Best way to edit out spots caused by dust on lens?

[AlexC1981]

Hi All,

My camera has a few spots of dust in it and I have ended up with some spotty holiday snaps. Does anyone know the best way to remove the spots from the photos? I have downloaded GIMP, but I cannot figure out how to use it to get rid of them.

Here are a few example photos:

[jimmy156]

Use the Clone tool to copy bit od scenery or sky or whatever over the dust spots.

I would say the dust is on your sensor not your lens btw, dust on the lens doesent really show up on the shots (unless its on the rear element)

[Simpo Two]

Yes and yes (clone tool is Photoshop BTW).

[LongQ]

If you are using a sealed unit pocket cam, which is what the photos exif info suggests, then you may need to consider replacement.

It looks, on a quick glance, like the dust spots are moving around a bit. That's unusual.

Even more unusual to see dust on a sealed lens unit.

The suggested fixes will resolve the photo by photo problem but not the overall problem that seems to exist in the camera.

I may have missed something here but "it don't look right to me".

[AlexC1981]

Thanks for the replies. Yes, it's a compact and I've already got its replacement! I started shopping around as soon as I got back from holiday and saw the spots. It's 5 years old, so about due for replacement anyway.

I can see dust on the inside of the lens. I don't know how it could have got in there, so I suppose it might be on the sensor as well. Maybe it was on the side of the zoom and got brought in when it retracted.

I have found an online guide to using the Gimp Clone Tool, which sounds like it does the same as the Photoshop version. I'll have a go.
Cheers.

[LongQ]

Cloning should work well enough.

Dust inside the lens is not unusual but for that to affect the images as shown is a little odd. normally it suggests something on the sensor.

I guess the lens mechanism is not so dust sealed that what gets into the front sections is unable to find its way through to the back.

The spot sources are probably invisible to the eye but will show on a sensor working at a narrow aperture (relative to the camera's lens and sensor size). Very bad luck though to see the effect that clearly.

[RobDickinson]

Use Picasa it has an easy to use dust spot removal tool.

[Ultuous]

Try the heal tool in Gimp too (the one that looks like two sticking plasters!)... It sometimes works a little better than a Clone for such things

[DIW35]

That will be dust on the sensor. Dust on the lens would be too far out of focus to affect the image.

[AlexC1981]

Thanks all. I ended up using the Picasa retouch function for most of the spots. Much quicker and simpler to use than Gimp, though it is only good for spots in the sky and sea where there is not any detail to worry about.

[LongQ]

AlexC1981 said:

Thanks all. I ended up using the Picasa retouch function for most of the spots. Much quicker and simpler to use than Gimp, though it is only good for spots in the sky and sea where there is not any detail to worry about.

It would be rather fussy to try to fix spots that are usually quite well camouflaged in areas of detail. Might be unlike a few times I guess, in which case use a clone tool instead.