[kamisu]

A stupid question, when I wanna use blower, the mirror is down, can the mirror go up when the camera is turned off ? If yes, how ?

[Philoslothical]

You clean the sensor with the camera turned on. There is a menu setting for "Sensor cleaning" that will raise the mirror, until you turn off the camera. So, once you trigger that menu setting, the mirror goes up, you use the blower, and when you're done and ready to test, turn the camera off (the mirror will drop) and back on.

From your pics, it looks like just a bit of sensor dust. The blower should handle it easily.

[kamisu]

I think I will be bothering you all till I learn many things Please be patient

The mirror was down the previous times that I used the blower, after doing that, it looks all dusts are gone .IMHO the rocket blower is really useful.

two short questions,

1. when I was going to take photos of sky, when there was no cloud, just plain blue, or tiny clouds, camera could not focus and indeed did not take any picture. I pressed the shutter button but it did not take any pic. Is it always the same, i.e. I can not take photo of just plain sky or small clouds?

2. with those small dust particles inside the lens, at both ends, shouldn't I exchange it? Is it normal to have dust inside a new lens ?

btw, The dust on focus screen is still there, not pleasant, but I think I can live with it.

Thanks again

[JinDesu]

I don't think any camera can focus on pure blue sky. The focus sensors in the camera require some form of contrast in order to determine what to focus on.

[Philoslothical]

1. when I was going to take photos of sky, when there was no cloud, just plain blue, or tiny clouds, camera could not focus and indeed did not take any picture. I pressed the shutter button but it did not take any pic. Is it always the same, i.e. I can not take photo of just plain sky or small clouds?

2. with those small dust particles inside the lens, at both ends, shouldn't I exchange it? Is it normal to have dust inside a new lens ?

You should really read your manual, cover to cover, at least once. It would answer a lot of these questions. Still, there is a setting in the menu to change shooting from "Focus Priority" to "Shutter Priority" which will let the camera fire even if focus isn't locked. Check page 123 of your manual.

Blue skies, white walls, anything with no contrast, no edges to lock onto, it will be very difficult for AF to lock and it will often hunt and fail. It's often easier to switch to MF in these circumstances, but if you're just shooting the sky to visualize sensor dust, it doesn't need to be focused at all.

There are ALWAYS a couple small dust particles in lenses. Even sealed WR lenses are usually not quite perfect in this regard. It won't harm your images, and you shouldn't worry about it, unless there is a lot, or a large fleck of something. This isn't grounds to exchange a lens, if it's just a couple tiny bits. Particularly with zoom lenses, it can happen at any time, just by the air pushed in and out of the lens when zooming.

You seem determined to find reasons to return your gear.

[kamisu]

Philoslothical, Thanks for the reply.

No, indeed I am determined to keep the camera and lens, but since I have never had a DSLR before, I did not know if dust on focus screen and inside a new lens are common or not. So it looks they are. I just want to find out if there are any issues with the camera or lens before the return time is over.

Is there a thread that mentions common problems that we should be checking first ?

If in future more dust gets inside the lens, such that it affects the image, is it something that the 6 yrs warranty cover ?

[Philoslothical]

If in future more dust gets inside the lens, such that it affects the image, is it something that the 6 yrs warranty cover ?

If dust in a lens got so severe as to damage IQ, and it wasn't through fault of your own (you didn't go rolling it around on sand dunes ) then it should be under warranty, I'd think. This is very rare. Dust in lenses is an aesthetic annoyance, but not usually a practical one.

Is there a thread that mentions common problems that we should be checking first ?

Best advice, is don't go looking for problems. It will suck the enjoyment right out of getting to know your camera. Get out and shoot, notice what works, what doesn't, what you can improve when shooting or in post processing. Keep an eye on your shutter speeds if you get soft/blurry results. Learn the proper way to hold and grip the camera to help counteract that. Enjoy the process, and the information will come along with it, just from cruising the forums here and reading your manual.

I just want to find out if there are any issues with the camera or lens before the return time is over.

I fully understand, but don't expect things to be wrong. The vast majority of copies are just fine, with no problems requiring servicing for years. Put it through its paces, normal usage, experiment with settings, drive modes, AF modes, that kind of thing. Check the flash. Try different metering modes. Take lots of pictures. I'd be surprised if you find anything seriously wrong with any of it.

