Mysterious Spots On Sony DSC W7 Video

Lately, I've been noticing two or three spots on various videos, usually appearing in the same place. They look like they might be caused by something on the lens, except they seem to be in pretty good focus, so I don't think that's what's going on.

The weird part is that they seem to come and go; I just checked two videos which were shot minutes apart, and they're plainly visible in one but not visible at all in the other. Also, in one of the videos, a spot seems to appear out of nowhere just before the video ends.

Has anyone else seen anything like this? Sensor problem perhaps?

Thanks,

Scott

That or perhaps some dust inside the camera near the CCD that keeps getting moved around, or a speck of dust on the lens

I would agree... if it is in focus, chances are the cause of the problem is close to (if not on) the CCD. I would suspect dust, because most of the time if the sensor is going bad, there are lines and static across the image, not just a localized speck. And, unfortunately, to get something like that cleaned out, you have to send the camera in to sony or some other repair service.

Update: just got back from the repair shop, where the camera was up on the hoist. Apparently it needs a new CCD and lens block, to the tune of about $300 Canadian. Yoiks -- I only paid about $400 for the camera, and it's not that old.

Guess it's time to shell out for the DSC H9 ...