BetterPhoto Q&A
Category: Questions with Sample Photos

White Spots on Photo

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January 04, 2002

Well, I would have suggested cleaning the lens, however, you have stated that you've done so already.

The spots appear to resemble light rings.

It's difficult to say what the actual cause is. It could be a faulty CCD unit within your camera. It may be dust or dirt on the internal parts of your camera that are responsible for image capture. It may also be your storage media.

Unfortuanately, I can not say what it is without step-by-step testing. I would clean the entire camera. Then, I would remove the storage media and make sure that it is clean. Then, test the camera.

If this doesn't work, try using a different media card.

Finally, if all else fails, return the camera for a new one.

Cheers,
Glenn

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January 04, 2002

The light source itself may or may not end up in your photograph, but would have to fall on the lens front. To some extent lens design influences susceptibility to aperture flare, however it can still occur with the most "flare resistant" lenses under conditions with high risk for it.

How to prevent it?
Look for extremely bright pinpoint sources of light within view of the lens front and either move it or compose differently to eliminate it. For "off-axis" (outside the image) sources in front of a lens, the traditional method for eliminating flare is using a lens hood, or otherwise shading the lens front from the bright light falling on it.

Since you're not burning film, you can experiment some with photographs containing extremely bright pinpoint light sources and some without any. If you can reliably create these spots by doing so, then you know what the phenomenon is and how to avoid it.

In the first picture you posted it looks as if your flash itself may have been the culprit with its very "hot" reflection off the lower left corner of glass covering the picture in the background. Watch for mirrors, windows and glass-covered pictures or wall artwork when using a flash! Don't aim directly at them; the reflection from the flash will bounce right back into the camera. Move so they're out of the image or at least aiming at an angle to them (reflection will bounce off at an angle away from the camera).

-- John

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January 05, 2002

Any decent digital camera should handle the relatively small light sources in these two images, without spraying white dots all over the place.

Take the camera, and the images, back to the dealer and ask for full credit towards a quality digital: Nikon 950, 995, Olympus C3030, C4040.

Keep the faith,

Jaymes
Digital Evangelist

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January 08, 2002

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January 11, 2002

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January 11, 2002

A review of Internet digital camera forums also fails to turn up the problems Andrew is having.

Random spots are not "well known in digital photography". If they were, digital cameras would be languishing in warehouses instead of flying off retailers' shelves at premium prices.

Andrew should take his camera back and get one that works.

We Shall Overcome...
Jaymes
Digital Evangelist

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January 15, 2002

The spots can be caused by dust in the air, misty rain AND as quoted directly from this site....."Normal reflections of the flash

You will also see "spots" formed by reflection of the flash off all sorts of objects. Drops of water on swimmers, sharp metal objects or corners (such as a doorknob or the corner of a metal window blind), reflective surfaces (such as a knife or fork), polished plastic toys, moist eyes,lips and teeth; all can reflect the flash and give a very small bright highlight that looks like a "spot".

In the case of all of the bright spots, they are most visible against a dark background; an underlit room, a piece of dark clothing. "

This is a a discussion of a Nikon CP990 and CP995.

Here is yet another site that discusses how going to digital photography INCREASES the chance of lens flare because of errant light entering the lens.....http://www.imaging-resource.com/NEWS/1007148723.html, again I quote from this site..."A press release from the folks at TrueDigitalPhoto alerted us to their new line of FlexHood lens hoods designed specifically for use with single lens reflex (SLR) digital cameras from Canon, Fuji, Kodak and Nikon. Many photographers switching from film to digital will have noticed that lens flare can be more of a problem than they're used to - and there's a fairly simple reason for that. Lens flare is caused by bright, stray light entering the lens at an angle, and reflecting off the interior glass surfaces;....."
These are two sites out of 27 pages that I found when I did a search from Google.com. Digital is good, but it's not perfect. Do your homework Jaymes, we have. You have more than one person on here that has experienced the problem and has corrected it, you say you haven't experienced it, well, you're either really lucky, or you are just too good for anyone else to be compared to, I would have to say really lucky. The whole key here is that Andrew stated "On some pictures but not all, white circles are appearing. They dont seem to be in the same place each time....." problems with the camera don't move from one place to the other, but errant outside light does!

Andrew, stick with it, you'll get the hang of it.

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January 15, 2002

	Wrestling Photo 2001 (c)M. Lynch This is one of my less fortunate shots. Mark A. Lynch
	Wrestling Photo (c)M. Lynch 2002 This is a much better pic and spot-free too. Mark A. Lynch

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August 03, 2002