This was supposed to be a LESS expensive hobby!
Turns out I had cleaned the lenses. I was pretty sure I had, but the images the other night said otherwise.
So I (re)cleaned all three lenses.
I shot a few test shots of blue sky with each lens.
And the shit is in the same spots in each image.
My sensor is dirty, if I'm lucky. Scratched if I'm not.
I already had a subtle Christmas tree effect from scattered stuck pixels. (This only shows up in long exposures (which is mostly what I take now.))
I have no money.
I have a credit card that I desperately want to use.
Edited: Now with a new Happy Ending!
So: The crux of the issue, as always, is that The Man (in this case Canon) says "Don't ever clean your sensor or you'll fuck everything up!!" I've tried ham-fistedly cleaning the sensor in the past while doing general maintenance, and now it appeared to be fucked up, so I wanted to believe them and I wanted to Do The Right Thing.
Well, see, The Right Thing takes about a week and costs around $50 ("depending" according to the useless sack of shit in the Golden Valley National Camera store). I wanted to use it tonight, and Adventure Tuesday! looms as well.
So, using an old credit card that I cut to shape and a few sheets of lens cleaner and some fluid, I opened it up and cleaned that bitch out. It took several attempts, by the end I was scrubbing pretty aggressively, but fuck if it didn't mostly work. There's two small gobs of gunk left that I just can't get, but I can live with them for now.
A new Canon EOS Rebel XSi is still in my future, but not this weekend. And while I can't wait to get my filthy, dust-impregnating hands on the new sexiness, I am relieved to be back in a position where I can take my time and find my deal.
(Now if only I could find the free money...)
Thanks for all offers of help/support.
So I (re)cleaned all three lenses.
I shot a few test shots of blue sky with each lens.
And the shit is in the same spots in each image.
My sensor is dirty, if I'm lucky. Scratched if I'm not.
I already had a subtle Christmas tree effect from scattered stuck pixels. (This only shows up in long exposures (which is mostly what I take now.))
I have no money.
I have a credit card that I desperately want to use.
Edited: Now with a new Happy Ending!
So: The crux of the issue, as always, is that The Man (in this case Canon) says "Don't ever clean your sensor or you'll fuck everything up!!" I've tried ham-fistedly cleaning the sensor in the past while doing general maintenance, and now it appeared to be fucked up, so I wanted to believe them and I wanted to Do The Right Thing.
Well, see, The Right Thing takes about a week and costs around $50 ("depending" according to the useless sack of shit in the Golden Valley National Camera store). I wanted to use it tonight, and Adventure Tuesday! looms as well.
So, using an old credit card that I cut to shape and a few sheets of lens cleaner and some fluid, I opened it up and cleaned that bitch out. It took several attempts, by the end I was scrubbing pretty aggressively, but fuck if it didn't mostly work. There's two small gobs of gunk left that I just can't get, but I can live with them for now.
A new Canon EOS Rebel XSi is still in my future, but not this weekend. And while I can't wait to get my filthy, dust-impregnating hands on the new sexiness, I am relieved to be back in a position where I can take my time and find my deal.
(Now if only I could find the free money...)
Thanks for all offers of help/support.