[tangot]

Can anyone tell me what this is. First I had the small spot when shooting even colored parts of the picture - then came this thick line.
made a dust check in camera with no result.

[tripodquest]

Looks like a hair? I freaked out too when I first saw something like that in my pictures, but luckily it was only dust/hairs. Those you can usually clean with just a blower which is really easy. You already photographed against a sky, but others will probably ask you to take a photo against the sky or against a white wall or white paper at the smallest aperture the lens you're using allows so they can verify if that really is a hair and a speck of dust.

[elliott]

Normal dust. Use a small aperture when testing after cleaning, they won't show up with a wide aperture.

[tangot]

Normal dust. Use a small aperture when testing after cleaning, they won't show up with a wide aperture.

Thanks for replies - this is my first DSLR and first experience with dust and the likes. Could not figure out why I cannot see it in all my pictures. Obviously due to F stop. Against the sky you stop down and it becomes visible - is that correct? I will now investigate in DIY censor cleaning solutions - or hand it over to a repairman.

[tripodquest]

Thanks for replies - this is my first DSLR and first experience with dust and the likes. Could not figure out why I cannot see it in all my pictures. Obviously due to F stop. Against the sky you stop down and it becomes visible - is that correct? I will now investigate in DIY censor cleaning solutions - or hand it over to a repairman.

yes. the smaller you make the aperture (the hole inside the lens that corresponds to your iris) the narrower the light beam hitting the dust and the sharper its shadow on your sensor. cleaning a sensor can be scary (and risky if you don't know what you're doing) but blowing air with a blower that's specifically made for sensor cleaning is risk free when you do it like instructed. For only air you're better off doing it yourself, taking the camera to a shop for that would be a waste of money, but for wet cleaning you're probably better off letting a professional do it. Hopefully you find my advice helpful

[rbefly]

Hello Tangot, Welcome to the Forum!
Sensor-cleaning isn't the scary monster it's made out to be, it's a fact of life with DSLR's.
Do a google search for DSLR Sensor Cleaning and you'll get millions of hits. Most of the tutorials will tell you the same thing;
1) Activate the 'dust removal' function on the set-up menu, for 'Camera start'.
2) Use a Rocket Blower for more stubborn material.
3) Use a special 'Sensor Cleaning Brush' for stuff the blower won't remove. Don't skimp here, buy a real, name-brand one.
4) Last DIY resort, sensor cleaning swabs, widely available.
5) IF all else fails, have the sensor cleaned professionally. This is highly unlikely, using 1, 2 and 3 will eliminate 99% of the problems. The pros will use the same brushes and swabs you can buy. There's no magic, just common sense and caution.
B+H and Adorama have all the supplies you'll need. Last, DON'T use compressed air! Rocket blower only.
Ron

[tangot]

Hello Tangot, Welcome to the Forum!
Sensor-cleaning isn't the scary monster it's made out to be, it's a fact of life with DSLR's.
Do a google search for DSLR Sensor Cleaning and you'll get millions of hits. Most of the tutorials will tell you the same thing;
1) Activate the 'dust removal' function on the set-up menu, for 'Camera start'.
2) Use a Rocket Blower for more stubborn material.
3) Use a special 'Sensor Cleaning Brush' for stuff the blower won't remove. Don't skimp here, buy a real, name-brand one.
4) Last DIY resort, sensor cleaning swabs, widely available.
5) IF all else fails, have the sensor cleaned professionally. This is highly unlikely, using 1, 2 and 3 will eliminate 99% of the problems. The pros will use the same brushes and swabs you can buy. There's no magic, just common sense and caution.
B+H and Adorama have all the supplies you'll need. Last, DON'T use compressed air! Rocket blower only.
Ron

Thanks all for advise. I got so depressed looking at these pictures. I opened up the mirror and could acutally see a hair - the small particle making the spot was invisible to me. I will get some good cleaning equipment right away.

[manntax]

Can anyone tell me what this is. First I had the small spot when shooting even colored parts of the picture - then came this thick line.

Slightly off topic.. but these shots are nice and I thought would share a piece of advice...

Looking at the pictures I had the impression that the shutter speed wasn't that fast and you rather stopped down a lot? I checked the exif data and you shoot them at 1/320th of second with F=14.
My advice is to stop down up to f8 - and that would give you faster shutter speed, which will help you freeze the action better. You really want to have 1/500th or even faster for similar shots - and besides above f8 usually diffraction kicks in - so that reduces image quality further after it has already been reduced by micro subject move.
--manntax

[tangot]

Slightly off topic.. but these shots are nice and I thought would share a piece of advice...

Looking at the pictures I had the impression that the shutter speed wasn't that fast and you rather stopped down a lot? I checked the exif data and you shoot them at 1/320th of second with F=14.
My advice is to stop down up to f8 - and that would give you faster shutter speed, which will help you freeze the action better. You really want to have 1/500th or even faster for similar shots - and besides above f8 usually diffraction kicks in - so that reduces image quality further after it has already been reduced by micro subject move.
--manntax

Hi Manntax, Thank You for shooting advice! You are absolutely right. I was not paying enough attention to my shutterspeed. I got to exited shooting this guy who suddenly came out of the blue:-)

[tripodquest]

Hi Manntax, Thank You for shooting advice! You are absolutely right. I was not paying enough attention to my shutterspeed. I got to exited shooting this guy who suddenly came out of the blue:-)

They're absolutely not terrible shots if he just came out of the blue But it maybe a good idea to have your aperture no smaller than 1/8 no matter what you're shooting unless you really need the smaller aperture for photographing stars, but for any other subject I'd look at the focal length before the aperture like manntax said you run into problems if you go smaller, I think for aps-c f/11 is the absolute smallest aperture (not sure if focal length played a role here) beyond which the IQ degrades because of diffraction (the smallest details on your sensor grow larger than the pixel size, meaning you're not using all of the pixels and the pixels you do get don't necessarily have the right color/luminance because of diffraction)

[tangot]

thanks again for advice! Difraction issue is new to me.

[manntax]

Hi Manntax, Thank You for shooting advice! You are absolutely right. I was not paying enough attention to my shutterspeed. I got to exited shooting this guy who suddenly came out of the blue:-)

thanks again for advice! Difraction issue is new to me.

Sure I absolutely understand and these shoots are still good - with some PP applied they can be even great I think. My intention was just to draw your attention little bit to other ways to improve.. Glad to know that at least on this one thing I could help !
--manntax

[skid2964]

I bought a camera unusually cheap one time, when it showed up, it had a line like this in all the photos.
One pump with the blower bulb and all was well again...

[paulh]

Just wanted to add that those dust spots are easily removed in many photo editors. Use the clone tool or healing brush to get rid of them.