dust bunnies showing up, 'cause if you are, you'll be insane in short order!