S90 spot on lens which I can't find

My Canon S90 seems to have a spot somewhere on the lens (I can see a relatively large dark spot in the LCD display) but cleaning the lens hasn't helped. The plastic cover for the lens doesn't seem to have any scratches or other damage so I'm puzzled as to where this comes from. Could dust etc. have reached past this protective lens cover?

Does the dark spot show up on the photos?

If so, is it sharp or more a blob of shadow

It's easier to see if I do a video recording. I can see it while in shooting mode but it disappears when I focus. Strange that it doesn't do that when video recording.

It's more like a blob or shadow. Not very sharp.

Post a sample........usually dust on a lens won't show up in a pic but dust on a sensor will, especially when the aperture is small. Take a test shot of a bare wall or the sky at f/8.

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Regards,
Hank
http://www.dpreview.com/galleries/638311471/photos/17792/night-launch

Sounds like dust on the sensor. Shoot several images up at a clear sky at a small aperture and see if it show up in the same area.

Yup, it's in the same area. I believe I also found another spot. They're shot against my computer screen at f/8. I'm guessing there are spots on the lens itself. Is there any way to remove the protective plastic in front of the lens without damaging the camera?

What you're seeing is actually mold on a lens elements, and there's absolutely nothing you can do about it. I have an S90 with the exact same problem.

Sorry about the news!

Ouch! :-( That could indeed make sense at it's been in all kinds of weather.

Is there any chance it could be on the front of the lens, trapped between it and the transparent plastic which prevents you from touching the lens? Are there any service manuals around? It's out of warranty anyway and I'd like to have a go at seeing how the lens looks. Google wasn't of much help

motion said:

motion wrote:

Ouch! :-( That could indeed make sense at it's been in all kinds of weather.

Is there any chance it could be on the front of the lens, trapped between it and the transparent plastic which prevents you from touching the lens? Are there any service manuals around? It's out of warranty anyway and I'd like to have a go at seeing how the lens looks. Google wasn't of much help

Click to expand...

This smudge off the tail of the top streamer, on my Ixus300, is gone now - it was on the front of the lens and spoiled shots from a nice afternoon. I dampened the corner of a microfibre cloth with tap water and worked carefully between wet and dry. On my bigger cameras a little whatnot on the lens front rarely shows up and this looked like DSLR sensor dust. These little guys bring the glass pretty close to the sensor, I guess. I'd say it's worth trying to clean yours before giving up on it. (I was able to clone out the smudged sky in PP.)

I had the same issue with my S95. It turned out to be dust inside the lens. I sent it off to Canon and they proceeded to just replace the entire lens element.

My S90 is unfortunately outside the warranty period and I don't think repairing it will be worth it.

Since the whole lens assembly had to be replaced, does this mean everything is sealed so I can't access the lens at all? It seems to me that when you turn it on, exposing the lens, there's a transparent flexible piece of plastic covering the lens itself (a "lens protector filter" of some sort?). I was kind of hoping I could remove it and using a lenspen possiboy remove any gunk on the outside of the actual lens.

PS: I have actually cleaned the "lens protector filter" where there is now no trace of dirt, so whatever is causing the dark blobs must be inside somewhere.