The same question as the title above is very commonly asked by rookie photographers in photography forums on internet.
Why is there dark spot appearing every time I shoot? Actually there are some steps you can do to get rid of such spot from your camera. Follow the steps here:
The first thing to be cleared up is whether the dark spot is present when the aim sign through view finder appears or when the result is out?
1. If the dark spot appears in the view finder.
If the dark spot is there only when the aim sign appears through view finder, there are some steps you may follow:
– First, take off the filter and make sure you clean its surface properly.
– Take the lens off the body camera and clean the front and back sides of the lens’s surface.
– Pay attention to the reflex mirror of the body camera, clean it using blower.
– Hold your camera down and blow the blower on the mirror, take this position to anticipate dirt and dust getting inside the body camera.
– If the dirt does not come off from the reflex mirror, use tissue and special lens’s cleaner. Wipe it lightly on the mirror.
– Check the focusing screen. It is located right above the reflex mirror. Remember that this part can get easily scratched. You are not recommended to clean it without using blower.
– Next, clean the view finder of your camera using lens tissue or cotton buds so that it will be easy for you to reach narrow areas. If all those steps are finally done and yet the dark spot is still there. It is possible that the dirt is inside the prism. Prism is located above the focusing screen.
– In order to clean it, you have to take off the focusing screen first. The tutorial on taking off focusing screen can be viewed on YouTube.
It works the same as focusing screen; the prism can get scratched easily so if you are not sure or not experienced in it, you should take your camera to a near service center.
2. If the spot appears on the resulted image.
If it is present on the photo resulted only and it does not appear when we aim through the view finder, there is a possibility that the dirt is on the sensor’s surface.
– First, take off the lens from the body camera. Then go to menu and activate feature “sensor cleaning” on your camera.
– If the dark spot still can be seen, clean the camera sensor manually. Go to menu and select “clean sensor manually” feature. When this is activated, the reflect mirror will be locked in open position (mirror lock up). When the mirror is open, hold the camera down and use blower to blow dirt off the sensor camera.
– If the dirt did not come off, you can use sensor swab (special sensor cleaner) which can be brought in camera accessories shops. Not all people are brave enough to clean the sensor using this sensor swab because if you are not careful, the sensor will get even dirtier than before or it can get scratched as well.
3. If the black spot is still there on the camera LCD even after you have done all the steps above, try to move the photo from the camera to your computer. If it finally disappears, it is very possible that the spot is a dead pixel on your LCD.
