Tiny spot on images

This may sound crazy. We have a coolpix (different model) that took awful pictures from the beginning. Sent it back to nikkon repair center and they said they had to order a new lens...after we got it back (about six weeks) there was no difference. I started looking through all the pictures we had taken before and after and it dawned on me that the distortion was always in the same area of the pictures. Center outward toward the lower left and the exposure was always too long washing out the total image. I took a real close look at the lens front and sure enough found a tiny spot near the center. I tried to wash it off with water,then mild soap with no luck. Feeling like I had nothing to lose I resorted to goof-off and the spot softened and came off. The camera now works great! I hope something like this has happened to you and this helps.

to thansen 3:
Yes, eventually everyone who owns this camera will see these dust orbs in every photo they take once the problem appears, and the problem continues to worsen until you will see no image at all. I've had my SD780IS for about 2 years. I was very proud of what this camera could do until the dust appeared and discovered there seems to be no do-it-yourself solution. Canon will "fix" this under warranty.
When Canon returns your camera, it will no longer take sharp photos, but the dust orbs will be gone..... for a little while. Soon, we will all tire of sending these crappy, expensive little cameras back and forth to Canon. All of us will eventually toss this expensive junk and find another expensive Canon to use for about one year before we toss that one too.
The spots appear due to the complex external lens assembly which by its very function (moving in and out) invites particulate invasion. Canon deliberately allows us no recourse for practical maintenance outside of never using the camera. Why didn't I consider this before I purchased? Well, I trusted a corporation whose mission I thought was to provide durable high quality product. The plastic disposable film cameras of yore were an honest version of what we have purchased here.
You may notice a tiny hole on the ring surrounding the lens. My guess is the Canon techs insert a $.25 tool here which with some certain push and twist of the fingers will pop the lens assembly, exposing the CCD and rear lens element for cleaning. Effective reassembly may be another matter altogether as proven by the less sharp images I experienced upon return of the SD780IS from Canon. I have yet to locate any good solution addressing this difficulty. However, my wife still likes this camera despite her 20/950 vision. Some people are very easy to please. When she notices the spots, I'll look into getting her another camera.

Base from the description of your problem its clear that the issue here is with the LCD screen of the camera that is bad already and since this is already a 6 year old camera having it repair will worth the price of getting a new camera now, so I strongly suggest you just go get a new one.

Sounds like the spots are on your sensor. If on the lens, it would be too out of focus to matter.

Here are two things to do while on vacation.

Be sure lens is set to M/A
Set camera to "green auto button" on top of camera.

Hopefully, that will get you back to working.

unfortunately, there is no way you can get them back. sorry

It may be the images are there but the camera is not reading them... I would try to find a place (possibly a photo retailer or a computer repair place) with a card reader to check out to see if that is the case.

It sounds like the aperture is getting set very high. If the aperture is a high number, the lens opening is very small which lets less light in and would cause a dark image. This would also show any dust that is in or on the lens or image sensor. The dust doesn't usually show on apertures with a larger opening (smaller number). Make sure your aperture is being set to a reasonable number, probably no higher than 8 or so.

I had the same problem. Sent my camera back to Fuji and they replaced the CCD free of charge. My camera is about 4 years old.

Defective ccd imager!! company will replace this ccd imager free of charge. Year 2002 up to 2005 released unit has a factory defect ccd imager. the company recalled those units and replaced with a stronger version of ccd imager ( they are still doing it). check it out.