Little specs on photos. Help!

Temez16

Senior Member
These mostly appear when I'm taking dark photos or when my ISO is very high.
I am afraid that my camera is broken. It's not noise, nor is it dust on the lens or sensor.

Can anybody help me?
 

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Pretzel

Senior Member
High ISO does that, and it usually is noise, although of a different type than you're used to. The main thing to check is if it's a consistent pattern, or random? If it's consistent, it could be hot or dead pixels in different areas. Random... well, that's the hoped for option.

I've gotten the same thing shooting high iso "sliver" moon shots, where it almost looks like there are stars shining from inside the crescent, when we all really know that's impossible. High ISO in combination with exposure compensation can really make it evident.

Curious, what are your settings for this sample shot? Particularly ISO and shutter?
 
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Temez16

Senior Member
Well, in this, I shot with ISO 200, f/3.5, and with a two minute exposure. I was trying to see how much exposure time I need to get in a completely dark room. The specs seem to be mostly random in every photo, but they appear really close to eachother in different colors.

Also the lens was 18-55mm/3.5-5.6G Kit Lens.
And Thanks.
 

Marcel

Happily retired
Staff member
Super Mod
Well, in this, I shot with ISO 200, f/3.5, and with a two minute exposure. I was trying to see how much exposure time I need to get in a completely dark room. The specs seem to be mostly random in every photo, but they appear really close to eachother in different colors.

Also the lens was 18-55mm/3.5-5.6G Kit Lens.
And Thanks.

Your camera is NOT broken. Pictures are not made when there is NO light. You can take pictures in low light, but there are limits. I could stand in a completely dark room forever and I would not see a thing. And I could probably after a while start seeing little dots too. :)

Cameras are made to take pictures and we can only see when there is light.

Just use your camera in normal conditions and forget about these tests in the complete dark to "test the sensor"...

And you can always touch up these little dots in post processing if you really want to shoot in the dark.

Welcome to Nikonites, enjoy your Nikon.
 

J-see

Senior Member
When you do long exposures (longer than 30s), you increase the risk sensor pixels will start to show strange behavior and release electrons while there is no photon count. The longer the exposure, the more you will suffer those strange pixels.

During normal night photography you'll seldom notice since they are hidden within the rest of the data but if you start shooting in complete dark, they tend to jump out.
 

aroy

Senior Member
Welcome to the forum.

What you are seeing is a combination of shot noise and thermal noise. Both are random and are there in every shot. It is just when there is a lot of light these are masked.
 

fotojack

Senior Member
Ok, thanks everyone for your help. I was getting worried. Thanks!

Welcome to the forum, Temez16.

If you fill out your profile we can better answer any questions that you might have....such as what camera you're using, where you are on the planet, etc. :)
You can do that at http://nikonites.com/profile.php?do=editprofile

FAQ

Some useful links
Nikon Product Manuals available for download | Nikon Knowledgebase
Nikon | Imaging Products | Digitutor


Thanks

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