topic Re: Light spots on photos in EOS DSLR & Mirrorless Cameras

Light spots on photos

Harry6 — Sat, 29 Jul 2017 17:10:23 GMT

Hello all, I have just started getting into this photography game (literally 3 weeks ago). I brought a 750D and popped out snapping away to just get used to it. When in

ooked back at some photos I noticed some light spots. All in different places and different sizes. I've tried to attach the photos. Any advice would be welcome as hoping it's me and not the camera. Thanks.

Re: Light spots on photos

cicopo — Sat, 29 Jul 2017 23:48:19 GMT

Dirty sensor. To test shoot the empty sky at f 16 or higher. They may not show up at all near wide open apertures but as the aperture gets higher you see them. It could also be dirt on the inner lens element.

Re: Light spots on photos

Waddizzle — Sat, 29 Jul 2017 23:56:41 GMT

I am tempted to say out of focus fireflies. Dirty sensors tend to produce dark spots because the light is blocked from reaching the sensor.

Re: Light spots on photos

Harry6 — Sun, 30 Jul 2017 08:53:22 GMT

Thank you, I'll test this later on around the same time and let you know how it goes.

Re: Light spots on photos

Waddizzle — Sun, 30 Jul 2017 13:31:42 GMT

@Harry6 wrote:
Thank you, I'll test this later on around the same time and let you know how it goes.

Heed the previous advice, and take a picture of a clear sky when the sun is high in the sky, just the sky and not the sun.

Re: Light spots on photos

Harry6 — Sun, 30 Jul 2017 14:36:33 GMT

Right then, I have tried the sky shots with two different spots. One darker in the same place on a few photos ( I'm thinking dirt on lens) and one light spot only on one photo, which also has the dark spot on.

Re: Light spots on photos

cicopo — Sun, 30 Jul 2017 14:41:42 GMT

Are they at f16 or f22. You need to be at a high f stop number for the test.

Re: Light spots on photos

Harry6 — Sun, 30 Jul 2017 14:44:06 GMT

F20

Re: Light spots on photos

Harry6 — Sun, 30 Jul 2017 14:52:33 GMT

Also just tried cleaning the lens to no avail. 😩

Re: Light spots on photos

ScottyP — Sun, 30 Jul 2017 15:29:00 GMT

In all 3 of your sky pictures you can see some dirt on the sensor. It is a dark spot on the left side, and it is in exactly the same place in every image like dirt will always be. It is even possible to program your post processing program to automatically fix these dark spots for a while, until you get around to doing a cleaning, because they do not move.

So two odd things about your light spots.

1.) Your light spots pots are not dark like dirt but light. I suppose it could be water droplets. They seem to catch the light and reflect it and the one in the cloud almost has a prismatic quality. ??? Does anyone else know any other reason how/why these would be light spots instead of dark?

2.) The other odd thing is that the light spots are in different places in different shots, and sensor dirt does not move. Are you maybe cropping some of those, making the positions of the light spots change location in the frame?

Re: Light spots on photos

Harry6 — Sun, 30 Jul 2017 15:43:09 GMT

Thanks for the response Scott, I've looked into cleaning the sensor I think it may be something that I can do myself?? None of the photos have been cropped or altered, they are as they were taken. It's all a bit odd. I've had similar things on photos taken with an iPhone too.

Re: Light spots on photos

Waddizzle — Sun, 30 Jul 2017 16:01:29 GMT

@Harry6 wrote:
Thanks for the response Scott, I've looked into cleaning the sensor I think it may be something that I can do myself?? None of the photos have been cropped or altered, they are as they were taken. It's all a bit odd. I've had similar things on photos taken with an iPhone too.

Glad you asked. Never touch anything inside of the camera body. Use an air blower. Leave physical cleaning to professionals. It requires more tools than the average person will typically have.

Re: Light spots on photos

Stephen — Sun, 30 Jul 2017 16:14:23 GMT

Hi Harry6!

