Nikon: Hot pixels

Reoil

Hi Folks,
I'm a bit pissed off. I bought a Nikon D80 a few years ago. It got a hot pixel. This was part of the reason for me upgrading to a D300. Now it has one too. Both cameras suffering from the same failing.

I bought them both on ebay from Hong Kong. Even if the warranty did work here (which it doesn't) I can't find the receipt, so I'm going to have to go it alone either way.

I have camera insurance, I'm hoping this is going to cover repairs.

However, if I return the camera to Nikon:
a) How long will it take?
b) How much does it cost?

Does anybody have first hand experience of this?
While it's not a fatal flaw in the camera, having to repair every single image I take will be a pain in the ass.

Cheers!

Ostrom

Hard luck, that is really really sh***y


Doesnt the D300 have the spot ID function with its built in lens cleaner - can that be used to fix up the pixel?


Sorry I cant answer properly, I haven't dealt with after sales directly. From experience with other manufacturers, it probably wont be cheap

Reoil

efla wrote: »

Doesnt the D300 have the spot ID function with its built in lens cleaner - can that be used to fix up the pixel?

It has a sensor cleaner, I have this set to activate every time the camera is turned off. The hot pixel would be a hardware malfunction - I'd be very surprised if this could be fixed by the camera.

Is there an official Nikon center in Ireland anywhere?

pete4130

SLR repair centre in Rathmolyon in Meath is the offical Nikon Repair centre in Ireland. They are fantastic down there. They really know their stuff, really helpful and I can't fault them. I've used them twice with lenses before and I can't praise them highly enough. I know for lenses, they do a free estimate. I'm not sure about camera bodies (as lenses have a worldwide warranty).

Call them on 046 955 7151 and speak to them.

GhostInTheRuins

A hot pixel is hardly going to stop you taking good pictures is it? It sounds crazy to me that you upgraded from a D80 to a D300 just because of a hot pixel.

While it's not a fatal flaw in the camera, having to repair every single image I take will be a pain in the ass.

They take less than a second to fix in PP and I think all digital cameras develop them over time anyway.

qwertz

pete4130 wrote: »

SLR repair centre in Rathmolyon in Meath is the offical Nikon Repair centre in Ireland. They are fantastic down there. They really know their stuff, really helpful and I can't fault them. I've used them twice with lenses before and I can't praise them highly enough. I know for lenses, they do a free estimate. I'm not sure about camera bodies (as lenses have a worldwide warranty).

Call them on 046 955 7151 and speak to them.

Regarding the warranty, bear in mind that worldwide doesn't include certain countries.

Reoil

GhostInTheRuins wrote: »

A hot pixel is hardly going to stop you taking good pictures is it? It sounds crazy to me that you upgraded from a D80 to a D300 just because of a hot pixel.

They take less than a second to fix in PP and I think all digital cameras develop them over time anyway.

I said it was only part of the reason, with one of the main reasons being the new sensor and increased MP. I don't want to continue with this camera knowing that every single photo I take is going to be flawed before any editing is done to it. But that's just me. Thank you for your...input.

qwertz wrote: »

Regarding the warranty, bear in mind that worldwide doesn't include certain countries.

From Nikon's website:

"**WARNING**
Please be wary of dealers claiming to be able to sell or provide you an international warranty for digital equipment when you are purchasing from overseas, or from importers. THIS IS FALSE . International warranty for these products is unavailable."

Thanks to all those who did help!
I'll give that number a call.

Reoil

Ok, phoned Rathmolyon and they were quite unhelpful. They couldn't give an estimate - girl on the phone kept covering the mouthpiece and asking somebody else behind her. It's a closed office, so you can't leave it in - you have to post it. She said it will "more than likely" have to go to the UK office.

Phoned the UK Office. The guy said - box it up with a cover letter, description of problem etc. Remapping will cost about £25+ VAT with a turnaround of 5-7 working days.

Done.

Reoil

Oh - will try this first though!
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055061829

Doubt it will work, but worth a go! Will look into what efla is on about too.

DaireQuinlan

Reoil wrote: »

Ok, phoned Rathmolyon and they were quite unhelpful. They couldn't give an estimate - girl on the phone kept covering the mouthpiece and asking somebody else behind her. It's a closed office, so you can't leave it in - you have to post it. She said it will "more than likely" have to go to the UK office.

Phoned the UK Office. The guy said - box it up with a cover letter, description of problem etc. Remapping will cost about £25+ VAT with a turnaround of 5-7 working days.

Done.

You know that re-mapping the camera just entails updating some table in the camera with a list of all the stuck/hot pixels, right ? So essentially the camera knows to fill in with neighbouring data instead of using the pixel value. I know you've expressed reservations above about just doing it in PP because "every single photo I take is going to be flawed before any editing is done to it", but that's little different to having it re-mapped.

Reoil

DaireQuinlan wrote: »

You know that re-mapping the camera just entails updating some table in the camera with a list of all the stuck/hot pixels, right ? So essentially the camera knows to fill in with neighbouring data instead of using the pixel value. I know you've expressed reservations above about just doing it in PP because "every single photo I take is going to be flawed before any editing is done to it", but that's little different to having it re-mapped.

Every time I see the pixel in a photo, it'll annoy the hell out of me. I shoot mostly music photos (dark, low light) so these will stick out a mile.
Pay the money, be without the camera for one week and have the problem ended? That'll do me.

That said, is there a way to automatically do this in Lightroom? I'm not talking about the dust removal tool - but an actual automated hot pixel remover? Must look into that...

Reoil

Reoil wrote: »

That said, is there a way to automatically do this in Lightroom? I'm not talking about the dust removal tool - but an actual automated hot pixel remover? Must look into that...

http://www.photozone.de/adobe-lightroom-v1-beta41

Hot Pixel Detection/Masking=Yes

That'll do me! Will try this later tonight as everything I do goes through Lightroom pretty much.