JP
I was totally psyched out finally got the call on the 5D mark II; retiring my Mark II N, slammed the new toy on my 500mm birding outfit and birding I went despite the wind chill below 20 degree. The pair-up is definitely now a much manageable beast without the use of support. Handholding 500mm for Bird In Flight (BIF) doesn’t gets this easy with a paper-weight prosumer body. Physically much manageable, but technically I still prefer the 1D series AF. Anyhow, my unit (serial number starts with 320xxx) shows none of the heated black-dots issues, however, does exhibits a RED-HOT pixel (no pun intended) located at (2569, 2799) X-Y resolution map.
Stuck pixels (shown up as one pixel color in Red, Green or Blue) are quite common on digital image sensor, and often coincide with images taken at high ISO sensitivity settings. Frankly, it’s an easy fix in post-processing, image editing apps likes Adobe Raw Convertor can automatically map it out with ease. But it bothers me though, the stuck pixel is persistent with low ISO shots; to be honest, this is my first Digital SLR with stubborn pixel prior to 4 other Canon bodies I got to know in the past.
Images with Stuck pixel shown at 100%
Despairing and praying weren’t helping, so I called up my Canon Guru for an advice, and I couldn’t believe how easy it was to get rid of the dead pixel with a simple procedure :
Test for dead pixels : Left lens-cap on, set camera to exposure 30 seconds black-out image at varies ISO settings.
Fix for dead Pixels : Set camera to perform sensor cleaning mode manually (not auto) for one minute. You only execute the function, not exactly performing the whole sensor cleaning procedure. Magically, the sensor cleaning task should shake the stuck pixels off, if not, repeat couple more times until it does. Otherwise, time to call the technical support.
I was able to get rid off the dead pixel with one single execution, avoided sending in unit for a remapping process. Come to think of that, the 5D mark II is actually has nearly 3 times the pixel resolution than my 8MP Digital SLR, definitely more chances to get caught with stuck pixel. The same procedure should work for most Digital SLR with manual sensor cleaning function. Good Luck!
6 Responses to “How to remove Stuck Pixels on your Digital SLR”
Toby December 29, 2008
I got a 5d Mk II on Christmas and shot with it all day. It wasn’t until later that night I noticed a stuck pixel in the HD video. It was consistent through all photos and videos. I was really worried and did the manual sensor cleaning and was relieved to find out that the pixel wasn’t showing up in pictures anymore. Then I shot some test video and the pixel was definitely still messing up. It never showed up in pictures but was still in all video. I took it into the store the next day and am still waiting for a new one to come in… Now I have nothing to play with, but I can’t live with this problem and shouldn’t have to. Hopefully the new one doesn’t have the same problem.
+1Adam January 17, 2009
Thanks a million – been worried about this for a week or two – I had 3 stuck pixels – lightroom removed them on import but thats not the point.
Your solution worked first time!
Cheers
Adam
+2lavache September 26, 2009
Thank you!
NeutralJust doing the procedure once unstuck a pixel on my Canon 50D.
Hi i have tried this a numerous amount of times with no luck. I WISH i only had one dead pixel, but im looking at close to 2000. Without fail, i have a dead pixel within a maximum distance of 10 pixels between each other. ranging from white, red and blue. Ive contacted canon and the man on the phone was beyond useless, literally not answering my questions. sitting there in silence until i had to ask him to ANSWER me!! eventually he basically told me to shove it and if i want send it away to canon for 8-12 weeks (WHO HAS THAT MUCH TIME TO BE WITHOUT A CAMERA???) I’ve never had such poor customer service in all my life.
Any suggestions as to how i can deal with this?
NeutralDaniel Lim October 6, 2009
Andrew,
If you’ve performed the test with cap on, or it’s taken with high iso, you are likely to see that many stuck pixels. If that’s the case, it’s common.
Also, In extreme high iso shot, some of them aren’t stuck pixels but noises. it’s critical that you tell the different.
NeutralYep aware of this too, however the high iso noise is random and different every image. These dead pixels are visibile in the exact, and i mean EXACT same spot from isos 100 up to 6400. Lens cap on shows them more clearly, the best example is at iso 800, there as absolutely no noise from the sensor at this level, yet these very strong pixels stand out a significant amount on the black. But regardless of whether the cap is on, or im doing any kind of shooting, all i need to do is hit the review button, zoom to maximum on the image, and within the 100% crop frame on teh back of the camera there is at least 15-25 visible dead pixels in each shot. If i roll my wheel, i go between photos, where the noise is scattered randomly through the images, but these dead pixels stay in the exact same position, at the same intensity, at the same colour, in the exact same spot. Im 100% sure this isnt noise.
Neutral