Welcome to the Canon USA Community!

One thing that I thought for sure someone would ask - what mode are you using on your top dial? Is your flash going off? Are you using an external flash? The reason I ask is because in the photos where we can see the "orbs," it looks, to me, like flash illuminated dust/particles in the environment.

If you were shooting in A+/Green Box/Auto mode (or anything other than P/Tv/Av or M), your flash could have gone off to either help with focusing, or to help with low light (in the first set of photos).

In the cloud photos, I do see what looks like a dust particle on the left 1/3 middle half of the frame. You can try to clean it yourself with a blower, but do not touch anything in your camera.

Take a look at the following YouTube video from Canon USA on how to clean your sensor yourself HERE.

Re: Light spots on photos

ebiggs1 — Sun, 30 Jul 2017 16:32:00 GMT

I am not sure what it is but I can tell you what it isn't. A dirty sensor, yeah, your sensor may be dirty but that didn't cause the white spots. It is not a flash either. I also doubt it is a dirty lens. And for sure it is not firefly's!

Since nothing showed up in the sky photos, no white spots, just keep using the camera for a while. You may see a pattern that will allow you to find the answer.

IMHO, leave the sensor alone. People over estimate the value of sensor cleaning as well as lens cleaning.

Re: Light spots on photos

Harry6 — Sun, 30 Jul 2017 16:55:13 GMT

Hi thank you for that Stephen, I was in full auto for the first three photos and the flash did go off so that makes sense. However the light in the sky photo today was taken in AV (whatever that is)

Re: Light spots on photos

Harry6 — Sun, 30 Jul 2017 16:56:36 GMT

I'm glad I asked too. Going to take it back in to get someone to have look at it. 👍

Re: Light spots on photos

Harry6 — Sun, 30 Jul 2017 16:59:09 GMT

Thank you for that. It is a nightmare being clueless but I'm sure it'll get easier...... won't it 😉

Re: Light spots on photos

Stephen — Sun, 30 Jul 2017 17:09:59 GMT

Hi Harry6!

It will get easier! The more you practice, the more buttons you press, and the more questions you ask!

Here's another little favorite of mine - our EOS 101 series on YouTube - it's just a little primer to get you familiar with what your camera can do. The rest is up to you!

EOS 101 CLICK ME!

Re: Light spots on photos

Harry6 — Mon, 31 Jul 2017 11:05:51 GMT

Thank you all for your help and contributions. In the end I bit the bullet and took the camera back. They were very helpful and gave me s new one. Hopefully better luck with this one....
like Arnie I'm sure "I'll be back". For more help... cheers. 😉

Re: Light spots on photos

BurnUnit — Wed, 02 Aug 2017 19:53:17 GMT

@Harry6 wrote:
Thank you all for your help and contributions. In the end I bit the bullet and took the camera back. They were very helpful and gave me s new one. Hopefully better luck with this one....
like Arnie I'm sure "I'll be back". For more help... cheers. 😉

A new camera is going to act the same way when shooting in low light with the flash when there is "stuff" floating in the air in front of the camera within the flashe's range.

Camera Maker: Canon
Camera Model: Canon EOS 750D
Lens: EF-S18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM
Image Date: 2017-07-26 20:19:49 (no TZ)
Focal Length: 55mm
Aperture: ƒ/5.6
Exposure Time: 0.017 s (1/60)
ISO equiv: 1250
Exposure Bias: none
Metering Mode: Matrix
Exposure: program (Auto)
White Balance: Auto
Flash Fired: Yes (Auto, return light detected)
Orientation: Normal
Color Space: sRGB
GPS Coordinate: undefined, undefined

I noticed in the EXIF data for the first three shots that the flash was fired. I think Stephen has it figured out as the flash has illuminated some bits of airborn dust and debris. Lens cleaning won't eliminate these spots. Cleaning all the air in your field of view might help, but it's probably easier to shoot without the flash if you can.