Sitting in the garden with a glass or two of wine watching the sun go down and playing with the cam

This is not lens flare it was in the sky

Oooooh, very cool. I really like the first one with the branches. Sounds like you had a wonderfully relaxing evening. :)

~Damia~ LeviathanPhotography

You play well! I love the first shot and the second make me look for the rain!

Does anyone know what all these dark spots are. (The lens was clean)

Message edited on: 07/22/2005 11:22

birds? ...starts to sing... Fly me to the moon... la, la, la & the other is a sun dog, very cool relaxing for sure :] the wine would help

I hate to tell you, probably they are dust. Try shooting the sky a few times and if they are in the same place, time to clean the sensor.

I did wonder about that but the ones before and after (different days) don't show them, Michael, only the last two on this day, and they are in different places

How long were the exposures Pat ? My guess would be they are hot pixels which the camera has detected and tried to cover with a hot pixel algorithm. The result has been a darker spot than intend because the algorithm is designed to work on night shots where it covers the hot pixel with a dark spot which blends in with the dark sky.

Message edited on: 07/22/2005 14:10

And every one said, 'If we only live,
We too will go to sea in a Sieve,---
To the hills of the Chankly Bore!'
Far and few, far and few, Are the lands where the Jumblies live;
Their heads are green, and their hands are blue, And they went to sea in a Sieve.

Edward Lear
http://www.nonsenselit.org/Lear/ns/jumblies.html

One is 1/125 @f2.4 ISO 100 (with plane) the second is 1/400 @ f4 ISO 100 (moon) Thanks Richard I don't know anything about 'hot pixels'

Not likely to be that Pat with those shutter times - sorry I don't know.

And every one said, 'If we only live,
We too will go to sea in a Sieve,---
To the hills of the Chankly Bore!'
Far and few, far and few, Are the lands where the Jumblies live;
Their heads are green, and their hands are blue, And they went to sea in a Sieve.

Edward Lear
http://www.nonsenselit.org/Lear/ns/jumblies.html

Check for dust on the lens. Dust on the lens will be visible at different focal lengths but in different places and different densities. Or there was a heck of alot of crap floating around in the air. I would shoot a few more sky shots after cleaning the lens. If they are still there, there may be dust inside the camera. If that is the case you have to take it in to be cleaned. Onslow, Hot Pixals will be in the same place all the time everytime no matter the settings. Hot pixal means that the specific pixal is toast and will always show as white or red, unles the camera tries to map them out. However if it tries to map it out it is usually the color of the surrounding pixals which is where the camera grabs data to fill the hole.

I like the first one Pat, the sillouhettes against the blue sky! The second image almost looks like the start of a rainbow, have seen these in the sky before but never knew what they were. The spots in the sky, didn't you just have your cam repaired? I am thinking maybe they got some dust or dirt inside the cam? Brenda

It does look like dust...What is unusual though is that sensor dust usually shows up on the images as the fstop goes up....and that is not the case here. Also, the spots would not move around too much. zhounder may be right...it could be on the lens (perhaps on the inside of the element) as the images are taken with different focal lengths. But either way, it looks like dust. From the exif, the cam is a Sony cybershot....so, it's not a DSLR. The primary way for dust to get inside is when it is opened up. If you just got it repaired, this is a possible scenario....if so, I would take it back....they may have put the dust in there for you....

In youth, we learn....with age, we understand.

Also noticed, but unrelated to the spots...the exif shows the last two images are taken at 48.5mm and 45.8mm respectively. Both of these exhibit vignetting. Image two was taken at 43mm with no vignetting.

In youth, we learn....with age, we understand.

Thanks every one,I appreciate your time. Looks like bad news what ever it is. I don't really want to send it back to Sony, they made such a mess of it last time. I will try Michaels suggestion and clean the lens and filter again and shoot some more sky, tomorrow perhaps (it's raining today):-(

Pat, Check around. I know that a co-worker of mine was in Manchester this week and she was telling me how it was good I did come because they staed near a photoshop that I would have never gotten out of (or the office was near there or something). Point is that there may easily be a local place that can fix it rather then send it back to Sony in case there is any dust inside. I bet there isn't I bet its dust on the filter.