That Was Fast (or Paraphrasing Lady Macbeth)

Went out and did some shooting on a cold, dreary day in Bethlehem, PA whilst simultaneously finishing some Christmas shopping. I've had literally no real opportunities to get out and test my new D600 since its arrival on Monday, so I grabbed this opportunity. As I started reviewing the images this morning, what I knew I would be seeing at some point arrived - on image #171. Oil/dust spots, and much sooner than I expected. I need to do some contrast checking on the images immediately preceding this one to see if I can find the first real evidence. The shots just prior to this one were of an ice carver, and were taken in Continuous-High mode. Not sure if that sort of workout helped precipitate the condition, but regardless, it has arrived. Bit of a drag, really, particularly given that the swabs for the full sensor will not arrive before Christmas, so I'll either be spot-cleaning images or shooting with the D7000. Not that it's an issue, but I'll be a little embarrassed to have to explain why my new Nikon has them so quickly to my Canon-shooting brother.

Here they are, in all their glory. Noticed them as part of an HDR exposure series - there may be a couple more faint ones further down on the left.

I'll been able to blow of any spots I've seen, might want to try that before a wet clean.

Rick M said:

I'll been able to blow of any spots I've seen, might want to try that before a wet clean.

Click to expand...

Absolutely - particularly since I have no other choice at the moment. Need to get my coffee in me first. I'm just figuring that since the spots developed somewhere over the course of 20 minutes in a cold, dry environment that it may be a bit stickier than dust. Then again, cold & dry = static. Fingers crossed.

blah, that's annoying.

as a side note, see my blog post on Bethlehem

Didn't realize you were semi-local. The town has done a great job working with local organizations to preserve and repurpose the old factory. They moved half of the 10-day long Bethlehem Musikfest to that area in 2011, and there are free concerts held in front of the stacks at the Levitt Pavilion every Thursday thru Sunday in the summer (Memorial Day to Labor Day). There's what used to be the country's longest single building that spans the area between the stacks and the Sands Casino that is being developed into a shopping outlet, while other buildings will become offices and condominiums. The place is wild looking at night. Not sure if you saw some of my pics in the HDR section. Links to the Flickr pages are...

Christkindlmarkt, Bethlehem Steel Stacks | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Steel Stacks lit for Christmas | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

I'm about 30 minutes away in NJ. If I manage to wrangle access I'll let you know. Maybe I can get them to let me bring a friend?
My wife and I have been Artsquest members for the last decade and I'm working on getting access to the inside of some of those places for a day's shooting. All sorts of liability issues.

I'm about an hour 15 away. Unfortunately I've never been there at night. It looks awesome, and so do your pics! I'm glad to hear they're reusing some of those buildings. I noted before that they kept the big gun rifling building.

Honestly, I prob wouldn't have the time to get up there. My hands are a bit full at the moment, but thanks for the offer.

I'm still trying to find some official documentation of when exactly my great grandfather worked there. Part of that motivation is figuring out when he died. I don't know that or where he is buried. I called the local cemeteries a couple years ago and they couldn't find anything on him. I also contacted the steelworker's archive people but didn't get a response. Any ideas on that?

Seems that a couple squeezes of the blower bulb has the sensor cleared. For now, at least.

jdeg, there is an information and historical center at the site now. There's a site for the venue, but no email address is listed. Here's the link for the visitor's center with a phone number. They may be able to hook you up, if they can't help you.

BackdoorHippie said:

Seems that a couple squeezes of the blower bulb has the sensor cleared. For now, at least.

jdeg, there is an information and historical center at the site now. There's a site for the venue, but no email address is listed. Here's the link for the visitor's center with a phone number. They may be able to hook you up, if they can't help you.

Click to expand...

As I reeled off the 3000 shots the other day the blower did clear quite a bit of the crud, but not the oil. As I stated previously, I had them at less than 100 shots. In most pictures I didn't really notice them as they are most obvious at small apertures. I've not looked again since the wet clean at 3000.