Dust on sensor? Oil?

So have my D7100 around 5 weeks or so and am loving in. However I have a spot that has appeared towards the top right of the frame. easily visible on blue skies etc, I`ve been cloning it out for the time being.
Got one of those Giottos Rocket Blowers and have given the sensor a few good blasts of it but its not shifting at all. Now I have no experience with these problems and I`m not sure if anyone here can tell from a cropped photo whether its dust or oil. Its certainly not shifting with the blower. Anyway heres the image:

DSC_1266 by adox66, on Flickr

Anyone hazard a guess?

The image didn't appear.

You can upload the photo here. Just resize to 1000px on the long side first.

Apologies guys. Hopefully this is visible.

It looks like dust to me.

Hi Adox, I can't tell what it is from the photo, but if it is something on your sensor, my first call would be the blower, which you have already tried.

If its oil or something stuck on good, you will probably need to have the sensor wet cleaned.
Not sure what your options are to have it professionally cleaned in your area, check out your local camera shop.

I have had to clean my D7100 sensor twice , and it needs another clean now. I can't get it done locally, and it would cost me $200 to send it away for a clean, so I learnt to do it myself. It is not really that hard once you get over the intimidation of going in and touching your sensor.

Here is a thread I started at the time outlining how I went about it.
http://nikonites.com/d7100/14767-cleaned-my-sensor-d7100.html#axzz2ubnzExcd

There are plenty more threads on the same topic. Type in " D7100 sensor clean " into the search function and plenty will come up.

Thanks for the replies.

Bringing it in to the shop I bought it from later today and they are gonna have a look at it. Pretty sure they can give it a wet clean.
Will update later.

Hi Adox66,

if it is not shifting with the blower at all, then I would imagine it is some oil or other contamination adhered to the sensor surface, from the shutter mechanism for example. As the camera is only 5 weeks old it may be that you can get it cleaned under warranty, take it in to where you bought it and ask, if they try to charge you for he service make a scene and play your "only 5 weeks old for heavens sake" card. If you can make another shot of the sky at the HIGHEST F-number, so the smallest aprture, then the contamination will be easier to define.

I totally support you learning to clean the sensor yourself. It really is not that hard, and if the D7100 is like my D7000, you are not cleaning the sensor directly, but rather the low-pass filter, which is a glass filter covering the sensor. Many make a big deal about cleaning the sensor but it is not that hard. Another thought, the D7100 should have a clean function in the menu, try that and see if the contamination shifts. For info on how to do this on your camera, read the manual. Any further questions please post. For cleaning the sensor I use the Sensorwand, with PECPADS and eclipse fluid.

Please let us know how it goes.

Regards
Martin

Englischdude said:

if it is not shifting with the blower at all, then I would imagine it is some oil or other contamination adhered to the sensor surface, from the shutter mechanism for example.

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I think this is a bit of a stretch to go straight to this assumption, particularly without knowing how often and under what conditions the lens may have been swapped. The UK has been rather damp of late, so any dust creeping in is likely to stick. I'd say that easily 50% of the dust I see on my sensor never budges with a blower once it's on there, so if this is the only spot I would call it normal and not point to a shutter disintegration.

All that said, take it to your dealer and they may offer to clean it, but don't be surprised if they want to charge you. Cleaning the sensor stack, as Martin said, is not difficult and should be considered a necessary skill to develop for any photographer.

And for the record, oil spots will always develop in clumps in the corners and will be round and translucent. So when you see spots scattered throughout the frame or along the long edges, it's dust and dirt.

BackdoorHippie said:

I think this is a bit of a stretch to go straight to this assumption, particularly without knowing how often and under what conditions the lens may have been swapped. The UK has been rather damp of late, so any dust creeping in is likely to stick. I'd say that easily 50% of the dust I see on my sensor never budges with a blower once it's on there, so if this is the only spot I would call it normal and not point to a shutter disintegration.

