Some people on DSLR forums seem to question if sensor dust is a real problem or just the amateur’s hypochondriac focus on irrelevant tech topics. Let’s be honest here – sensor dust is a problem and it seriously affects the image output in some cases. Period.

OTOH - yes - it is easy to get insane when trying to clean to the point where the sensor is perfectly spotless. Making irrelevant test shots to bright white surfaces and using "Auto Contrast" will make you to clean forever, ultimately destroying the sensor.

Tips such as “avoid changing lenses out in the field” just make me tired. That’s just why I have a SLR with a bunch of lenses. Different photographic scenes require different lenses and although I have the pretty versatile EF 28-300, it is hopeless for interior- and low-light shots. Sometimes, I bring two bodies – one with 16-35/2.8 and one 70-200/2.8 and then, most situations are covered. But it’s a clumsy and heavy combo for sure.

This "real-world" shot is taken at f8 where some blemishes can be seen in the even blue sky - stopping down to f11 or f16 would make them even more pronounced. I would say that although this is a crop of a larger picture, I think the dust spots really affects the output in a negative way. It is fairly easy to clone or heal out these blemishes, but it takes time and to get a perfectly even blue sky like this good really takes time