Dead Pixels on 700

[Gerson Becker]

Hi,
I have two dead pixels in my 700. Both white. Tryed black balance a lot of times.
They are still there.
Anyone knows the pixel remap procedure for this camera?
Thanks

Gérson

[Andy Shipsides]

You have to turn on the service mode in the camera. There is a dip switch in the camera to enable this mode. Once this is on you can manually adjust the pixel compensations in the service menu.

If the black balance method is not working then this is your only option. It's pretty confusing if you haven't done it before. Your best option is to send it in for repair or purchase the service manual and follow the procedure. I'd send you the pages, but I'm still waiting on my service manual.

[Steve Phillipps]

Had the same thing on mine, not long after getting it.
Eventually BB worked but only after many tries with full black balance, and I'm going to send it to be looked at before the warranty expires.
Is this a particular problem with the 700?
Steve

[Stewart Menelaws]

I had a stuck/dead pixel out of the box, but one BB put it right. Camera has since been on a lot of jobs and not had any reoccurrence.

Interestingly when I had the F350 (which picked up a few stuck/dead pixels after flying about) I got quicker results by holding the BB switch down for about 5 + seconds instead of the recommended 3 seconds in the manual.

Regards: Stu
www.studioscotland.com

[Ryan Hollings]

I've had no issues with our 700 as of yet with the pixels;

however, as Stewart stated, our 350s, if they haven't been used in a few days always show a couple of pixels out, and a few black balances always clear those up.

[Andy Shipsides]

I just did a manual compensation on a 700 yesterday. Had to zapp about 10 dead pixels.

The 700 is no worse then any other camera, but for some reason the black balance technique doesn't seem to work as quickly as it did on some other Sony cameras. We prep cameras before selling them and I usually find 1 or 2 dead pixels on any 2/3" camera out of the box. The 700 is no different.

Keep on black balancing and if that doesn't work it's time to call in for service.

[Gerson Becker]

Hi Andy,
Tryed again and two green dead pixels disapeared.
But I still have a red one.
Just downloaded a maintenance manual, and gonna try to find the procedure.
Will let you know.
Thanks for the reply.

Gérson

[Peter Beeh]

Instead of using deep black balance would putting the camera through the pixel masking process using the APR menu in the standard maintenance section have a different/better result? I was told to have the camera on for a while so it warms up before executing.

[Alister Chapman]

I had a similar problem with my F350. In the end a total reset, via an internal dip switch re-set all the masking circuits and I was then able to use the standard Black Balance method to mask the pixels.

[Gerson Becker]

The APR worked.
Thanks.

[Greg Boston]

I've said it before, but it bears repeating. Black balance and pixel masking are two separate things.

A stuck pixel lets current flow through which is interpreted as light falling on it even when there is none. No amount of black balance will get rid of that. You have to mask out that pixel using nearest neighbor approximation. Electrically, it's a short circuit.

A dead pixel lets no current flow through it which is interpreted as black even when light IS falling on it. That's also a situation for pixel masking. Electrically, this is an open circuit.

Black balancing attempts to zero out the current from all pixel sites generated by random thermal noise which can show up as lit pixels even though they aren't stuck. The thermal noise will reach its peak when the camera warms up to operating temperature which is why they recommend waiting for 10 minutes after power up to perform black balance.

-gb-

[Andy Shipsides]

Originally Posted by Greg Boston

I've said it before, but it bears repeating. Black balance and pixel masking are two separate things.

You're right Greg, but running a black balance also triggers the auto masking procedure in the camera. So the black balance will zero out values and then attempt to mask dead pixels.