D90 off to repair hot pixels
cab.in.boston
Registered Users Posts: 634 Major grins
Last week I noticed a consistent red dot on all the shots coming out of my D90. When I took a test shot with the lens cap on, I saw the red one, plus a blue dot that was much harder to see in normal shots. I didn't know if this was an issue of the sensor needing to be cleaned (I've never touched the sensor in the 6 months I've had the camera, but have used the built-in cleaning mode), so I took it in to Hunts to have them look at it. The guy there told me it's a "hot" pixel, and that it would have to go in for repair.
So the body is all boxed up and ready to ship out tomorrow to NJ. I've heard stories of Nikon repair, some good, some not. Any ideas how long I'm going to be camera-less or otherwise what to expect (or things I could do to help move the process along)? Being only 6 months old, I fully expect to have this entirely covered under warranty.
So the body is all boxed up and ready to ship out tomorrow to NJ. I've heard stories of Nikon repair, some good, some not. Any ideas how long I'm going to be camera-less or otherwise what to expect (or things I could do to help move the process along)? Being only 6 months old, I fully expect to have this entirely covered under warranty.
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Well, thanks for prodding me... I had taken it on the word of the guy at Hunts that it would have to go back. Anyway, I just called their service line and described the problem, since they're open 7 days until 2am. He said that sending it in is the right thing to do, that for this type of issue, they rec'd sending it back vs. taking it to the Authorized Repair Station. It was encouraging, however, he said that they'll email me to confirm when they receive shipment, and then it typically takes 7-10 business days after that. I just hope that's accurate and not just the company line they feed customers. I really have heard some bad stories, even the guy at Hunts told me that 6-8 weeks isn't unusual. I'd really like to have the camera back before Thanksgiving.
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Ugh, I'd hoped not to hear that type of answer! Maybe it's time to go ahead and get that second body already!
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I pretty much don't do any PP. We might touch-up in camera a bit, or do a little editing on ViewNX, but we haven't purchased any real software (yet - I would like to get PS CS4 before I finish grad school and my educational status expires).
The objectionable pixel on our camera shows up with every camera setting I've tried, and it's almost right in the middle of the frame (a little north and west of the center focus point). It's very annoying, and frankly I think it's not acceptable. I know the D90 is hardly the most expensive body in the world, but I still think we shouldn't have to deal with a big red spot in the middle of the frame.
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I have a D90 as well.
So far, haven't noticed any hot pixels. I am enjoying the camera and just hope I don't have this problem for awhile at least. but it was good to hear that Camera Raw will help fix the image in PP. That would seem to be the best approach, otherwise you are "sans-Camera" for such a long time!
As an aside, and I hope I don't get in trouble for stating this, but my husband has a Pentax, and he can remap the hot pixels himself, within the software/camera itself.
Wonder if Nikon would ever consider a software/firmware upgrade so we could do the same.
Anyway, just my two pennies (and thats about all I have left since I'm starting to save for a full-frame D700, or similar)
Karma13612, welcome to the Digital Grin.
Yes, it would be nice if all manufacturers would make hot/stuck pixel mapping user correctable.
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Thank you. Betcha it would be a bigger expectation if more photogs were aware that the technology is actually there. I wasn't aware of it until my husband just calmly said, 'can't you just remap them yourself in the camera? I can".
Thanks.
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Basically the camera looks at each pixel and when it finds a stuck pixel, it maps that pixel. That means it has located the troublesome pixel.
This step doesn't help any picture you have already taken prior to mapping the stuck pixels.
From now on, when you take a picture, the camera aggregates/interprets the surrounding pixels and applies the same value to the stuck pixel. Now, in essence, the hot/stuck pixel will get the same value as the pixels around it.
If the stuck pixel is in a field of green grass, it will get the value of the green grass pixels that surround it.
Hope that makes sense. And I invite any and all members with far vaster knowledge of this topic to hop up and chime in. And I am making one last pitch: I really think this functionality needs to be an industry standard now. My D90 has video capabilities I couldn't give two hoots about. But, I am eternally jealous of hubbie's Pentax pixel mapping/zapping capabilities.
take care, off to try out a 'new to me' used, manual focus lens that hubbie surprised me with yesterday (Tokina 135mm 2.8). Oh dear, it's fun trying to get the hang of manual focus again, especially since I don't have that nifty easy manual focus screen I remember on my film SLR from years ago. And my eyesight is getting sooo bad!!
sigh....
I wondered about that. I recently got a used D300 and found it had a couple of hot pixels. I sent it in for a general cleaning/checkup and asked them to repair the hot pixels. But when I opened the photos I'd taken and found the hot pixels in LR, I couldn't find them. I wondered if they were automatically cleaned up, good to know that they are!
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