first D-SLR

Ali,

I'm no expert but managed to remove the offending pixels by using photoshop elements. Hope you're not too miffed that I tampered with your picture. Not the ideal solution to the dust problem but it helps.

The nikon software that comes with the camera has a dust off feature which you stamp onto all your images. So does Aperture from Apple.

Of course you want to remove the dust, this is easy, but if your priceless shots have been taken the problem is easily remedied.

The problem shows up more with smaller apertures.

Just time for a quickie folks - we're having a day of ESD and TPS = Emergency Shut Down and Total Platform Shutdown (and blow-down) testing today.....should be fun and games.....and I've got a lot of preps to do tonight (this morning, yes I'm on nights again) oh, and I'm on Power this trip - so will be trying to keep the lights on too!! ....not easy when your emergency generator's a bag of poo.....

Anyway, back to the camera.
Thanks for the input guys, you've really confirmed what I was thinking - although I was (and still am) a bit surprised at it happening so quickly and without changing lenses, only fitting one, and for the first time....
I'll deal with it when I get home.

George, I don't mind you tweaking my image, that's the handy thing about digital isn't it!

Out of curiosity - how many of you Nikon users shoot in RAW and use Nikon Capture...?

A trial version (30 days use before you have to pay) came with the camera but I've not tried it yet. Just shooting large fine jpegs, but would like to think I'll move to raw soon. Also, do you use Photoshop CS and if so do you still need Capture....?

Cheers,
Ali

Hi Ali,

I have a D200 and unless I think I'm going to be shooting a lot of pictures before downloading, usually shoot in RAW + fine JPG. This allows me to use the fine jpgs for 'immediate' viewing on my laptop, and have the RAW files for more dedicated processing of the best shots.

When I'm going to be out all day taking a lot of shots, I'll stick with RAW only. You never know when you might get that amazing shot that you wish you had in raw format!

I have Nikon Capture and Photoshop CS2. You can download a free plug in (Camera Raw 3.3 at present I believe) for CS2 that allows loading and some manipulation of the raw files, but the Nikon software does it better.

As regards the dust on the CCD there are a few golden rules:

Always have a full charge or be on battery when you lock the mirror up!
Never touch the CCD with anything - the speck grabber concerns me in that respect.
Don't use 'spray can' type blowers as the propellant may leave a residue
Perform the cleaning in a dust-free environment - obvious really, but you could easily end up with more dust on the CCD than you started with!
In my opinion, although I've not seen this concern anywhere else, if you simply blow the dust off the CCD, it's still in there, and could easily fall back onto the sensor. It should be 'removed' from the camera, rather than moved around inside it. I trust they do this with a proper service, in an appropriate 'clean room' (although I appreciate this may be optimistic!).

Personally therefore, I'd have it done professionally and photoshop any minor specs between 'services'. They generally only show on certain photos where there are bright areas, and not every photo is a 'keeper'.

A comment on the spec on your picture - it's not on the shallow depth of field picture, but there is an out of focus 'blob' there. That suggests to me that it's not on the CCD?? Surely if it were, those pixels would be blacked out whatever the focus? It's late on Friday night, and if i'm mistaken, bear with me!

However, if, as you say, you saw it - I guess it must be there! When you say it didn't budge, what were you doing to try and get it to budge?

Congrats and happy snapping!

Phil

Phil it depends on the amount of light getting in to the sensor i.e. the aperture as to how the dust will appear on the image. Also focal length has a part to play.

If you shot tele with an aperture wide open the spec of dust will appear as an out of focus blob, and opposite wide angle and stopped down a tiny spec which you might not even notice.

I think if you return it to nikon you might, just might get your clean room, but if you give it to jessops or any camera shop they are not going to have the facilities, just a spotty teenager on a Saturday.

As I said as long as you do not touch the sensor in any way and don't blow with your mouth you should be fine, its if you get grease on it that you just as well give up. I hold the camera upside down and use one of those hand blowers to remove anything and its always worked for me.

I have just sent my newly acquired lens to Fixation in London who deal with Nikon (A cavet empor purchase on ebay) so I will let you know how I get on with them.

BTW anyone in the market for a second hand lens but does not want to risk eBay should check out :

https://secure.ffordes.com/index.htm

They update their lists religiously daily and I have purchased 3 lenses off them which have exceeded expectation and arrived the next day.

They are around 20% more to purchase than a private sale but you do get peace of mind (And won't need to return lenses to fixation!)

quote:

Originally posted by garyi:
Phil it depends on the amount of light getting in to the sensor i.e. the aperture as to how the dust will appear on the image. Also focal length has a part to play.

If you shot tele with an aperture wide open the spec of dust will appear as an out of focus blob, and opposite wide angle and stopped down a tiny spec which you might not even notice.

