Are stuck pixels fixable?

eatworksleepdie · Dec 17, 2010

So, I've been noticing for a while now in my pictures at any speed/ISO etc some red/green/blue dots on the image in the same location. I counted 73 spots in a low light long exposure photo, not good I know. Doing a little research, I came to the conclusion that I have some stuck pixels, possibly some hot pixels.

My question is, well, in the title

if i send my camera in for repair, are stuck pixels repairable/fixable?

I have a Nikon D80 purchased new September 2006 and it has approx. 40,000 clicks.

Reason why I ask is, I'm not really finding anyone with some positive feedback as to whether or not having the sensor re-mapped actually fixed some (if not all) of the problem. I did however see someone else writing about how it didn't fix the issue.. hmmm.

What do you folks think?

KmH · Dec 17, 2010

I think you are likely seeing image noise.

Long, low light exposures are exactly the type of images prone to having noise easily visible artifacts, particularly in the darker parts of an image.

However, without you posting an example, all anyone can do is guess.

table1349 · Dec 17, 2010

Pixel Fixer | Hot pixel removal utility

Garbz · Dec 18, 2010

It isn't noise as such, but it's not exactly a perfect definition of a stuck pixel either. All pixels have an effective life for an exposure related to the shutter speed and ISO. They are consistent too and don't die at random.

Take your camera, put the lenscap on and fire a shot at 1/1000th at ISO100. Or even down to half a second at ISO100. Then look for stuck pixels. If you have a pixel that is stuck regardless of what shutterspeed and ISO you use (especially low ISO short exposures) then you have a problem which unfortunately would be a warranty job, but good luck with that on a D80. But if the pictures are clean at the above then you'll be fine.

For comparison my D200's first set of pixels appear at ISO100 at the 6-8minute mark. At ISO1600 it appears in the 1/10th mark, and at ISO800 around the 1/2s mark. They did this out of the box, and they haven't changed in the last 5 years.

The pixels are also temperature dependant so if you live in the Sahara expect worse performance than those poor Europeans right now.

eatworksleepdie · Dec 18, 2010

Since I was asked to provide examples, i grabbed a random photo (one that i didn't use due to angle, hand positioning darkness etc.. not a great photo, but an ok example of what i'm talking about.
I marked some points in the image.. this picture was obviously scaled down from it's original size which is why you can't see the pixels in question where i had marked them.. see the examples for the pixels in question at full size.

examples of bad pixels on the photos.

Re: that Pixel fixer software, I saw that and thought about it.. but really, I don't think I want to have to run my photos through another program in order to fix something that shouldn't be there.. but thank you for the suggestion, it's much appreciated.

Garbz, thank you.. I will do that now and post up my results. I gotta figure this out once and for all!

eatworksleepdie · Dec 18, 2010

Also regarding that picture, it was shot at F5 - 1/125 - ISO 320 for point of reference.

Garbz,
ok, so based off of what you said to do with the lens cap on etc.. I did a few variations

All shot at 1/5 shutter F 2.8 - ISO variations:
100 - ok
160 - ok
250 - 1 or 2 spots
400 - 5 or 6 spots
640 - 16 to 20 ish spots
1000 - littered. can't count them all.

All shot at F 2.8 ISO 1000 Shutter variations:
1/15 - littered, can't count them all.
1/40 - lots of blue, red, white
1/100 - 6 or 8 blue a few white with 2 red
1/250 - 5 or 6 blue spots and a few white spots
1/640 - 4 blue spots

Garbz · Dec 18, 2010

That's a bit worse than expected actually.

But I doubt it would be worth fixing. As I mentioned warranty is normally the way to go but no D80 is still covered by that.

The ISO1000 f/5 is expected, but not the ISO1000 f/640. I would have expected that one to be clean.

eatworksleepdie · Dec 18, 2010

There's an authorized Nikon repair center about 45 minutes from my house. They've been in business as an authorized camera repair place I guess for some 30 years. They said a while ago that they could try to remap it to clear it up, I was just skeptical since i've heard some mixed reviews. They were going to charge $125 USD to do it, which I guess doesn't seem too bad. It's cheaper than buying a new camera that's for sure, as my next camera purchase will most likely be a D700.

I figured I'd check with some other folks to see if it seemed like a repairable thing, and what other peoples experiences were, ya know? It sounds like I should just anti up and bring it down to them to get this fixed once and for all?