Odd Effect: I think that this forum is great, but today I'd like to ask for some help. I took the enclosed photo with a Leica Monochrom, 50 mm f2 lens. As you can see, there are odd...

tommydif

I think that this forum is great, but today I'd like to ask for some help.

I took the enclosed photo with a Leica Monochrom, 50 mm f2 lens. As you can see, there are odd star-shaped artifacts all over the photo, which are repeated in all of the photos in this series. I'm thinking maybe a dirty sensor, but I'd like your opinions. Thank you in advance

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Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Try taking a picture of a smooth white wall. If they show up in the same places/pattern, dirt on the sensor.

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

tommydif wrote:

I think that this forum is great, but today I'd like to ask for some help.

I took the enclosed photo with a Leica Monochrom, 50 mm f2 lens. As you can see, there are odd star-shaped artifacts all over the photo, which are repeated in all of the photos in this series. I'm thinking maybe a dirty sensor, but I'd like your opinions. Thank you in advance

Dirt or the sensor is failing which has happened to Leica cameras.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

That is funny. It looks like a swarm of alien starfighters. They all have the same odd shape. I'm guessing that a bunch of something in the air settled on your sensor when you had the lens off. Try blowing the sensor clean, but not with canned air. Maybe they're spores.

A sensor loupe is great for examining the sensor.

MrMophoto Loc: Rhode Island "The biggest little"

Probably a sensor issue. I recently had a similar issue that turned out to be a dirty sensor but the spots didn't have the star shape. I bought a camera cleaning kit that included sensor cleaning swabs and a solution, after two applications I think I got most of the offending particles.

PhotogHobbyist Loc: Bradford, PA

To me, and from my experience with dirty senrsors, they do not look like dust or dirt on the sensor. Dirt on my sensors has always appeared as blurry light gray spots or lines, not clearly delineated as these spots are. I think they look like tiny pits in the glass which difract the light. Sort of like tiny stone chips in a car's windshield. Could presence of a fungus in the lens have a similar affect?

I'm definitely no expert on the subject, just a different thought. I could be 100% wrong.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Longshadow wrote:

Try taking a picture of a smooth white wall. If they show up in the same places/pattern, dirt on the sensor.

Repeat with another lens if you have one.

aflundi Loc: Albuquerque, NM

That is really interesting. You can clearly see that there are also regular dust spots that look like you'd expect. I'm going to hazard a guess that the funny looking artifacts come from some kind of "optical" droplet like resin that has landed on the sensor. Can you remove the lens and examine the sensor surface with a magnifier?

aflundi Loc: Albuquerque, NM

... or, if it looked like that only for a that series of pics, is it possible the lens was removed and water droplets go on the sensor?

tommydif

I think that I may have figured it out. These photos were taken in Jamaica, WI, and it is possible that, in taking the camera from an air conditioned room into the humid outside world, I may have gotten some condensation on the filter. I just took some pictures of a blank wall back home in NY, with and without the filter, and the effect is gone. Lesson learned, I guess.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

tommydif wrote:

I think that I may have figured it out. These photos were taken in Jamaica, WI, and it is possible that, in taking the camera from an air conditioned room into the humid outside world, I may have gotten some condensation on the filter. I just took some pictures of a blank wall back home in NY, with and without the filter, and the effect is gone. Lesson learned, I guess.

So glad it seems to be easily rectified!

Dust on the sensor is usually solid gray or dark gray spots, mostly round.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

tommydif wrote:

I think that I may have figured it out. These photos were taken in Jamaica, WI, and it is possible that, in taking the camera from an air conditioned room into the humid outside world, I may have gotten some condensation on the filter. I just took some pictures of a blank wall back home in NY, with and without the filter, and the effect is gone. Lesson learned, I guess.

That's almost disappointing. I was hoping that when you removed the lens, dozens of strange creatures would fly out, and you would have discovered a new species. I'd like to find out why they were that strange shape. Do you know any scientists?

tcthome Loc: NJ

Architect1776 wrote:

Dirt or the sensor is failing which has happened to Leica cameras.

There have been some problems reported with the M11 cameras also. Over exposure & a couple of others I can't remember.

StanMac Loc: Tennessee

The forms all have the same orientation which tells me it is not an random contamination of the sensor. It points to a defect in the camera, IMO.

Stan

lerrad Loc: Marietta, GA /Suches, GA

tommydif wrote:

I think that this forum is great, but today I'd like to ask for some help.

I took the enclosed photo with a Leica Monochrom, 50 mm f2 lens. As you can see, there are odd star-shaped artifacts all over the photo, which are repeated in all of the photos in this series. I'm thinking maybe a dirty sensor, but I'd like your opinions. Thank you in advance

It’s a Japanese attack. They think this is Pearl Harbor.