Camera Labs

Dear all,

I have owned my Lumix tz7 for a little over a year and was very happy with it until my recent visit in barcelona.
I always carry my lumix in the panasonic bag and had used it only on few occasions. However all the sudden in barcelona I had a smudge on all of my pictures one morning. You cannot see any scratches or other damages or impacts on the lens.
I do not know how this happened or what it is. The smudge is not on the display since it is on the photos themselves as well (I have attached here one so you know what I mean (new link) http://dl.dropbox.com/u/20327/Lumix/P1030695.JPG).

I have reset all my camera settings and also flashed a new firmware on the camera. None of which helped. I can’t send the camera into panasonic since a year since purchase has just gone by and the warranty in europe is therefore gone too.

Do you guys have any idea what I can do/try to fix it? Is that a common problem?

Thanks for your help in advance

Chris

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can you copy-paste the link again? it's spelled incorrect & doesn't work

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Gear: Nikon D80, 18-105mm, 35mm F/1.8, 85mm F/1.8, SB-600
Visit my work here

Sorry about the broken link. Here's the correct one: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/20327/Lumix/P1030695.JPG

I honestly don't have a clue...it looks like a grease smudge or something

_________________
Gear: Nikon D80, 18-105mm, 35mm F/1.8, 85mm F/1.8, SB-600
Visit my work here

I had that before on a Panasonic FX33. It just appeared, and after a while, disappeared again. I suspect it is dust inside the camera so not really much you can do about it, apart from trying to shake it out of the way.

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Canon DSLRs: 7D, 5D2, 1D, 600D, 450D full spectrum, 300D IR mod
Lenses: EF 35/2, 50/1.8, 85/1.8, 135/2+SF, 28-80 V, 70-300L, 100-400L, TS-E 24/3.5L, MP-E 65, EF-S 15-85 IS
3rd party: Zeiss 2/50 makro, Samyang 8mm fisheye, Sigma 150 macro, 120-300 f/2.8 OS, Celestron 1325/13
Tinies: Sony HX9V.

Thanks for the reply. Good to know that its a 'common' lumix problem.

I'll try to shake the hell out of it!

Do you know whether panasonic acknowledges it as a manufacturing fualt?

I'm not sure we can call it common just because we both saw it. I think it is just chance and bad luck over time dust can/will get in and get in the way.

_________________
Canon DSLRs: 7D, 5D2, 1D, 600D, 450D full spectrum, 300D IR mod
Lenses: EF 35/2, 50/1.8, 85/1.8, 135/2+SF, 28-80 V, 70-300L, 100-400L, TS-E 24/3.5L, MP-E 65, EF-S 15-85 IS
3rd party: Zeiss 2/50 makro, Samyang 8mm fisheye, Sigma 150 macro, 120-300 f/2.8 OS, Celestron 1325/13
Tinies: Sony HX9V.

Maybe it was condensation but it's a weird pattern for it.

Thanks for the shaking hint - it worked! I shook the hell out of it!

Thank you sooo much!!!!