My Canon 30D has suddenly begun capturing dark spots when shooting
scenery or interiors that have consistently blank color areas in the
upper regions. I've tried cleaning the mirror
, and it happens with each of my 3 lenses, so it can't be a lens issue. Any ideas?
Dark spots showing up in the same place on every image indicate your sensor needs cleaning. Usually these are most noticeable when you have large areas of a single color. As the previous poster said, a blue sky is a good measurement. Your owners manual will detail the steps for cleaning, but my recommendation is that you take it to a Canon certified dealer and have it done professionally. Unless it's REALLY nasty, they shouldn't charge you more than a few dollars for the job, do it while you wait and you're on your way happy. Some places will even do it free as a way of building goodwill. You CAN do some very minimal cleaning blowing off the sensor with a squeeze bulb, but it rarely has much effect. Whatever you do, DO NOT TOUCH the sensor with a cloth, fingers, cotton swab, or anything else.
You can't avoid dust on your sensor, but you can supposedly minimize it by turning the power off when you change lenses. This cuts down on dust attracting static (or so the manual says). Can't confirm or deny since I never remember to do it.
It's 99% dust, especially if it appears mostly in smaller apertures (<f/8). To test it, select a small aperture (e.g. f/16) and take a photo of a blue sky. The spots will show consistently on the same location.
They're hard to clean, so chances are you just missed them. Try again, or, better still, send it for cleaning to a professional.
SOURCE: 30D spot problems
Sounds like dust on the sensor, which is a rather common problem, but not too hard to fix.
The best way to clean it, completely, is to use what's called the "copperhill method" - that requires a cleaning kit, which you can get here:
http://www.copperhillimages.com/shopping/pgm-more_information.php?id=3
It also comes with detailed instructions.
However, if you'd like to try to do it more cheaply, you can try cleaning it with canned air: Set the camera to sensor cleaning mode and hold it with the sensor facing
down. Then blow on the sensor at each corner, wait a moment, then blow middle. This will get some dust out of the way, but it mostly just pushes it to the sides of the sensor, where it's less likely to be in the way. Eventually, you'll have to get the kit listed above.
-Dyllan
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