mystery "gray spots" in new S2 Pro

[survista]

I just purchased Fuji S2 Pro in early September from a store in Canada (I'm in California). The camera turned out to have 3 gray spots in the same place in each picture I took and it was promptly replaced by Fuji of Canada with a brand new camera in the sealed box. However, the brand new S2 pro has 1 gray spot in the same place in each frame. It's not dust, it's not on the lens. The salesman in Canada now says, "just take it out in Photoshop". NOT! I spent way too much on this camera to sit there and clone a spot in each picture. Has anyone here experienced anything like this? (see attached jpeg)

[SSonnentag]

Assuming your attached image is a crop of the original and not a resized original, I wouldn't worry about it. I know I'd be hard pressed to detect the spot if it weren't circled. In most images you probably couldn't find the speck even if you knew where to look.

If, on the otherhand, this is a scaled down version of the entire frame, the spot may be quite large. If it's visible in this small image it must be pretty large in the original. In that case, I'd probably look further into getting it fixed or replaced.

Shawn

[Tom V]

Normally,

I hate required retouching in Photoshop.

I had gray spots in my images, which I took to be dust, which I could not see on the sensor, which disappeared when I cleaned the sensor with an air bulb. See my forum posts regarding these spots in the "CCD Cleaning" forum.

Since you have returned the camera, and gotten a new box back and have the same spots... they gave you the same camera back, or they put your old sensor in a new body, or you have a spot on your monitor, or a huge glob in/on your lens, or Fuji is jerking you around.

I would complain to Fuji and send it back again. Required retouching in Photoshop is not an option.

[survista]

The image I attached is a resized jpeg from a 19.5 mg file. When I zoom in on it it is a spread-out gray mass. The first camera had three gray dots. This really is a different camera, but, I'm wondering if they took it from the same shelf as the other. (Think "Abby Something" from Young Frankenstein....". After being somewhat calmed by the rep in Canada yesterday and spending much time on the phone to Fuji in USA and Fuji Canada, I'm back where I began about wanting to ship my $$$ camera back for a perfect one to start out with. I don't need problems with it straight out of the box!

[Iain]

Hi I'm sorry to hear that you are also having problems with flaws in your images. You may have seen in other posts that I have a bright green dot on my images. I still have heard nothing from Fuji UK and am seriously thinking of writing to the digital camera press with my experience with their lack of help.

I was interseted in your heli picture. I fly radio controlled model helicopters. If you are interested you can see them on my son's web site at:

www.mullhelis.freeserve.co.uk

Best wishes,

Iain

[survista]

Well, I have spoken with a very considerate higher up at Fuji of Canada. He gave me the email address of their lead tech support person to send the jpeg I had attached here. I am still awaiting a reply, but, it's only been about 2 hours. He did tell me that it was a possible speck of dust on the CCD and that if so, they would be happy to walk me through cleaning it over the phone. Also, he mentioned that sometimes zoom lenses had the capability of depositing dust on the sensor if they were not properly clean. (I don't really think this is the case, but, I just don't know yet). Hopefully this will be resolved very soon. Thank you for your responses. I really appreciate it.

In regard to not receiving a response from Fuji, I recommend phoning them again and perhaps asking if you can send them a CD or jpeg's by email. Don't give up. They seem to be very helpful.

[Tom V]

Normally,

The sensor in your camera carries an electrical charge (when turned on). This charge can attract dust and little particles of Fuji camera and Nikkor lenses.

As a camera is used, and lenses are changed, the mount will show some wear. This wear is the metal changing shape, being scraped ever so slightly, and little dings from not aligning the lens with the mount PERFECTLY, and so forth. All lens mounts and camera flanges will show some wear. This wear starts the very first time you put a lens on. In fact, I think it wears the most the first few times you twist a lens on and off. Some of the little worn off particles are sure to end up in your camera mirrorbox, the back of the lens, or fall harmlessly outside the equipment. It is the stuff inside the camera, or in the back of the lens that can eventually make its way to the sensor, or film for that matter.

There is dust floating around in the air. It is bound to land on the sensor sooner or later.

The Canadian model of the S2 (North American) I bought did not contain an AC Adapter. I had to order one from a camera shop in Canada (where I got the camera) before I could clean the sensor. The AC Adapter cost about $70 from Canada vs. $300+ from US camera stores. Fuji USA will give you a discount for the $300+ US AC adapter that brings the price down to $70 if you have an S2 receipt from a US store.:rolleyes:

[Topngu]

Try send to Fuji USA,NJ. with copyreceipt ,see they can help you?
with the sample + a few drop of your tears..:rolleyes:

[Marvo]

Yep, I can see a spot too. A fuzzy one in from the top right hand corner of a landscape frame about 30 pixels in diameter on a 6 megpixel shot. It's there whichever lens I use. If it was dust on the sensor surely it would be a sharpish blob. effectivly a "contact print" of the dust partical. for it to be fuzzy it would have to be hovering above the sensor plane, keeping it's position precisely.
I'm with Tom on the point that any "required" retouching is not an option.
If my clients new that I was shooting "spotty" pictures my reputation for dilegence, precision and attention to every detail would be straight down the pan along with my entire career. I'm going to have to get straight on to Fuji UK but by Iain's experiences, I don't know how far I'm going to get.
Watch this space. Any further feedback will be greatly appreciated.

Marvo.

[memobug]

It still sounds like dust to me. Your particle could easily be thin, translucent or nearly so, with soft or hard edges, or it could be 100% opaque. You can post a crop here on the forum very easily by attaching a small jpg file.

Regards,

Matt

[Tom V]

I too had fuzzy, blobs, much larger than a pixel, or dust shadow, or what I thought dust on the sensor would look like. In the "CCD Cleaning" forum, I posted my cleaning the sensor comments.

To see a super close up of the dust spots that showed up in my shots, go to "What, am I the first person to clean their sensor?" post.

I have double-checked new shots against old shots, and the blobs are gone. I have gotten new blobs, and I cleaned the sensor again, and they are gone. -except for one new one.:rolleyes: