@John_SD wrote:
It looks like dried droplets to me, but I assume you've tried to clean your lens (or filter) with a microfiber cloth.
Like you, I also shoot at the ocean and around tide pools. Get yourself a circular polarizer if you're in that environment. Used properly, you'll notice an immediate improvement in your photos, especially in terms of cutting glare and darkening the skies. And you won't be getting salt water on your lens.
If they're dried droplets (which I sort of doubt), they'd pretty well have to be on the sensor. If they were on the lens surface, they'd be visible only as a vague fogging of the overall image. They'd be way too far from the focal plane to show up as well defined circles.
The closest I ever came to seeing what the sample picture shows was once when a colleague at work had oil droplets on his sensor. In that case the camera was a Brand N model that was known for having an overlubricated mirror mechanism that could throw oil on the sensor. I've never heard of a Canon camera with a similar problem.
Bob
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania USA
