photos have black spot in the same place in every one of them and the lens is clean

I had a problem with light for awhile, overhead sun that was washing out the middle of the pictures that I've been able to work around.

Now, I have a black spot in every single photo.  The lens is clean and from what I've read it might be dust on the sensor? They mention that it gets in when changing lens though which I don't do...this little Canon does not have that option.


Do you think there's anyway I could clean this myself?  If it's internal dust I don't know how it got there as everything seems to fit tightly, except there was that light leak?

I've attached an example.   I've started adjusting my pictures try to either hide it in the trees or something or to have enough space to crop it out but it's starting to annoy

Oooh, watch out. That's what you might get if a UFO suffered partial loss of power to its cloaking device. And it keeps showing up? Yikes. Anything else you've noticed that's not quite right? (Bad joke. I kid.)

It might be dust or some minor damage to the lens. It might also be a bad pixel in the CCD sensor. What happens to the artifact when you zoom in or out?

Anyway, I'm not sure you can disassemble those little cameras. Outside of a clean room, you might just introduce more weird artifacts. In our house, that would be dog fur.

Douglas Alpenstock wrote:Oooh, watch out. That's what you might get if a UFO suffered partial loss of power to its cloaking device. And it keeps showing up? Yikes. Anything else you've noticed that's not quite right? (Bad joke. I kid.)

It might be dust or some minor damage to the lens. It might also be a bad pixel in the CCD sensor. What happens to the artifact when you zoom in or out?

Anyway, I'm not sure you can disassemble those little cameras. Outside of a clean room, you might just introduce more weird artifacts. In our house, that would be dog fur.

hahaha...well, we are having minor breakdowns with many other household things at the moment...that could be it

I've cleaned and cleaned the lens and as far as I can tell other than a few minor scratches it is good. The scratches were there long before this spot showed up and never affected the pictures.

What I read said that pixel breakdown would show as white spots and that most cameras were able to correct for that?

...and yes, there's no way I could do something here in a 'dust free' environment either.

Thank you Douglas!

A defective pixel can be stuck on or off, and would be more discrete.  I agree that looks like a bit of dust or something in the optical path, but can't suggest much because (as you said) the lens isn't removable and I don't know if the camera electronics has a sensor cleaning feature (check your manual).  Perhaps someone else will have a better suggestion.  Good luck!

I've had similar problems with the same camera. If it's a photo you want to keep or share, the only other solution is to remove the spot with a photo editor like Gimp. Spots like that are easy to clone out.

As the lens moves in and out for focus or zooming, a little bit of air has to move in or out of the camera or it would form a vacuum.  Dust can get in with the air and eventually find it's way to the sensor.  Annoying and sucks because taking the camera apart is a pain.

Possibly you might have a camera repair shop in your area, but the one here is really snooty about servicing point and shoot (or as they call it, plop and shoot) cameras so I decided to learn how to 'heal' the image digitally.  Which adds way more time to the processing than I like, but meh.

I'm curious too if the spot changes size if the camera is zoomed in or out.  That could indicate it's somethign stuborn on the lens which would be easier to clean.

I tried to get a series of pictures as I zoomed in on some white paper as r. ranson suggested.
Unfortunately it shows a second spot!

I have no idea what the difference in appearance means...starting with normal and zooming three times until fully zoomed.

I played around with Gimp a few years ago and liked it but it seemed like so much stuff for the simple things I needed...at the moment it's easier for me to just crop out the spot although now that I see the second one I won't be able to unsee it....

Since the spots are moving as you zoom, the problem is a speck of something on one of the lens surfaces (most likely internal, since you cleaned the external one) rather than an issue with the sensor.  In a way, that is good.  

If you didn't try cleaning the front of the lens with a Q-tip and some isopropanol (rubbing alcohol) that might be worth a shot, in case a little solvent helps the process.  Good luck!

Phil Gardener wrote:Since the spots are moving as you zoom, the problem is a speck of something on one of the lens surfaces (most likely internal, since you cleaned the external one) rather than an issue with the sensor.  In a way, that is good.  

If you didn't try cleaning the front of the lens with a Q-tip and some isopropanol (rubbing alcohol) that might be worth a shot, in case a little solvent helps the process.  Good luck!

thanks Phil, good advice!

and I just tried and nothing seemed to change for better or worse.....

I really like this little camera, it is perfect for my needs and otherwise it is working as always.
Sort of like my dell tablet right now where the screen is lifting so I've clamped it because it still works; and the washing machine that works perfectly except for the slow leak, and the on demand water heater that has some serious quirks but still works if you hold your mouth right......

...and come to think of it, my guy heads for cataract surgery this morning but other than that he is perfect!

summer break downs
the list is getting longer......

Judith,   Perhaps a good diffused rap on a towel or something could dislodge a potential bit of debris out of its current location and off to the side if your lucky.
Maybe even a magnet if it happens to be metal could move it? One last suggestion would be to introduce the camera to vibration to see if it could be moved....like placing it against a vibrating power sander for instance.

I have a similar camera and took it apart to fix a bent part of the frame, but in fixing that, I accidentally snapped the delicate ribbon cable connecting the two halves of the camera. Because of this, I now do not have sound or zoom capabilities..... Rats!  

I cleaned the lens with alcohol and also tried 'knocking' a bit...worth a try but the spot persists.

thanks everyone!

get a hold of canon you may have a camera only supposed to sell in overseas ,I had the same problem contacted them they send prepaid box shipped to them fixed free and shipped back to us free great company. vicky

My new (to me) ten year old Mac has a photo editing program that has a 'spot' remover! It 'erases' the black spot perfectly to where I can't see where it was at all...almost too easy these magic machines

thanks again for all of the help...this at least has bought me a little more time.  The light leak is still there and the little plastic cover over the port for the cable to load things on the pc seems to have disappeared but otherwise all works as it should.

To me it looks like you have some dust/dirt on your sensor