5D Sensor Clean mode eliminates hot pixels

[saynomore]

This is supposed to work with very prominent hot pixels which show even at shorter shutter speeds and low ISO. Some people have them, many people don't.

Of course now some will probably say I'm flip-flopping, but if that's the case, that just their failure to read the original thread, and my previous posts here.

And I'm sure they by now are assuming that I'm one of the "believers" when in fact in all my posts here the only thing I'm advocating is fairness, and to stop all the demeaning rhetoric.

I hope it worked. For many it has worked. For others it
unfortunately hasn't. If it doesn't work for you: too bad, it
doesn't work for everyone, you then need to go through the hassle
of sending it to Canon.

mwillems wrote:
I have about 40 hot pixels when I take a 1sec-plus exposure at
night. making the 5D useless for night photography.

Yes, I know, Canon will map them out; I suppose I could drive to
Canon, or pay a courier, taking the risk myself (no-one will pay me
back if lost or damaged I imagine), and then wait a month for
service that may or may not work (Canon cleaning can leave it worse
than it went in), and then deal with couriers again on the way back
(they always deliver to my home address which has no-one home) - I
think I'll save myself the trouble.

Why does Canon not just release the tools to do this? I am
perfectly willing to use them and take the risk. But no, Canon must
keep control. A bit like car manufacturers not releasing engine
interface details to third party repair shops, but in that case
antitrust law is changing that. I can only hope the camera market
will eventually attract some antitrust attention!

Mike

 

[Valentia]

I took two photos with the lens cap on. Did the sensor clean. Took two more. There were hot pixels in the first two, none in the second two.

I'm kind of glad it didn't work for the ignorant trolls on this thread.
--
Danny
http://www.flickr.com/photos/valentia

 

[blackhawk13]

I have about 40 hot pixels when I take a 1sec-plus exposure at
night. making the 5D useless for night photography.

Yes, I know, Canon will map them out; I suppose I could drive to
Canon, or pay a courier, taking the risk myself (no-one will pay me
back if lost or damaged I imagine), and then wait a month for
service that may or may not work (Canon cleaning can leave it worse
than it went in), and then deal with couriers again on the way back
(they always deliver to my home address which has no-one home) - I
think I'll save myself the trouble.

Why does Canon not just release the tools to do this? I am
perfectly willing to use them and take the risk. But no, Canon must
keep control. A bit like car manufacturers not releasing engine
interface details to third party repair shops, but in that case
antitrust law is changing that. I can only hope the camera market
will eventually attract some antitrust attention!

Mike

--I've dealt with the Canon service center in Teterboro, NJ. They did a sensor clean and a hot pixels remap. Turn around 1 week exactly, A#1 results. Send your camera Fedex overnight, fully insured. Canon will ship back to same way you send it to them. They will accept walk-ins as well.
Remapping requires special equipment and skills to do.

-nothing beats a fast lense, except a fast girl-

 

[mwillems]

I am afraid there's little Overnight Fedex from Canada to NJ and back - in practice any cross border shipping of something big, expensive, or heavy (i.e. not docs, ie a 5D) adds a lot of complexity and days for customs.

As for special skills: well, I have some computer skills... send me the software and try me! )

 

[blackhawk13]

I am afraid there's little Overnight Fedex from Canada to NJ and
back - in practice any cross border shipping of something big,
expensive, or heavy (i.e. not docs, ie a 5D) adds a lot of
complexity and days for customs.

As for special skills: well, I have some computer skills... send me
the software and try me! )

--No services centers there? Canon probably has made provisions to help with shipping; call tech support.

-nothing beats a fast lense, except a fast girl-

 

[Its RKM]

I have about 40 hot pixels when I take a 1sec-plus exposure at
night. making the 5D useless for night photography.

I disagree - even with this number of hot pixels the 5D is perfect for night photography and actually equipped with a feature to deal with precisely your problem.

If you activate CFn-02 as "Auto" or "On" then the 5D will perform dark frame subtraction after each shot with 1sec-plus exposures, completely eliminating the 40 visibly hot pixels, but also significantly reducing any residual noise in the blacks. The only down-side to this is that it takes twice as long to get the final image as normal - since two exposures are made by the camera for each shot. However, particularly at very long exposures, the end results are well worth it.

I leave CFn-02 as "On" all the time, since it only kicks in at slow shutter speeds, when I don't usually need immediate image display in any case.

Having implemented the sensor clean function a couple of times, I don't have hot pixels that are visible at shorter shutter speeds any more, and CFn-02 takes care of those that appear at longer shutter speeds.

 

[Steven Noyes]

Or make a database of dark frame images and use one of several programs (free) to fix the images.

Steven

--
---
2006 White Sands and Bisti Workshop
http://www.pbase.com/snoyes/white_sands_and_bisti

Winter 2007:
http://www.pbase.com/snoyes/images_winter_2007

 

[blackhawk13]

I have about 40 hot pixels when I take a 1sec-plus exposure at
night. making the 5D useless for night photography.

I disagree - even with this number of hot pixels the 5D is perfect
for night photography and actually equipped with a feature to deal
with precisely your problem.

If you activate CFn-02 as "Auto" or "On" then the 5D will perform
dark frame subtraction after each shot with 1sec-plus exposures,
completely eliminating the 40 visibly hot pixels, but also
significantly reducing any residual noise in the blacks. The only
down-side to this is that it takes twice as long to get the final
image as normal - since two exposures are made by the camera for
each shot. However, particularly at very long exposures, the end
results are well worth it.

I leave CFn-02 as "On" all the time, since it only kicks in at slow
shutter speeds, when I don't usually need immediate image display
in any case.

Having implemented the sensor clean function a couple of times, I
don't have hot pixels that are visible at shorter shutter speeds
any more, and CFn-02 takes care of those that appear at longer
shutter speeds.

--There are people who don't use the NR option? hee-hee.

-nothing beats a fast lense, except a fast girl-

 

[Its RKM]

--There are people who don't use the NR option?

Plenty, that is why it is an option and not hard wired into the camera.
I'd like to see you make a continuous star trail WITH the NR option!