Member Since: 16 Aug 2005
Location: Warwickshire
Posts: 4506
Excellent thanks !!
Been out (in the sunshine if you believe it!) experimenting with various features and functions today. Fiddled with the aperture to get some nice focussing and blurring on the rusty springs of our trampoline...
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And just taking some general pictures. The quality and detail in all the photos have not failed to impress me. These are some other ones I took today:
Member Since: 18 Mar 2007
Location: Dorset
Posts: 5011
Nice picture quality... Ahh - now you're going to discover the biggest current problems with DSLR's.
If you look in at your second picture of the ship, just above the right hand tower block in the sky, you can see a perfectly round smudge. This is dust on the CCD sensor. It'll put a smudge on every shot (it's on the trampoline as well) until you get rid of it and it's not always easy to do. Unfortunately, you can't stop the dust getting in every time you change lens which is another reason why many pro's now have a separate body for each lens! Take a shot of a white piece of paper (focused at infinity) with a wide aperture and you'll be shocked!
There are many products which claim to be able to clean the dust off sensors and everyone has their favourite. Just do a google search of "ccd sensor dust clean" to see how much you can spend... I've tried most, but in the end the best thing is to try to keep lens changes to a minimum (especially in the field) and there's also a theory that it's better to turn the camera off before changing lens's.
Be very careful when you clean the sensor - it's very easy to make it worse or even damage the camera. You're not able to damage the actual CCD because it's always under a piece of glass or filter but because it's right on the focal plane any marks or scratches will show up big time and be very expensive to sort. I'm waiting for a camera manufacturer to make a DLSR that has the chip contained inside an airtight box so the dust is not right on the focal plane but there must be a reason why they can't?
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7th Oct 2007 6:31 pm
CY
Member Since: 16 Aug 2005
Location: Warwickshire
Posts: 4506
Thanks CC.
How rather depressing... it's only just a day old and I have a mark on the sensor
Here's a photo of a blank sheet as you suggested:
Click image to enlarge
And there it is
I'll have to put my hands up to changing lenses earlier today - wanted to check out the 70-300mm zoom lens.
So you don't reckon it's worth me trying to remove that one piece of dust, in risk of gathering more?2007 Porsche Boxster (987) 2.7
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7th Oct 2007 6:39 pm
SN
Member Since: 03 Jan 2006
Location: Romiley
Posts: 13710
Interesting comment about the dust there. I thought the smudge was on my laptop screen
This is all starting to get my photographic juices going again though
Next door neighbour has got an EOS 400D and I'm with envy...
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7th Oct 2007 6:39 pm
simon
Member Since: 11 Jan 2005
Location: Shropshire
Posts: 18296
My D70 has got quite a few spots too... but at the end of the day, if a photo is good enough to work up with Aperture, Lightroom, Photoshop etc... its well worth spending the time to clone out the dust marks.
7th Oct 2007 8:35 pm
CY
Member Since: 16 Aug 2005
Location: Warwickshire
Posts: 4506
I'm going to buy a 'rocket blower' - which apparently is very useful for removing dust from the sensor without actually making contact.
Member Since: 18 Mar 2007
Location: Dorset
Posts: 5011
Don't beat yourself up! - most new camera's come with plenty of dust already on the sensor straight from the shop. My last Canon was disgusting, took me hours just to get it clean!
After a few years of experimentation I arrived at 3 tools I regularly carry:
The rocket blower is great and well worth a first try when you discover a speck of dust. I often use this with the HDF Sensor Brush from VisibleDust. The two together usually clean most spots quickly and safely. When things get really bad or for that full camera clean-up I have found Dust-Aid to be really good. it's a sticky pad that you press on the sensor and then discard. Does a great job on really stubborn spots and I believe it's approved for the D80 as well. I think the web site is dust-aid.com
You shouldn't get upset over it - every ccd has dust on it from new and more will get in every time you change lens. It's very easy to get obsessed with obtaining a perfectly clean sensor, I fell into that trap a few years ago and spent a small fortune on wet cleaning systems, pads, nasty chemicals etc. Then I realised it was becoming stupid and I wasn't enjoying the camera any more.
