Lens Plem

[Speedbird1]

Sorry, tried to correct the spelling error: Plem>Problem; a problem with my keyboard, could not edit title. I think I might have got a water droplet inside my zoom lens from a trip last summer to the beach. I see a translucent dark spot on the upper-left on some photos; mostly with vivid blue skies. On cluttered photos, the spot is not noticeable. I thought it would evaporate by itself, but it's still appears after many months. The lens is impossible for me to clean inside. In the past, I noticed lint inside my long telephoto lenses but the lint never affected my photos. To have repaired now, would cost more than the camera. Is there any possible way to clean inside a telephoto lens? I even tried putting the lens under a hot-air hand dryer, but to no avail. Any ideas?

[lijk604]

If the spot is indeed internal, than the only way to fix it is to send/bring it to the manufacturer and have them clean it out.
Otherwise, Photoshopping out a "dust spot" is pretty simple. Not knowing your setup it's hard to tell you what to do.

If it's external, use a soft cloth and clean your lens carefully, however, being you tried a blow dryer already, it sounds like you have an internal issue.

[Speedbird1]

The camera is a point and shoot Lumix. The problem is definitely internal. Since the spot appears to be translucent, I think a water droplet is stuck there. I am surprised it never moves or evaporates. I was thinking of placing in a hot spot but that could burn-out the sensor. To pay to repair a $200 unit which has been dropped many times and has been used for 4 years seems silly. Except for the spot, it takes great photos. I figured somebody has a trick to remove spots from internal lenses without dissassembling.

[moose135]

Trust us, it's not water, it's a dust spot on the sensor. Happens all the time with DSLR cameras. Not as often, but not unheard of, with a point & shoot. Trying to heat the camera to dry it will not fix the problem and will likely lead to others.