All that said, take it to your dealer and they may offer to clean it, but don't be surprised if they want to charge you. Cleaning the sensor stack, as Martin said, is not difficult and should be considered a necessary skill to develop for any photographer.

And for the record, oil spots will always develop in clumps in the corners and will be round and translucent. So when you see spots scattered throughout the frame or along the long edges, it's dust and dirt.

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agreed, thanks for this Jake. Would be interested to learn however, why oil has the tendency to deposit itself only at the corners

Englischdude said:

agreed, thanks for this Jake. Would be interested to learn however, why oil has the tendency to deposit itself only at the corners

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Because the corners are where the shutter mechanism pivots, so it is where oil will leak from. It's possible to get it elsewhere, particularly when the camera is oriented strangely, but even if it's all over the sensor there will be concentrations at the corners.

adox66 said:

View attachment 75057

Apologies guys. Hopefully this is visible.

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Hi, You need to learn to clean it yourself no big deal or pay someone to do it for you,but it does need to be cleaned sir......

So just back from where I bought the camera. Left it in with them for an hour and they wet cleaned it a few but the spot didnt shift.
She said the sensor was very dusty, abnormally so and also the shutter mechanism needed looking at as there seemed to be small bits of debris coming out of it.
They are sending the camera back to Nikon for repair so I`m going to be without it for approx 10 days which is a pain. Just looked at the copy of the docket she gave me and she has recommended a sensor replacement and that the dust issue needs looking at.
She also told me that if she wet cleaned it enough she may eventually have gotten it clean but it would be back to the way it was within weeks.

I do trust these guys. Part of the reason I bought from them is they have a great reputation in Dublin and are very knowledgeable in all aspects.

I didnt expect it to be as big an issue as it has turned out to be. I`m disappointed for sure. Ive been a little unlucky with my D7100 purchases. The first unit I bought had no warranty card in it, even though the box was sealed and so had to be returned and now this issue with a 6 week old camera.

Anyway I`ll update this thread again when I have the camera back. Cant believe Im going to be 10 days without a camera. I`m trying to remain calm and reasoned but I`m a little disappointed with Nikon. I know it can happen at any given time with any brand and Ive just most likely been unlucky but I have just lost that little bit of confidence in the brand.

Thanks as always to the posters here for their helpful feedback. It really is appreciated.

adox66 said:

So just back from where I bought the camera. Left it in with them for an hour and they wet cleaned it a few but the spot didnt shift.
She said the sensor was very dusty, abnormally so and also the shutter mechanism needed looking at as there seemed to be small bits of debris coming out of it.
They are sending the camera back to Nikon for repair so I`m going to be without it for approx 10 days which is a pain. Just looked at the copy of the docket she gave me and she has recommended a sensor replacement and that the dust issue needs looking at.
She also told me that if she wet cleaned it enough she may eventually have gotten it clean but it would be back to the way it was within weeks.

I do trust these guys. Part of the reason I bought from them is they have a great reputation in Dublin and are very knowledgeable in all aspects.

I didnt expect it to be as big an issue as it has turned out to be. I`m disappointed for sure. Ive been a little unlucky with my D7100 purchases. The first unit I bought had no warranty card in it, even though the box was sealed and so had to be returned and now this issue with a 6 week old camera.

Anyway I`ll update this thread again when I have the camera back. Cant believe Im going to be 10 days without a camera. I`m trying to remain calm and reasoned but I`m a little disappointed with Nikon. I know it can happen at any given time with any brand and Ive just most likely been unlucky but I have just lost that little bit of confidence in the brand.

Thanks as always to the posters here for their helpful feedback. It really is appreciated.

Click to expand...

Being without the camera is a pain, but I'm glad to hear they're taking care of it. Having a dealer ship it back might get you better service as I've had to go out of my way to show Nikon that I knew what I was talking about when I listed a problem.

