There is Dust on my Sensor! (help-going on a trip soon)

[myopia]

The camera is a Ricoh GR-D digital point and shoot camera. The dust makes a terribly obnoxious black dot in the middle of all my photos. I am also leaving on Saturday to go on a road trip to Santa Fe and then on to San Diego, and was counting on this camera to be there for me. I took it to the local camera shop (Mike's Camera/Boulder, CO.) and they told me that they did not know anyone in the area that would be able to fix it- being a Ricoh.
IS THERE ANYTHING I CAN DO MYSELF ?
Any advice?
Thank you.

 

[Alex_B]

uhm, dust on p&s sensors is very tricky since usually there is no way to access the sensor without breaking the camera...

replacing the lens-and-sensor unit would about the same price as getting a new camera I suppose (at least that is the case for Canon p&s cameras).

 

[Jon0807]

Other than sending it in to be cleaned, the only way I can think of to remove them is in post processing. Most software has some sort of clone tool or some other way of correcting it.

 

[Yahoozy]

how long have u had the camera?

 

[PaulBennett]

Get a can of dry compressed air at your photo supply house and blow it into every orfice of the camera, in hopes to move the dust either off the sensor or to a better area.

 

[H1945]

This is not helpful for you since you're using a P&S, but for those with dust problems on their dSLR, here's a very helpful link:

http://www.copperhillimages.com/index.php?pr=Tutorials2