Help please

[Jeanie]

I have a Nikon D80. It was a store model and may have been a bit used. Natually, I paid full price for it. Anyway, I now have smudges or dots on my photos. The camera was purchased 45 days ago. What should I do? Clean it or return it???

[MountainRider]

Don't panic Jeanie.....

Any camera that you can change the lens on will eventually get dust on the sensor especially if you change lenses a lot.
In your case though, I think it's probably just dust or waterspots on the lens itself so if you haven't cleaned it yet try that first.
Use a lens blower to blow then brush then blow off again the front element of the lens.
(You can find these dirt cheap at a camera store or a place like Walmart)
If you haven't had the lens off.... then there is no reason to do the back side of the lens but if you have... then do the same to it.
Now take a couple of pictures and see how they look.
If you still see spots then blow on the front element with your breath (just as if you were cleaning a pair of glasses) then wipe it "Very Gently" from the center out in a circular motion with a good (Soft) lens cleaning cloth.
Don't use the paper lens cleaners....They Sratch!
Don't use the "Cheap" lens cleaning solution you can get at say Walmart either...Your Breath will do just fine for this and the cheap solution can and will mess up your lens element.....
I found that out the hard way as I messed up and scratched my 18-55mm with the cheap solution and paper cleaners that came with my camera....

If you still see spots after this, then it probably is on the sensor....
First thing.....
Take the lens off....lock up the mirror according to the instuctions in the instruction manual....
Turn the camera face down and "Very Gently" (without touching the sensor) blow on the sensor with your lens blower....
Don't brush it with the brush part...just use the blower.
If that doesn't solve the problem...then there are sensor cleaning kits out there you can use, but I wouldn't recomend you try this yourself.
I would let a pro do it.

You can also remove those spots while editing your pictures with a lot of editing software like Photoshop or Corel Photopaint.

Hope this helps you out and solves your dust bunny problems.

[Jeanie]

Thanks for your advice. I did decide to take it back to the camera shop first just to see what they thought I should do. The man there was extremely helpful. He took the D80 apart and determined that there was no way it should have had that much dirt in the sensor being as new as it was. He happily exchanged my camera for a new one. Now I can go back to trying to figure out how the darn thing works! Thanks again! -Jeanie

[MountainRider]

Your Welcome Jeanie....
Really glad you got a new camera and the problem taken care of!