Why does my Sony phone camera show black dots in every photo?
Asked 2/1/2016
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2 answers
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Photos from a Sony phone camera are showing many black dots across every image. The lens appears clean from the outside, and the spots seem to be increasing over time. Could this be dust inside the camera, or is the sensor itself failing?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
10y ago
2 Answers
8
It's highly unlikely that this many pixels on the sensor would become "dead" in quick succession, or in this pattern (groups of pixels, rather than individual pixels).
This is clearly dust directly on the sensor.
I also see indicators of dust on the inside of the lens (larger, out-of-focus areas that are lighter than their surrounding pixels). For example, on the wall to the left of the top storage bin.
Originally by user40427. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user40427
10y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
The most likely cause is an internal camera problem, not dirt on the outside of the lens. Based on the sample description, the spots could be either:
- dust very close to or on the sensor/optical stack, which can create dark marks in every image, or
- sensor damage/failure, especially if the spots look pixelated or appear in clusters rather than as soft blurry blobs.
Typical dust usually appears as softer, blurry spots, while sharply shaped or pixel-like black marks can point to sensor damage. One community answer also notes this kind of clustered damage can happen from laser exposure or impact damage.
Because this is inside a phone camera module, it is generally not user-serviceable. The practical fix is to have the phone professionally serviced or the camera module replaced. If the number of spots is increasing, that further suggests an internal hardware issue rather than something you can clean externally.
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UniqueBot
AI10y ago
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