Canon 5D MkII "black dots" issue

[Paul Leeming]

It seems the new Canon 5D MkII is having some issues which look similar to the "black/pink sun" issue with our Red One cameras:

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/readflat.asp?forum=1032&thread=30276248 (ignore title of this thread, problem is not fixed if you read further down)

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/readflat.asp?forum=1032&thread=30264865

....and other threads at the same forum.

I'm interested in buying this camera (not for video, but stills) so it's of interest to me to see if/how Canon fixes this, as it may have a bearing on the Red One's similar problem.

Paul

 

[Jean Déraps]

The "problem" on the RED is only remotely similar according to my experience. It only happens when the sensor is grossly overexposed and aimed at an extremely strong source of light such as the sun. I've filmed scenes at night with streetlamps and have never gotten that effect.

 

[Zaphod]

Fixed?

http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/715521

 

[Albert Armes]

I dont' think so reading this thread here: http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/readflat.asp?forum=1032&thread=30276248&page=2

 

[Tom Lowe]

Is this happening with RAW files, or just JPEGs?

 

[Paul Leeming]

Both apparently.

 

[Zack Birlew]

Well, shoot, I wish someone would release a decent HD DSLR model or at least some fixes soon. I've just about finished up my first project with the Nikon D90 and it's been a dream, if a bit finicky at times, but I experienced one of the most peculiar D90 issues, the dreaded red flashes in low light. I have this beautiful night shot that is just perfectly framed then "blip, blip, blip" the red flashes start up all of a sudden and it's thankfully not as bad as some examples I've seen but it is still noticeable.

Still, I'm glad I don't have to worry about this particular issue. I don't understand what would cause those black dots, the sun blacking out on a RED I can understand because it is the sun after all, but those are just street lamps. Weird.

 

[BlogApostille]

Canon 5D MkII "black dots" issue

I heard about this for the first time from a customer calling me about their new 5D they received. I was kind of panicking because I didn't want the guy to return it, and we couldn't exchange it because we were out of stock and still had pre-orders to fill first. So I told him to give Canon a call because it's a "manufacturer defect" and their warranty would give them all the help they needed.I assumed this problem was much worse than it was based on his description. When I got home and researched this, all I could think was "What, this is it? You're complaining about a black dot the size of one pixel amongst 21 million others? Either fix it in post or just stop clipping the highlights with your exposure."It honestly took me long enough to see the problem with an example right in front of me. Maybe it was just a bad example, but it wasn't clear to me until I zoomed in to 400%....That will not affect your prints, and it hardly, hardly affects your pictures outright.I understand wanting a perfectly functioning product after spending the $3k for it, but it's one minor niggle among all the other spectacular points of the camera, that will eventually be fixed. Don't return the camera and buy something else for god's sake...

 

[DCC Erickson]

It seems larger than one pixel, and it certainly appears more than once in the examples. "For god's sake", I'm sure people return cameras and buy something else all the time.

 

[Patrick Tresch]

I wonder if there is a preset problem

I usually use

Sharpening -2
contrast -4
saturation -4
Hue 0

(Based on their "Neutral" settings 0, 0, 0, 0, )

I can't really remember if there is another setting... don't have the camera in front of me.But it could be an over sharpening issue?

Problem I got on 1 5D I had in hand was 1 hot pixel (showed as white dot).

Patrick

 

[Stefan Christou]

How crap osti:

 

[Paul Leeming]

Zombie thread! This issue was fixed with firmware 1.07 I believe (I don't own the 5D MkII).

Nothing to see here any more.

Cheers,

Paul