More pixels bite the dust
 

Hi, I have an XL1s and two GL1's. I have had pixel problems in the CCDs of both models. Fortunately, the first couple of times they were still under warranty, but now I'm on my own. Does anyone have any idea how much Canon charges to mask dead pixels? ----- I read some of the previous posts on this forum concerning pixel problems and also wondered if the remedy described in one of those posts (cooling the camera down to 40 degrees for 24 hours) has any credibility. With two of my three cameras down due to bad pixels, I'm hurtin' and I can't afford to spend a fortune to get them going again. Any advice/help would be greatly appreciated.

Hi Tom,

I don't know what Canon charges for that, but why not contact them directly and find out? Here's the contact info:

http://www.dvinfo.net/canon/skinny.php#service

A very expensive repair
 

Hi there,


I had the same problem and I take two of my three XL1-S to Canon service center in México city, and they said that they have to chance the prism and the service costs was about $ 1, 200 USD each.

So I still keeping both cameras and I use them with white backgrounds until I save more money to repair them.

Does anybody have any solution for this problem?, because I prefer to sell them and buy other camera brand, maybe an HD one.

Good Luck!


Iván Sosa K
Mentes Infinitas Producciones
www.mein.com.mx
México

If it's only a few pixels and doesn't affect your image too terribly you can use post plugins to interpolate the bad pixels.


Digital Heaven makes a plugin called Reincarnation that can fix 2 bad pixel spots at a time per application of the plugin. You can apply it more than once obviously. Awesome thing about it, is that it's only $10. Not so awesome is currently its FCP only.

Thanks for the replies
 

I am pretty disgusted with this recurring problem. I have had bad pixels repaired in my Canon cameras under warranty, but not out of warranty. I can't afford the amount that Ivan mentioned in his post, so I am really at a loss as to how to handle this. Chris, I contacted Canon and they said they would have to evaluate the problem before giving an estimate, so I would have to ship both cameras to them and then if I couldn't afford the repair, pay to have them shipped back. It's not a good situation. I tried putting my GL1 in the refrigerator for 24 hours, as was recommended by someone on another post on this board, but that did not seem to help. ( I wasn't going to try the XL1s until I used the GL1 as a guinea pig!)
Currently, I am masking out the bad pixels manually in my editor (which is better than having a bright spot on the video, but still not great looking). However, I shoot some video (legal work) that I cannot edit, so I am up the proverbial creek in that department. I use Avid for post so I couldn't use the plug-in that was suggested anyway. If anyone else has any thoughts, I'd be glad to hear them.
Thanks again for the replies.

It might help to add light (as a minimum enough to use -3 dB gain setting) and maybe use a faster shutter if you can in your shooting situation. That may reduce the relative visibility of a hot pixel.

Does Reincarnation work for electronically stabilized footage? I've got some video that has a dead pixel but because it was an EIS camera, the image shifts to correct shake and so the pixel "dances". On an OIS camera, the pixel stays in the same place. So does Reincarnation track the dead pixel as it fixes it?

I have 2 XL1s cameras, and both have had the CCD prism assembly replaced (2x on 1 camera and 3x on another) within the past 4 years. Glad I bought a 5 year extended warranty on these, otherwise I'd be broke. I only shoot about 60 hours of footage per year, and I don't shoot into the sun. I take very good care of this equipment, but I'm worried this will happen again after my warranty runs out. If it does, and I suspect it will, I won't be buying Canon again. Just not reliable after my experiences and reading others...

Ron

I've not used it myself but I'm pretty sure it's stuck in one spot. I really think an AE plugin would do well. Something that could track a hot pixel, and interpolate from the surrounding 8+ pixels and fill in the bad ones. If I was that advanced I'd have one out there.

When I had a hot pixel before, I did get good results from a Virtual Dub plugin which saved me. It masked out the area, and I think it did a good job. Not ideal to run against every clip, but it worked. I just wish Canon's XL1s reliablilty were better.

Ron