Spot

[carvinrocks2]

I have a Canon Powershot 120 IS and I started noticing a little weird smudgy type spot in one of my pictures of the sun shaded behind clouds. I took some cleaner and thought I cleaned it up but when I tried to picture the sun (yes I know bad, idea, I know now) it showed up again. I took several other pictures and I noticed when you can focus in on something it disappears but it makes me wonder what it is and if my first shot of the sun is what caused it.

 

[rusty9]

lens flare?

 

[tirediron]

Post the image pls.

 

[carvinrocks2]

Pic 1 showing the "smudge" one of the clouds:

Picture taken after that with no smudge. Probably because it has something to focus on:

 

[astroskeptic]

It may be dirt/dust on the sensor. This type of thing becomes more noticeable under either of 2 conditions: (1) the affected region is bright and uniform in intensity (since the slight smudging effect stands out more easily, and (2) small apertures.

You can confirm this by taking a shot of a uniform target, like a white wall under varying apertures. It should be progressively more noticeable the smaller the aperture gets (i.e. the bigger the f/#).

What to do about it is to get the sensor cleaned (or clean it yourself if the camera allows and you know how to do it right) or just live with it.

 

[carvinrocks2]

It may be dirt/dust on the sensor. This type of thing becomes more noticeable under either of 2 conditions: (1) the affected region is bright and uniform in intensity (since the slight smudging effect stands out more easily, and (2) small apertures.

You can confirm this by taking a shot of a uniform target, like a white wall under varying apertures. It should be progressively more noticeable the smaller the aperture gets (i.e. the bigger the f/#).

What to do about it is to get the sensor cleaned (or clean it yourself if the camera allows and you know how to do it right) or just live with it.

Can you really clean the sensor on a $179 Point and Shoot?