Pixel trouble - SDX900

[Richard R. Robbins]

During a shoot yesterday, I think I discovered a dead pixel lower left of center. At first, I thought it was a lens flare, then a spot on the lens. However, I couldn't get rid of it. It shows up as a white speck, even with the lens closed down.

In 20+ years of shooting, I've never had this problem...

Any suggestions? Is there a fix built into the camera through a menu item, or do I need to see a tech.? And if so, where in the central midwest would you go? Any opinions about Fletcher in Chicago?

Jan Crittendon, where are you?

 

Rich

[John Ealer]

First line of defense here is to black balance repeatedly and hope the pixel resets.

 

If it doesn't, I don't know of any other options in the field.

 

J

[Richard R. Robbins]

First line of defense here is to black balance repeatedly and hope the pixel resets.

 

If it doesn't, I don't know of any other options in the field.

 

J

 

 

John,

Thanks so much for your reply. I must have been asleep on the day they discussed this in video class.

Today, at the beginning of the shoot, I black balanced as you suggested and to my amazement the dead pixel went away. Does this always work? With all CCD cameras?

Anyway, thanks again for your reply...if you ever get to Omaha, I'll buy you a drink.

Rich

P.S. Thanks for this forum and website!

[John Ealer]

Black balancing can reset "stuck" pixels on many cameras, at least from Sony and Panasonic. I find that pixels will get stuck after using a very high gain, or with the SDX-900, the cumulative super gain mode.

 

Some Sony cameras like the F900 also have a special "deep black balance" function that turns on an automatic pixel correction mode that can find and turn off stuck or dead pixels.

 

 

J