I think I have a speck of dust either inside the optics or on the sensor of my compact camera (Canon Powershot G9).

Here is an example of the dust spot: clickey

It's only really visible with light backgrounds so it's not a problem in all shots but it is consistent and resits removal by giving the front of the lens a clean with a microfibre cloth (hence why I think it's inside)

Is there any way this can be removed cheaply?
I don't particularly fancy trying to dismantle the camera as I'm fairly confident it wouldn't work when I was finished.
So, recommendations on camera repair places or is this a bit of a lost cause?

How old is the camera? A little tinkering which went wrong could be a good excuse for something new, and yet if it worked money could be saved.

Have you tried anything from a post-processing angle yet? I've not had to deal with anything of that size myself, my normal problem is suspended particles in water which are quite easy to deal with. Some software could be used to automatically fix that area when the files are imported.

Myself, I would take it apart, lose something, swear a lot, find it, break something, swear a bit more, fix it, put it back together whilst swearing, and eventually come out with a clean and working camera.

I don't think that it's on the sensor as you're getting most of the information coming through.

Can you see anything on the lens?

The camera is two years old or there abouts. Having just spent a fair amount on a new DSLR I don't particularly want to replace my trusty compact at the same time. The credit card has taken a bit of a hammering as I just said.

I've had a go at removing the spot in Photoshop but I'm flailing around in the dark a bit. The spot removal tool seems to do an okay job but it's not ideal and using it too much makes the image look rather odd. I suspect that I could remove the problem by using the dodge tool but early attempt were a bit of a disaster. Sadly the camera doesn't support dust mapping as far as I can tell.

I can't see anything on the lens surface hence why I think it's inside somewhere though I take your point about it probably not being on the sensor.

A couple of similar dust problems and example images on this Flickr page, also some directions for disassembly, should you wish to follow them.

Here's a vid to help you CLICKY Make sure you get the correct fluid as there's 2 types.

The sky is one of the easiest things to clone dust spots from CLICKY - sometimes the spot removal tool just isn't up to the job. Do it on the full-size image before you crop and you should get good results.

Al