I think if you return it to nikon you might, just might get your clean room, but if you give it to jessops or any camera shop they are not going to have the facilities, just a spotty teenager on a Saturday.

As I said as long as you do not touch the sensor in any way and don't blow with your mouth you should be fine, its if you get grease on it that you just as well give up. I hold the camera upside down and use one of those hand blowers to remove anything and its always worked for me.

I have just sent my newly acquired lens to Fixation in London who deal with Nikon (A cavet empor purchase on ebay) so I will let you know how I get on with them.

Fair enough - had never really thought about the amount of light and focus having an effect, but I can see how it would.

Cheers,

Phil

Very good post Phil, you said it all.

The only point I'd take up is using the spray can compressed air. These are perfectly suitable as long as you remember not to shake the can, hold it perfectly upright and start the compressed air before you apply it to the camera.

Dust is always going to be an issue on digital sensors and there's nothing you can do to prevent it.

Well, fun and games are now over (ESD/TPS testing) I (plus a few others) had a 17 and a half hour shift on friday night/saturday morning, slept for 5 then another 12 hour one as usual on saturday night....I slept like a baby all sunday!!
The ESD v/v's are open again and we're now shutdown for work down one of our legs.....so thankfully it's a bit quieter...

I'd have to agree with count.d, great post Phil - thanks!

I've just 'acquired' Capture and CS2, will be installing them when I get home, so will probably shoot in RAW from now on....
Although I'm finding the frame rate a tad slow when trying to get action shots of our dog, even in fine jpeg, a problem you probably don't have with the D200!
The D70s doesn't shoot RAW + Fine jpegs, RAW + Basic only...

I too didn't fancy the idea of the spec grabber, and am even dubious about using my blower/brush when I get home.....is there a chance the brush bristles will damage the sensor....?
A Rocket Air is on the shopping list....

Oh, and not to ignore your questions, when I said it wouldn't budge - I had the camera body upside down with the mirror locked up (with full batt.) and was blowing across the opening from a distance.....maybe a bit dumb, I don't know, but I though a bit of turbulence would hopefully do the trick....

Like I said earlier, I'd read that dust was an issue, I just didn't think I'd experience it so early in ownership.....

....ownership that I'm loving by the way!

Another Question.......

Can you get circular (threaded) ND Grad. Filters for lenses, or do use the COKIN slot/frame type....???

Cheers,
Ali

For grads then definitely Cokin, Lee or similar is the way to go.

Invested in some 'Visible Dust' products - sensor brush and spinner kit, micro fibre cloth, and a 'Giottos' Q.ball. Took my time yesterday and went through the whole cleaning process with good results!
Next months 'spare' cash is going on a Cokin filter system, I think.....

Oh, and the lily's have opened up......


And here was the view out the back last night....just as England went 2-1 up....


......almost a double rainbow.....

Cheers,
Ali

Good shots Ali! Not much darkness up there at this time of year!

Ali,

Don't buy the Cokin, they're for the internet forum morons who pretend to appreciate lens quality by talking about bokeh. Only buy lee 100mm filters.

Regards Count.d, who even after a 20 mins tele conversation with Sinar in Switzerland, couldn't convince them that all my expensive Sinar filters were trash.

quote:

Originally posted by arf005:

I'd have to agree with count.d, great post Phil - thanks!

I've just 'acquired' Capture and CS2, will be installing them when I get home, so will probably shoot in RAW from now on....
Although I'm finding the frame rate a tad slow when trying to get action shots of our dog, even in fine jpeg, a problem you probably don't have with the D200!
The D70s doesn't shoot RAW + Fine jpegs, RAW + Basic only...

I too didn't fancy the idea of the spec grabber, and am even dubious about using my blower/brush when I get home.....is there a chance the brush bristles will damage the sensor....?
A Rocket Air is on the shopping list....

Oh, and not to ignore your questions, when I said it wouldn't budge - I had the camera body upside down with the mirror locked up (with full batt.) and was blowing across the opening from a distance.....maybe a bit dumb, I don't know, but I though a bit of turbulence would hopefully do the trick....

Cheers,
Ali

Thank you! I didn't realise that the Raw+fine jpg were the domain of the D200 only, raw only is probably a good bet therefore, unless the std jpgs are so small that you don't lose a lot of shots?

I think I get about 5FPS, which is pretty good - not achievable with the built-in flash, but i think my SB-800 can handle it.

By the way, I wouldn't put your brush bristles anywhere near the sensor!

Seems like by being ultra cautious when trying to remove the spec, you're unlikely to have done any damage.

Good luck, and have fun!

Phil

quote:

Like I said earlier, I'd read that dust was an issue, I just didn't think I'd experience it so early in ownership.....

