ACk! what are these white spots on my 20d?!

[Ghost9]

last night I was out taking some nightshots and when I reviewed them i thought they came out pretty nice. Today I went into photoshop and started viewing them at 100% and noticed something terrifying to me, these weird white dots in the same spot on every photo.

Examples at 100%:
http://www.ghost9.com/spot1.jpg http://www.ghost9.com/spot2.jpg http://www.ghost9.com/spot3.jpg

Zoomed in Examples:
http://www.ghost9.com/spotzoom1.jpg http://www.ghost9.com/spotzoom2.jpg http://www.ghost9.com/spotzoom3.jpg

These show up in the exact same spots on every photo i took last night. Is this a sign that my camera is malfunctioning or damaged? Something wrong with the sensor? could it have been a spray of water or something on the lens? would something like that make a tiny little X in the photo?

I took some pictures today in my room in normal light, but the spots aren't aren't showing up. Could it have something to do with the long shutter time at night?

some of the photos i took are at http://www.ghost9.com/nightshots
some are better than others. nothing really artistic about them, just trying out the functionality of the camera.

[ktixx]

That really looks like a dead pixel. There is a chance that it will fix itself, but if your camera is under warranty I would consider calling canon. Just be warned sometimes there has to be a threshold of dead pixels for the manufacturer to do something..

[coldrain]

Yes... white spots on a 20D are usually dandruff. These white spots on the photos made with a 20D look like they are caused by a hot pixel.

[Ghost9]

Yes... white spots on a 20D are usually dandruff. These white spots on the photos made with a 20D look like they are caused by a hot pixel.

hot pixel? meaning possibly dead or dying?

[coldrain]

A pixel that always gives back a maximum value, which makes for the white spot. The surrouding pixels are influenced by it as you can see.

A pixel problem this big will hopefully be fixed by Canon. Contact Canon's service in your country...

[Ghost9]

well this blows. thanks for the advice.

[Ghost9]

if you're interested, full res jpgs with the dots highlighted. there's actually quite a few.

http://www.ghost9.com/dots.jpg
http://www.ghost9.com/dots2.jpg

showed a friend and he found even more. this crap sucks.

[Ghost9]

contact canon. They said it's probably dust on the sensor or lens. so now I'm supposed to have the sensor cleaned or clean it myself. Since there's no service locations around, i guess I'm going to try cleaning it myself.

[coldrain]

Who did you speak to?
Better call them again and tell them it is most certainly not dust. It is a hot pixel causing lots of trouble.

Really, call them again and tell them it is not dust but a defect in the sensor, and if they dont believe you offer to send some examples/proof. Or give them the link to this thread.

[Ghost9]

Who did you speak to?
Better call them again and tell them it is most certainly not dust. It is a hot pixel causing lots of trouble.

Really, call them again and tell them it is not dust but a defect in the sensor, and if they dont believe you offer to send some examples/proof. Or give them the link to this thread.

i had contacted them over email and sent the examples with it. I guess I'll call them if you are this adiment about it not being dust. if they are dead pixels, wouldn't it show up in daytime shots as well?

[forno]

Im no expert but to me it is plain to see that the "spots" in quetion are all of the same gemoetric shape and a very structured one at that, dust would be a more varied shape IMO

[coldrain]

Dust in the lens will NEVER show up on a photo. Dust on the sensor only really shows in light areas and with small apertures. And then it just looks like round a bit darker spots in the sky, for instance.

These hot pixels can sometimes only appear at longer exposures, try photographing something really dark (in that area) at daylight. A white pixel on lighter background of course will not wreak as much havok.

[coldrain]

an example of what dust on the sensor may look like (usually the spots are not so dark) http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/SD9/ZDUSTTESTF22C.JPG

[Bluedog]

if you're interested, full res jpgs with the dots highlighted. there's actually quite a few.

http://www.ghost9.com/dots.jpg
http://www.ghost9.com/dots2.jpg

showed a friend and he found even more. this crap sucks.

In those two images the spots are nothing more than Hot Pixels due to using long exposures. Quite common in digital photography. A Dead Pixel will show up in the same place in each photo.

[Ghost9]

but hot pixels are just as bad as dead pixels no?
I mean, what if I wanted to shoot a series of night photos... guess I'll get on the phone with cannon again.

i really appreciate all the responses

just got off the phone. they said I'm to send it in to the service center where they will adjust the pixels so they fire correctly. This bothers me since it's a brand new camera. I wish i had checked this before the 30 days were up. I would've returned it rather than getting it "serviced".......... you don't pay a G for a camera and expect this crap.