Bottom line is, if you can't see it on your shots then don't worry about it. (even pro's have to photoshop dust spots off occasionally) Give it a clean and try the white paper trick, (load it into photoshop - take the contrast up to 100% and the brightness down 50%) if you can't see anything it's OK.
Just didn't want you to go to Florence with that 1 spot on every shot - it's annoying - I've done it!
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Last edited by crews control on 7th Oct 2007 10:22 pm. Edited 1 time in total
7th Oct 2007 10:20 pm
simon
Member Since: 11 Jan 2005
Location: Shropshire
Posts: 18296
Problem is CY that any blower is just, well, blowing the dust about... In order to open the shutter and keep it open to allow access to the low pass filter (that is where the dust actually is) you have to have power running through the camera and across the low pass filter.
This effectively produces a static charge and attracts dust. Chances are you will either just move the dust elsewhere on the low pass filter, or introduce more dust either from the blower itself, or from inside the camera.
Personally I would either take the body back and ask for a replacement (as its still less than 48hrs old), ignore it and wait till you have too many image blemishes to ignore (over time) - and then get it professionally cleaned, or get it professionally cleaned each time you notice the slightest blemish.
The problem is that DSLR's produce such clean images, you notice anything slightly out of the ordinary. Film has a grain and as such will 'hide' the very small dust partials even though they are there.
Its a bit like having your D3 'detailed' Once its mirror shined, you notice the smallest bit of dirt. If its just cleaned normally, you have to look pretty close beyond the stuck on grime to actually notice any new marks.
Ignore it and invest in a good photo processing app.
As I said, my D70 has loads of marks visible if I take a pic of a blue sky (or white piece of paper). In most images, they are not visible at all. In some they are and I just clean them up in either iPhoto or Aperture.
7th Oct 2007 10:20 pm
simon
Member Since: 11 Jan 2005
Location: Shropshire
Posts: 18296
And also... what Crews said
The pads are great - but be careful and use judiciously.
7th Oct 2007 10:22 pm
CY
Member Since: 16 Aug 2005
Location: Warwickshire
Posts: 4506
Thanks very much for the advice CC and simon - it's much appreciated
I've decided I shall buy a Rocket Blower just to have, given they're only about a fiver on Amazon, and try to remove that one spec. After that, I'll keep the unnecessary lens changes to a bear minimum (When using the D40 I was ignorant to the fact that dust could enter there and so changed between 'ordinary' and 'zoom' lenses quite frequently).
Member Since: 19 Dec 2006
Location: Yorkshire
Posts: 375
Great photos JT very inspirational, would love to get pictures of that standard...superb!!
I bought myself a Canon 400D a couple of weeks back but found the kit lens quite poor, so bought a optical stabilised 18-200 lens and just getting used to it, one thing about these DSLR cameras that blows me away is the quality and detail of the portrait pictures
I took some pics of the kids playing and because the camera is sooo much quicker than my old sony compact, you manage to catch some great shots
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Admin note: this post has had its images recovered from a money grabbing photo hosting site and reinstated
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8th Oct 2007 11:57 pm
crews control
Member Since: 18 Mar 2007
Location: Dorset
Posts: 5011
Only just looked at your flickr page JT - really nice pictures.
Just makes you want to play with the camera again.
(and that new 40D is a brilliant piece of kit isn't it...)2005 D3 HSE 2011 D4 Landmark 2016 D4 HSE Lux
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9th Oct 2007 12:16 am
SN
Member Since: 03 Jan 2006
Location: Romiley
Posts: 13710
Choc - I see the Little Choc's are as cheeky as ever - I assume you've had a tough time of it over the summer what with new arrivals and work (you need to get cracking for the Boxing Day do ) - thought you'd disappeared off here for ever ....Steve N | 21MY Defender | 08MY Discovery 3 (history) | 06MY Discovery 3 (ancient history)
9th Oct 2007 11:36 am
Chocolate
Member Since: 19 Dec 2006
Location: Yorkshire
Posts: 375
Steve...Tell me about it, 3 kids, Irate wife and your mother to contend with is more than enough for anyman
I havent had time to scratch my ar53 to be honest so Ive not been postin or even looking for a while, nice to see life goes on though
I will see you boxing day...................................2009!!
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with envy...
) - thought you'd disappeared off here for ever ....