Not if you have an Olympus dSLR . They have a dust shaker over the sensor so no dust. One less thing to worry about, which can't be bad. OK, I've always used Olympus, but the thought of 'cleaning' the sensor on my new £400, £800 or whatever camera every month or so with brushes, 'spinners' micro fibre cloths or Q.balls did rather steer me away from other makes.

/dl

Too much is being made of the dust thing, get a 4 quid blower and on occasion blow it in there, no big deal.

I certainly would not go back to Olympus just because it has a sensor shaker.

quote:

Originally posted by garyi:
Too much is being made of the dust thing, get a 4 quid blower and on occasion blow it in there, no big deal.

Agreed - I change lenses a lot and can't recall the last time I had to clean the CCD.

quote:

I certainly would not go back to Olympus just because it has a sensor shaker.

There are some great offers on Olympus DSLR's at the moment, however there are too many issues with the small sensor size of their 4/3rds system for it to be a contender for me. Just try and find a decent ultra-wide without paying vast amounts of cash.

Anyway here's a shot I took on my way to work this morning:

quote:

Originally posted by count.d:
Ali,

Don't buy the Cokin, they're for the internet forum morons who pretend to appreciate lens quality by talking about bokeh. Only buy lee 100mm filters.

That's a little harsh as the Cokins aren't bad considering how cheap they are.

Having said that I am probably going to go Lee myself because I'm finding that the 84mm Cokin P system isn't big enough to cope with the wide end of my 10-20mm zoom. The Cokin ND's and ND grads aren't quite neutral as well, which is beginning to annoy me a tad.

Steve
Is that sensor dust or a squadron of UFO's in the area above the bridge?

quote:

Steve
Is that sensor dust or a squadron of UFO's in the area above the bridge?

/dl

I think it could be a squadron of UFO's, and I think they're beaming up that glowing tree for analysis.

Either that or a swarm of bees from the village.

Steve G,

quote:

Just try and find a decent ultra-wide without paying vast amounts of cash.

Granted, the 7-14 zoom (14mm-28mm in 35mm terms) is expensive ie. £1000+ but by all acounts a superb lens, whilst the 11-22zoom (ca22-44 in 35mm terms) is around £500 and is also very highly rated. There's also an 8mm fisheye for £400 or so if I recall correctly (I live in Sweden so I don't know exact UK prices.) All these lenses are high quality, weatherproof (o-ring sealed) lenses. You can also use any legacy Zuiko lens (albeit with a 2x crop factor.)

quote:

... however there are too many issues with the small sensor size of their 4/3rds system for it to be a contender for me.

Such as?

I know people tend to get a bit fundementalist when it comes to camera brands. And, as far as dSLR's are concerned, the impression I have is that Canon/Nikon have marketed themselves to the position where all else is 2nd best which is most certainly not the case.

As you say, there are some very good deals on Olympus dSLR's at the moment, and even the kit lenses are well rated, especially the 45-150mm.

At the end of the day, it is the photographer that makes the image. If anyone needs a bit of inspiration try the best of pbase.

/dl

David,
a quick link to a camera shop that trades both on the net and caters for walkin customers just to give you an indication of prices (inc vat) in the UK (YMMV).

Olympus kit & Other kit.

I tend to support your view that a wide angle lens could be picked from one of the three product lines according to the size of the customer's bank balances.

quote:

At the end of the day, it is the photographer that makes the image.

Sounds about right to me.

quote:

Originally posted by count.d:
I think it could be a squadron of UFO's, and I think they're beaming up that glowing tree for analysis.

Either that or a swarm of bees from the village.

It's a flock of birds - can't quite make out what kind even in the raw file. The glowing treee is down to using unsharp mask to adjust the contrast I think - my technique in that area still needs work.

David:

The Olympus 11-22 was reviewed in Amateur Photographer along with a batch of ultra-wides recently and I tend to agree with their comments in that it's a fine lens but too expensive and not wide enough. For most of the other DSLR's there are lenses such as the Sigma 10-20mm available at around the £300 mark.

For someone like me who mainly shoots landscapes even the APS-C sensor size is an annoyance (I have an excellent 20-35mm F2.8 which is great with 35mm film but of limited use with APS-C) - 4/3 compounds that plus the mount is not very well supported by 3rd party manufacturers.

For someone who wants to put together a system from ultra-wide to moderate telephoto then the expense of the only ultra-wide option for the Olympus is a deal-breaker. For someone who doesn't want/need ultra-wide then the Olympus kit does offer fine value at the moment - but then so do various others as Nikon D50 & Pentax DL2 kits with 18-55 lenses can be had for well under £400 now (my local Jessops has the Pentax DL2 & 18-55 for £350).

BTW I'm not a Nikon/Canon user either - my SLR/DSLR system is a Pentax one.