Black fuzzy spot in every picture (D40)

I have a Nikon D40. I bought it new in 2007ish and I'm still using the stock 18-55 lens that came with it.

In the last month I've noticed a black fuzzy spot in every picture. Below is an example. That is not something on the wall - the dot moves and shows up in other pictures.

It only shows up when zoomed in and gets progressively lighter as I zoom out.

So I assumed it was something on the lens, but cleaning it didn't change anything. I don't visually see any scratch or debris. I don't think I ever took the lens off since 2007, but I removed and gently blew some compressed air into it. No change.

Any other ideas? The camera has never been dropped or damaged.

One other odd thing is that periodically, I'll see an extreme blue tint if I pick the camera up after a long period of time and snap some pictures - that has only happened once or twice in the last couple of years though and could easily be a low battery or temperature issue (I haven't really documented it).

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That's dust on your sensor. It's very common and a quick google search will show you the many techniques used to remove them.

Welcome to the forum,it looks like you may have something on the sensor,if it moves on different pictures it is most likley only dust,i don't recommend compressed air but a rocket blower ,lens off, camer upside down and a good blow inside with the blower ,being careful not to put the blower too far inside and touch any thing.

First of all, get one of these. Accept no substitutes, get the genuine Giottos product. The “Large” size unit, which has a valve and filter at the back, so that it doesn't suck the dust in the front only to spit it back out at the thing you were trying to clean.


Second, study your camera's manual to find out how to lock the mirror up and the shutter open for cleaning the sensor.

Third, remove the lens, and lock the mirror up per the previous step. As much as possible, hold the camera with the lens opening facing downward. Use the Giottos blower to blow up into your camera, at the sensor, to try to dislodge the foreign object that is sticking to your sensor and causing the spot.

Put the lens back on, and try taking some pictures to see if the spot is still there.

If it's still there, then get this, and follow the instructions that come therewith. Use your Giottos blower to clean/charge it.

If that doesn't get the spot, then it's time to look into wet cleaning. Get a kit like this one, and again, follow the instructions that come therewith. Chances are, as long as you've had that camera, it's probably overdue for a wet cleaning anyway, and you could probably skip the other two methods and just go to that, but even if you do, you'll want the other two products in order to let you go longer after this cleaning until the next time it becomes necessary again.

Chances are, you actually have a bigger sensor-dust issue than you realize. How much you should care depends on how badly it shows up in your pictures. If you want to see how bad the situation really is, follow these steps:

• Zoom the lens out to its longest focal length.
• Set the focus to manual, and focus the lens all the way in the infinity direction.
• Put the camera in aperture-priority mode.
• Set to use the smallest aperture possible.
• Set the ISO to its lowest available setting.
• Bring up a blank white page on your computer screen. An empty web browser tab will do. If your web browser insists on giving you any sort of home page or anything on a new tab, then you should be able to get a blank page by entering about:blank into the address field.
• Hold the camera just an inch or two away from your computer screen, and take a picture.

Examine the resulting picture carefully. You'll probably wish you hadn't. If it hasn't upset you enough yet, load it into PhotoShop, or GIMP, or any similar program, and to an “Auto-Levels” operation on it.