Dust on Sensor

I read on a photography internet forum that someone has made a movie about dust appearing on the sensor of his new Nikon camera. At first I found it amusing that someone should film dust, what will he film next? Next I felt a little sad in that I'd used my time to read such trivia.

A few years ago while living in Spain I spent months photographing cloud formations above mountains. I soon began to notice fuzzy blotches in the photos. One or two fuzzy blotches I can live with, but it was getting worse by the day. The camera in question was a Canon Powershot G5, which has a fixed lens, and which you would imagine would be dust proof, but not so. Fixed lens cameras with telescopic lenses act like a bicycle pump. When you turn the camera on, the lens extends, sucking air and dust into the camera.

When the build up of dust in my camera became too time consuming for me to remove, I returned the camera to Canon who cleaned it and returned it to me in 48 hours. However, within a few day of use the dust started to appear again and at that point I sold the Canon Powershot. Incidentally, the Canon Powershot S100 that I now own has two specks of dust on the sensor. I can live with that.

My advice to anyone who discovers dust on their sensor is to accept it, and move on. Do not worry about it. Do not discuss it on forums. Do not make a movie about it. Do not write about it on your blog :-)