Two tiny spots in new XHA1 viewfinder at DVinfo.net
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Canon XH Series HDV Camcorders
Canon XH G1S / G1 (with SDI), Canon XH A1S / A1 (without SDI).

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Old October 3rd, 2007, 07:02 PM   #1
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Two tiny spots in new XHA1 viewfinder

Be easy on me. I am a newbie concerning video cameras. I would consider
myself an advanced amateur in digitil still cameras. I have had several
DSLR's. At present I have a Canon 5D and 20D. Anyway I decided to try
a camcorder. I got my XHA1 yesterday and I notice two tiny black dots
in the viewfinder viewing a solid light color. Is this normal and are the dots
dead pixels. Thanks.

Charles Dodd
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Old October 3rd, 2007, 07:14 PM   #2
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Yikes. Do those dots translate to your footage..on the LCD?
At worst it's dead pixles either in the VF, LCD, or the cam.
At best, it's packing debris on top of the VF and you just need to clean it.
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Old October 3rd, 2007, 07:18 PM   #3
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A few dead pixels (bit not all clustered at the same place) in the view finder are within normal production variance.

However, you should not see any dead or hot pixels in the actual captured image when shooting at normal shutter speeds and 0 dB gain.

You may see some hot pixels when you add gain, especially around 12 or 18 dB.
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Old October 3rd, 2007, 07:25 PM   #4
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Cleaned viewfinder glass and..

Thanks for your quick response. Yes I was hoping that cleaning would
solve the problem, but it didn't. Just disappointed getting a new toy
and find a problem. Could have been the lcd or ccd. Thanks again.

Charles Dodd
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Old October 3rd, 2007, 08:52 PM   #5
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Dead pixels usually look white but I guess maybe they could be dark too. You need to be double sure it's not a dead one on the CCD. Hook the camera up to a monitor, or record something and play it back on a monitor and make sure there are no dots on your footage.
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Old October 4th, 2007, 09:10 AM   #6
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Charles try cleaning the inside of the viewfinder lens with a cotton bud. If you lift the viewfinder up there is a small flap on the underneath side that you can remove for cleaning the inside of the lens hope this cures your problem .

Alan
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Old October 4th, 2007, 09:35 AM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Alan Craig View Post
Charles try cleaning the inside of the viewfinder lens with a cotton bud. If you lift the viewfinder up there is a small flap on the underneath side that you can remove for cleaning the inside of the lens hope this cures your problem .

Alan
That is one of the biggest design flaws of the A1.
It's really annoying. I've gotten big chunks of sand in there..I have no idea how it even gets in. Then I'm fishing around with a bent Q-Tip for like 15 minutes like some kind of jackass.

The other would be having the play/review button right under the magnify and focus options. I've hit that fux0r so many times and missed a scene.
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Old October 4th, 2007, 08:07 PM   #8
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Dust in viewfinder

Hope I am doing this right. New on the forum. I might not be posting
properly. Anyway thanks to all for my viewfinder problem. I found out
about the small door in the viewfinder. I tried blowing with a hand
blower and one of the smaller spots disappeared. Thanks to all.

Charles Dodd
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