It's unfortunate that you've had to go through 2 cameras so far. This is definitely uncommon among D7100 owners (at least the ones here). Slight wearing of the shutter isn't uncommon, but there are always exceptions. I suspect they won't replace the sensor, but may replace the top of the filter stack if that's been damaged (and likely what she meant), and if the shutter is wearing abnormally they will replace it. If there's good news it's that this isn't anything we've heard of before, so you should hopefully get a camera back that won't need service again for a while.

Sorry for your troubles. Keep us posted.

So sorry to here of your problems with the D7100. First one seems to be a problem with packaging and not the camera so that is good. The second I hope is an anomaly. At least I hope so since I plan on buying one soon.

I had exactly the same problem...my test photos looked identical, except in a different position. So mirror up, camera pointing at the ground and a good fierce blow. Cleared first time!

I had the same exact problem, in basically the same spot on my sensor. I tried, unsuccessfully, to remove it using the self cleaning setting on the camera. I do not trust myself at this point to clean it on my own, so a trip back to the store it was. I purchased the camera about two weeks prior and the store was more then willing to exchange it out for a new one as soon as I showed them on a photo where the spot was. I tested the new one in the store and it's spot free. I'm curious if this is something that might be common in the D7100 or just luck of the draw...

http://nikonites.com/d7100/13265-oil-sensor-2.html#axzz2uxePXSxX


Here is a link to a thread that I started last spring. On page 2 I report that he camera shop exchanged my camera.
I love my 7100, but I have to wt clean it once a month.

Just a quick update. I'm still camera less. Earliest I'm expecting it back is next Monday. Anyway yesterday I flew to the UK to attend a photography show in the NEC in Birmingham(great show btw, took great effort to keep the credit card in the wallet for the most part) and while wondering around the various stands, starting thinking about my situation. I decided that I was really 100% happy with the way things were going so got on my phone and sent an email to the shop the I bought the D7100 from explaining that I had had time to think about the issue with the camera and basically wasn't happy that a camera was going back for repair six weeks into its life and that I didn't know if I would be comfortable taking back a camera that had had work done on it to try and correct a fault with it and asked how we could resolve this.

Got an email back straight away to say that they would contact the nikon rep and let me know as soon as they hear something back.

On consideration I did feel I handled the original situation too matter of factly and felt I needed to at least voice my reservations. I'll update here again when I hear back from the shop.

Btw despite trying not not to buy anything at the show I still managed to pick up a Lee .6 ND Soft Grad filter and a Black Rapid RS7.

So finally got this situation resolved. Despite being led to believe by the retailer that I would get a replacement body, Nikon dug their heels in and wouldnt issue a new body,only repair. They apparently have a new 28 day replacement policy and my email to the retailer was 31 days after purchase date so they said it was outside the time frame.

I did offer to send in some unedited raw images taken with the camera with the dust/dirt issue and data to show that the problem definitely occured within the time frame but they wouldnt budge. I was a bit pissed of with Nikons attitude tbh.

Anyway, 12 days after the camera was left in it was returned as fixed, without any detailed explanation as to what the issue was.
I refused to take the body back and when neither Nikon or the retailer would give me a replacement body I requested a refund. A couple of phone calls later between the retailer and Nikon they finally agreed.

I went back to the shop earlier with the box and all the bits and pieces and my cashback Visa card, which luckily I hadnt spent. Got my refund and went to another shop in Dublin who I had contacted and bought the Nikon D7100 body there. Although their list price was dearer than the original dealer, they price matched for me, threw in a 16GB card and a lens cleaning cloth and also promised me a free full sensor cleaning when I needed it.

So alls well that ends well, although I was underwhelmed with Nikons customer service.
Heres hoping I am now trouble free with my new body and that my issue was a once off.

Btw and OT, the shop where I ended up buying the body had a dozen D4S behind the counter, all brought in to order, retailing @ €6200 a piece!