Problems, dust and more problems

[DWessel]

So I was in San Franciso for a business trip and stopped at Treasure Island (yes, that's its real name) to get some shots. I decided to switch out the Tamron 70-200mm for the wider Sigma 28-90 with a CPL attached. It was a bit windy. I thought to myself, I should probably go back to the car and change out the lenses from shelter ... no, too much hastle.

Switched out the lenses and this is what I ended up getting on each of the subsequent shots DUST BUNNIES





Plus, even though I've been reading that noon time is a good time to use the CPL because the sun is at a 90 degree angle, and despite it looking okay in the view finder, I got darkness around the corners.

The DUST BUNNIES have been taken care of. Fortunately a couple of blasts of air took scurried them off. And some photoshop time can take care of the DUST BUNNY trails left in my last batch of photos.



But the operator error of the CPL is bugging me. Help.

[SONYNUT]

I use a gitzo bulb blower..had the same thing a few weeks ago

[Spookonthe8ball]

Do you ever wet clean your sensor? That last shot looks like it could use it. I see a spot above and to the right of that center pier.
I wet clean my canon when the dust blower can't remove it.
CPL problems are always hit & miss with me. I get frustrated too
Spook

[SONYNUT]

Havent needed wet yet

[DWessel]

Do you ever wet clean your sensor? That last shot looks like it could use it. I see a spot above and to the right of that center pier.
I wet clean my canon when the dust blower can't remove it.
CPL problems are always hit & miss with me. I get frustrated too
Spook

The spot you are referring to is a bird. The details captured by the a900 can be amazing. In the shot you're referring to, there is a bright spot towards the upper left. I zoomed in on the spot and saw that it was a jet.

I've also taken back lit shots where the a900 captured light reflecting off of dust floating in the air ... Where it should be, not on my sensor.

[Peekayoh]

Nah! Spook means the spot up above the support.
The darkening of the corners is more apparent on the wide angle shot. It's vignetting caused by the filter edging into the shot.
If you can't stand it you need a bigger filter with step-up ring.

[DWessel]

Peek,

Thanks for the advice on the CPL. And, now I get which spot that Spook was referring to.

Spook,

You asked, "Do you ever wet clean your sensor? That last shot looks like it could use it." I just got the a900 back in February. This was the first time since purchase that I got dust (or at least visible dust) on the sensor.

I was able to blow the dust off this time. But, now I'm looking into spending the money for a good wet cleaning system.

[DWessel]

Much better. The only problem now ... in looking for dust spots, I noticed my laptop screen has a couple of lcd crystals that create a grey spot. Great.

[dr4gon]

Do you ever wet clean your sensor? That last shot looks like it could use it. I see a spot above and to the right of that center pier.
I wet clean my canon when the dust blower can't remove it.
CPL problems are always hit & miss with me. I get frustrated too
Spook

Do you use Eclipse E2 solution and swabs??

[Spookonthe8ball]

Darin, that cleaned up nicely. Great shot.
We get a lot of pollen around here and sometimes air won't remove it.
I use the Eclipse products. It takes two bottles for me since my old Xti used a different one than the 50D. The cleaning swabs work well for both. I also use a gun bore light to assist looking at the sensor. It has a small flexible head and very bright light. The swabs also work well cleaning the mirror and I use kodak lens cleaner for that.
Spook