Hi guys,

 

Something really odd just happened to my A7 last night. I was shooting some macro photos with an M42 mount lens mounted on a new adapter. Everything was fine until this one shot when the camera gave me a "Camera Error. Please turn off and on again." message right after the shutter curtain released. 

 

I restarted my camera and immediately noticed some dark spots near the edges of my screen. I took my lens out and to my horror found two rather big scratch marks on what I'm guessing is my IR Filter. Basically its as if a bit of the green layer was taken off. 

 

I have no idea what just happened. Did my shutter curtain malfunction? Was that why there was an error? Did it scratch the IR filter or my sensor? Has this happened to anyone before?

 

I'd love to hear from you because I'm lost. 

 

There is some very thin glass in front of everything on the sensor, so it won't have scratched anything off, but it could be scratched. It's hard to tell from your shot, though.

I'm afraid that I don't know what's happened to cause it, though, but I'll hazard a guess which might help investigate.

 

I'm presuming there is nothing protruding from the back of the adapter (why would there?) and I'm also presuming everything was very still at the time (tripod?).

That means there could only be two possible scenarios that I can think of:

 

First, the shutter is failing/has failed, meaning the individual leaves have separated and clashed, forcing a part to hit the sensor.

Second, there has been some dirt inside the camera which has caught between the shutter leaves, also causing it to hit the sensor.

 

In either case, I suspect that the marks may possibly just be grease, or lubricant, rather than a scratch.

 

Perhaps you could try firing off a shot for a long exposure, without the lens (you need to set it in menu to allow it), which will let you see if the shutter has any tell-tale marks.

If you can't see anything, perhaps just try a careful 'wet clean' to see if you can remove the sensor marks.

Failing that, I imagine it's a trip to the repair shop, unfortunately.

Its entirely possible that:

 

 

 

 I was shooting some macro photos with an M42 mount lens mounted on a new adapter

 

had something to do with it.

 

 

I'd love to hear from you because I'm lost. 

 

 

 

Either you wouldn't love to hear from us, or you are genuinely lost!

 

Personally, I only post to forums when I do want some information and will always thank those who can be bothered to offer advice but, hey, that's just me.