-
Pixel burnout?
I have recently noticed a white speck on my footage. Have tried cleaning lens. Is this likely a pixel burned out? or do my heads need cleaning?… My camera is actually a little brother to the varicam – DVC200 – This is the closest forum to my question I could locate. I’d image this problem is universal to all camera’s though. Does anyone here have any idea what this white spec might be?
-
7 Replies
-
Oscar,
I’m not familiar with your DVC200, but sounds like a “lit pixel”. Many cameras have built in pixel correction circuitry that’s activated by repeated auto black balance (ABB). try doing this three or four times and see if your problem goes away. You can see lit pixels better at gain up with the iris closed or capped.
JS
-
Thank you John, I will try this. I didn’t know that camera’s had these hidden features. Too bad they didn’t just print this kind of thing in the manual.
-
The manufacturer would prefer that you didn’t even know there was such a thing as a “lit pixel”.
JS
-
Is there ever a situation where one gets a small black spot/pixel on footage.? or is a dead pixel always white?
Thanks
-
Robin,
A “lit” pixel will never be black; that’s what it’ll become when it is turned off and made invisible. Some cameras have advanced features that allow you to address particular pixels and turn them off, others have automatic circuitry that does the same thing. There is a finite sized buffer that will allow only so many pixels to be turned off; once it’s full you’re out of luck.
JS
-
We had a lit pixel on one of our HDX900 cameas. I couldn’t clear it by black balancing.
I sent it to Panasonic and it came back repaired in a week. No charge and the memo said that it was corrected electronically.Ray Palmer, Engineer
Salt River Project
Phoenix, AZ
602-236-8224 office
There are three types of people in this world, those that can count and those that can’t. -
Apparently CCD technology and “lit pixels” go hand in hand. The Varicam is notoriously bad for pixel burnout. I have had to replace 2 CCD blocks out of 4 varicam’s because of pixel “clusters” a bad ratio. Panasonic has lost huge on the replacement cost of these blocks (25k) and works very hard to NOT do these replacments. Its an issue Panasonic likes to down play, must be working very hard to try and reduce. Im hopeing the HDX will be better, although I have had to send in 2 of my HDX’s for manual compensation already. Cross our fingers!
Erich Roland
http://www.dc-camera.com
HD camera rentals, Washington DC
Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up