Expert: Tim Hrabia - 2/3/2009

Question
QUESTION: A speck keeps appearing in all of my photos
I took several pictures on the highway and when reviewed them, I saw that all of them had a a blurred dot at the same point
When I took a test photo using an aperture of f2.6, the speck disappeared, but when I used f8, it showed up
What is wrong with my camera? What is the solution?

(just for the record, the warranty has expired)

How can I prevent this dot from appearing again?
and the picture feels a little noisy....how do I improve it's quality?



ANSWER: Good evening. Great question, but not quite enough information. Before I give an answer I would need to know if this is a digital or film camera, can you attach other lenses, if you can does the spot appear when you use another lens?
As far as the picture goes, what do you mean when you say it is "noisy"?
Thanks for the question and I look forward to hearing back from you.
Sincerely
Tim (the husband)

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: oh sorry I forgot to mention which digital camera I had
it's a canon powershot A570 IS with lots of manual controls
and I can't remove the lens- it's retractable and goes in when I switch it off
although I can attach telephoto converters using an adapter, but I don't have any of those accessories

and by noisy I meant that the picture wasn't that sharp and I felt that it was a little grainy near the skies
maybe it's just me

hope that was enough
and if there is anything that I might have missed out, please let me know

ANSWER: Good evening and thanks for the follow up. Basically it looks like you may have a dried up water spot or speck of dust on the lens. Try to clean the front of the lens with a good lens cleaner. If that doesn't help, the problem may be inside your lens and will require you to have it professionally cleaned.
The picture also appears to have a soft focus problem which again would require you to take it to a professional repair shop.
Sorry for not having great news.
Happy shooting
Tim (the husband)

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: I am taking it to the shop like you told me
but I would like to know one thing
would a larger aperture make any difference in the way the picture turns out?
I did notice that there was some blackening at the corners at f2.6 and the reason I used f8 was to achieve better depth of field and more sharpness
but does it really make a difference?
I haven't noticed any myself...

I am asking this so I could save the repair cost by just changing the settings  

Answer
Good evening again. I believe that when you shoot at F2.6 the speck is still there but it is just not as noticable. When you take it in ask them for their opinion first, they may have a different or better idea.
Sorry for not having more info.
Take care
Tim