[kamisu]

You are right. I will do and will post some nice ones, instead of dust images .

[pezmaker]

Best advice, is don't go looking for problems. It will suck the enjoyment right out of getting to know your camera. Get out and shoot, notice what works, what doesn't, what you can improve when shooting or in post processing. Keep an eye on your shutter speeds if you get soft/blurry results. Learn the proper way to hold and grip the camera to help counteract that. Enjoy the process, and the information will come along with it, just from cruising the forums here and reading your manual.

This, this, a thousand times this. I got my first DSLR (in fact, first SLR) last July, a refurbed K200d. I initially was paranoid of everything. Dust, why was it refurbed and was it really brought to "factory new" functionality, what about this, that, I dinged up my focusing screen with my rocket blower trying to get the dust out, I made it worse trying to make it better, finally I accepted it as it is and don't even notice the damage I did to it.

I'm still very very much an amateur, but through reading the manual, reading these forums, I've come a long way in understanding the tools I have. I've done far, far, far more reading than I have posted asking questions: all but an extreme few questions I had were already asked an answered, and easily found. By now I've realized that if I can think of the question, someone else has asked it here. I've also shot a few thousand pictures now, and what I didn't learn through reading, or did learn through reading, I learned or understood from shooting. Anyway, point of this is, these forums are a wealth of knowledge, and while I've got a long ways to go, I looked over a syllabus of a university photography class and by now, both by trying things and reading things here, I could probably teach that course.

Av and M are your friends, with a dash of Tv (K200d doesn't have TAv).

Much like the mantra of my fellow homebrewers, relax, don't worry, have a homebrew. I mean shoot some pictures.

[kamisu]

Sorry but I need to discuss this again. When I use F/2.8, there is no sign of dust, but at F32, they appear. I think this means that sensor is clean and it is because of lens. I used Rocket blower on external surface of lens but it had no effect. As shown in images posted before, there are some dust particles inside the lens, at both ends.

What do you think is the reason of this ?

[Philoslothical]

It's dust on the sensor. Raise the mirror with the menu setting, turn the camera mount down, and blow it out carefully. What you noticed with the apertures is exactly how sensor dust appears, blurry or invisible at large apertures, sharp and dark at very small ones.

[cbope]

Sorry but I need to discuss this again. When I use F/2.8, there is no sign of dust, but at F32, they appear. I think this means that sensor is clean and it is because of lens. I used Rocket blower on external surface of lens but it had no effect. As shown in images posted before, there are some dust particles inside the lens, at both ends.

What do you think is the reason of this ?

With a large aperture like f2.8, the depth of field is extremely narrow and any dust on the sensor will usually be too out of focus to show up. When you stop down the aperture to f22, the depth of field increases substantially and dust on the sensor is more likely to start to come into focus. This is when you see sensor dust most often, at small apertures when shooting the sky.

[JinDesu]

Sorry but I need to discuss this again. When I use F/2.8, there is no sign of dust, but at F32, they appear. I think this means that sensor is clean and it is because of lens. I used Rocket blower on external surface of lens but it had no effect. As shown in images posted before, there are some dust particles inside the lens, at both ends.

What do you think is the reason of this ?

That is natural. In fact, that is how you are to check for dust on the sensor, and how you can differentiate between small and large dust. Stopping down more will show smaller dust better.

Usually I ignore any dust that appears on my sensor until it shows up in apertures larger than F16 - because I don't use smaller apertures usually.

[kamisu]

Unfortunately even at f/16 it is there, but not as dark as it is in f/32. I have used Rocket blower a couple of times, but they do not move. I think it is kinda stuck to the sensor.

Anything more effective I can do ?

[Philoslothical]

I use an artist's paint brush, a small, soft one (sable, or similar) to gently loosen dust on the surface of the sensor, then blow it out again. It works well enough for me. You brushes must be clean and unused. Avoid handling the bristles, as you'll transfer oils from your hands, which will end up smears on the sensor. If that happens, a wet cleaning is likely your only recourse.

You mentioned a couple times before that you weren't raising the mirror to blow it out. Have you started doing that?