[noyjimi]

Just curious if you had long exposure noise reduction turned on in the custom function and if it made any difference?

[Ghost9]

Just curious if you had long exposure noise reduction turned on in the custom function and if it made any difference?

honestly i'm just learning the camera. i had it set to the auto landscape mode. i was going to teach myself as I went but haven't gotten to the noise reduction.

I'm sending it to the service center. I think it's bs that I have to pay to ship it there, but whatever... rather have a camera that works perfectly........... >:[

[ReF]

you don't pay a G for a camera and expect this crap.

looks like a hot pixel to me. it's extremely common stuff that IMO you shouldn't get worked up over. on a sensor with 8 million photosites you gotta expect a few to be malfunctioning. these things only show up for me when i shoot long exposures and they're so small that cloning them out is a breeze. certainly not troubling enough to be without the camera for 1-2 weeks, IMO. they'll probably map it out or something like that.

[Bluedog]

but hot pixels are just as bad as dead pixels no?
I mean, what if I wanted to shoot a series of night photos... guess I'll get on the phone with cannon again.

i really appreciate all the responses

just got off the phone. they said I'm to send it in to the service center where they will adjust the pixels so they fire correctly. This bothers me since it's a brand new camera. I wish i had checked this before the 30 days were up. I would've returned it rather than getting it "serviced".......... you don't pay a G for a camera and expect this crap.

You need to Google the difference between Hot Pixels and Dead Pixels. Hot Pixels are quite common on long exposures, especially in the darker areas. There are even free plug ins available to clean up the Hot Pixels in post processing.

You will be wasting yours and Canons time sending the camera in.

[Ghost9]

You will be wasting yours and Canons time sending the camera in.

seriously? so I really shouldn't bother with it? even when there are so many? i counted 18 atleast. that's normal? If this is true i won't waste the postage, but if others have a different opinion i'll still send it in.

[Bluedog]

seriously? so I really shouldn't bother with it? even when there are so many? i counted 18 atleast. that's normal? If this is true i won't waste the postage, but if others have a different opinion i'll still send it in.

Yes seriously, it's part of dealing with digital photography. Just like getting dust on your sensor. Its gonna happen sooner or later.

Your image cropped and one pass in Photoshop using a Hot Pixel remover plug in.

http://img157.imageshack.us/img157/306/dots2xg6.jpg

[Ghost9]

i know it's not a huge deal to remove the spots. I was more concerned that my brand new camera was malfunctioning. since i read your post i've been doing a little research. And I guess for exposures as long as those were it's not a rarity. some of the exposures had to be over 5 seconds. It just scared me to see them everywhere. I feel educated, but still on the fence about sending it for service. gonna do some more research, but i'd still like to hear more opinions.

where'd you get the hot pixel plug in?

[Bluedog]

http://www.redpawmedia.com/hotpixel.html _ enjoy ... ;)

[Ghost9]

i've been doing more research on the hot pixel thing. But something that I haven't found; how many is too many? Most of the articles i've been finding talk about 1 or 2 hot pixels not 18 or 20 like i've found in my pics.

[coldrain]

I'd say contact canon again, telling how old the camera is and how many pixels have problems. this a clearly unacceptable, and not to be expected of a DSLR. I have no hot pixels. 18-20 is ridiculous.

[Ghost9]

I'd say contact canon again, telling how old the camera is and how many pixels have problems. this a clearly unacceptable, and not to be expected of a DSLR. I have no hot pixels. 18-20 is ridiculous.


even at long night exposures you have none?

in my normal daylight shots i don't see any. i'm going to try testing different exposure lengths that i found on this one site.

[coldrain]

even at long night exposures you have none?

in my normal daylight shots i don't see any. i'm going to try testing different exposure lengths that i found on this one site.
I haven't tried any minute long exposures lately, but yes, none.

[Ghost9]

I haven't tried any minute long exposures lately, but yes, none.

that's amazing then. everyone else i've been reading about on the net claims every digital camera has them.

[coldrain]

Their claims are silly then.

[cdifoto]

Coldy's claim is what's silly. I get them too if/when I do long exposures.

[Bluedog]

I have no hot pixels. 18-20 is ridiculous.

Evidently you don't know the difference between a Hot Pixel and a Dead Pixel.

I highly doubt there is a DSLR from any manufacture that will not have Hot Pixels show up in long exposures.

Ghost9 _ overexpose your image and you'll be really shocked at how many hot pixels you will have.

Hot Pixels are common so enjoy your camera and don't worry about it.

http://www.imaging-resource.com/ARTS/HOT/HOT.HTM

[Ghost9]

I appreciate all the responses. Thank you!