New toy!

[Rach*]

On a bit of a whim I bought a Canon EOS 20D, I need a hobby! I'd like to take motorsport photos too and some really good piccies on the Oz Rally, so I have 2 months to get any accessories I might need and get practicing.

I went for a bimble this morning and took a few, here's a couple:







Bit rubbish, but it's my first proper camera

[Rach*]

This one I had a play at editting, cutting and tinkering

Edited by Rach* on Saturday 18th April 16:30

[Dogsey]

Looks to me like your sensor needs a clean.

[Rach*]

Where's that please? It's straight out of the fleabay box, thought the instructions were on the disc but they don't seem to be!

[mikeh501]

Welcome to the world of photography. Nows a good time to learn depth of field, aperture, shutter speed and ISO. Enjoy.

As for your apparent dust issue...
When you take the lens off the camera, and you can see inside; its the flat peice of glass looking stuff you can see inside. Your camera may have an cleaning mode, or you can have it cleaned by canon or do it yourself with special swabs etc. Dont touch it with your finger lol.

The ideas is not to get stuff in there in the first place

• Dont change lenses outside where its windy or dusty.
• only take the lens off to change lenses, dont leave it off when packing the camera
• When changing lenses, swap them quickly so at to reduce the risk.

[Simpo Two]

mikeh501 said:

When you take the lens off the camera, and you can see inside; its the flat peice of glass looking stuff you can see inside.

That's actually the mirror, which doesn't play a part in recording the image. Above it is the ground glass screen, which also has nothing to do with the recorded image but can attract crud which shows in the viewfinder (but not in the image). The bit you may need to clean is the sensor, which is behind the mirror. I don't know if your camera has a 'mirror lock-up' (MLU) facility to assist this.

If the camera was new it shouldn't have dust inside, but if it was s/h, it's only to be expected.

As for how to clean the sensor, have a search and you'll find loads of threads about it. Dust shows up most at small apertures and with plain light backgrounds, eg sky, and it will be in the same place on each image.

In addition to Mike's list of precautions, turn the camera off when changing lenses - the idea being that otherwise the sensor has a charge which attracts dust. I change lenses dozens of times for each job, and by following the precautions dust is almost no bother at all.

Edited by Simpo Two on Saturday 18th April 18:59

[Rach*]

Cheers guys! There's SO much to learn, if you see any fleabay bargains lenses, bags, stuff... please point me in their direction

[Gold]

Your first purchase (imo) should be: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Understanding-Exposure-Pho...

[Rach*]

Gold said:

Your first purchase (imo) should be: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Understanding-Exposure-Pho...

Purchased, thank you

That didn't take me long did it

Edited by Rach* on Sunday 19th April 11:36

[Kermit power]

What lens do you currently have on the camera?

[Rach*]

It's a 18-55 lens at the mo'

[tim-b]

Rach* said:

It's a 18-55 lens at the mo'

most people will probably tell you that's a crap lens (i'm assuming it's this one http://www.parkcameras.com/97/Canon-EF-S-18-55mm-f...), but TBH it will be fine for you until you work out how to use it. I wouldn't bother spending loads on flashy kit until you start to feel limited by what you've already got. read the book, take lots of pictures and have fun!

[stigmundfreud]

Simpo Two said:

mikeh501 said:

When you take the lens off the camera, and you can see inside; its the flat peice of glass looking stuff you can see inside.

That's actually the mirror, which doesn't play a part in recording the image. Above it is the ground glass screen, which also has nothing to do with the recorded image but can attract crud which shows in the viewfinder (but not in the image). The bit you may need to clean is the sensor, which is behind the mirror. I don't know if your camera has a 'mirror lock-up' (MLU) facility to assist this.

If the camera was new it shouldn't have dust inside, but if it was s/h, it's only to be expected.

As for how to clean the sensor, have a search and you'll find loads of threads about it. Dust shows up most at small apertures and with plain light backgrounds, eg sky, and it will be in the same place on each image.

In addition to Mike's list of precautions, turn the camera off when changing lenses - the idea being that otherwise the sensor has a charge which attracts dust. I change lenses dozens of times for each job, and by following the precautions dust is almost no bother at all.

Edited by Simpo Two on Saturday 18th April 18:59

yep allow ten to fifteen seconds after turning off to ensure any static doesn't occur (this attracts the dust). If it is new then dont worry as Canon seem to over oil their mechanisms. My old MK1 5d was filthy from factory and its not something they will cover.

If in doubt about cleaning it you have a few options

1.) Take it to a pro, people here can recommend places rather than trusting your local camera bloke
2.) You have a Canon, this means you have Digital Photo Professional. This means shoot raw then use the STAMP tool to find the pesky spots and correct, it does a great job. Depending on version you can also map out the static spots and automatically remove them once processed to jpeg.

[Rach*]

Bought the manual on fleabay in PDF for 99p, I'll have a play and let you know how I get on.

[stigmundfreud]

its free on the web!!

[Rach*]

stigmundfreud said:

its free on the web!!

Bit late now, hate searching about for stuff, attention span of a goldfish

[cirks]

there's an option in the menus called 'Sensor Clean' which will lock up the mirror allowing you to clean the sensor! Once cleaned (with proper cleaning equipment/swabs etc), just turn the camera back off and this will release the mirror.