Camera Labs

I use Win XP 32-bit and Canon's included DPP software. It came to my attention that hot pixels can be removed post process. Which solutions do ppl recomend?

I posted this under Canon, which was the wrong place to do so. Original post below:

I've noticed 3 particularly aggressive pixels on my 50D. 2 are near the center. (One red, one white) The third is another white on the extreme left border. I never noticed them until I zoomed in to 50% or higher. It seems they've been there the whole time after reviewing the oldest pictures.

The white pixels still faintly visible at 100 ISO 1/1600 shutter speed, so there's no way long exposure noise reduction (1 sec or longer) will wipe 'em out. Flash photos (ISO 400 1/60-1/250) are kinda faint. Gets pretty noticable with higher ISO's and semi-slow shutter speeds (below 1/50).

I've heard some post processing programs can eliminate this, though I have no idea what they are called.

I'm also under the impression that this is NOT something Canon would fix due to the expense of sensors and the relative ease it can be hidden via post processing. I see it being an issue with larger prints.

Ideas? Thanks.

EDIT: Should've mentioned I use 32-bit WinXP, 2GB RAM, 2.4 Ghz dual core (for the software advice). I only have the included Canon DDP software.

I use Bibble 5 for my photo editing, and it has a free plugin which removes hot pixels. You can use Bibble for free for 30 days, and the plugin is called "MB Pixeldust Filter". I've tested it in a couple of pictures, and it found and corrected the hot pixels automatically, which I quite liked.

If you want more power in your editing, and remove hot pixels in the process, Bibble might be worth a look. (Not very fond of the Canon or Nikon default software)

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I take pictures so quickly, my highschool was "Continuous High".

There's a trick you can try to remove some hot pixels from the sensor itself. It is as follows: remove any lens and put the body cap on the camera. Turn on the camera and put it into manual sensor cleaning mode. Do nothing and leave it for 30 seconds. Turn it off and on again to exit cleaning mode.

I'm not sure if removing the lens make a real difference. That was how I first heard it, and it worked so I stuck with it.

I had some hot pixels "grow" on my 50D in the past where they started appearing at normal exposures. The above procedure cleared them away.

I don't know for sure how it works. One claim is the sensor normally exists in a charged state. In manual cleaning mode, that charge is removed and that somehow resets the hot pixels. It may not work for all pixels, but given it is so simple to do it is worth a try.

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Canon DSLRs: 7D, 5D2, 1D, 600D, 450D full spectrum, 300D IR mod
Lenses: EF 35/2, 50/1.8, 85/1.8, 135/2+SF, 28-80 V, 70-300L, 100-400L, TS-E 24/3.5L, MP-E 65, EF-S 15-85 IS
3rd party: Zeiss 2/50 makro, Samyang 8mm fisheye, Sigma 150 macro, 120-300 f/2.8 OS, Celestron 1325/13
Tinies: Sony HX9V.

Thank you both for your answers.

I will keep Bibble 5 + MB Pixeldust Filter in mind for future hot pixels and clearing up hot pixels on my first 500 photos taken so far, lol.

And Popo, you are DA MAN in this case. I did both a clean now and manual clean of the sensor with the cap on. It wiped out every thing. No hot pixels at 1 sec 100 ISO. (Long exposure noise reduction was disabled to make sure.)

(At a wedding last week, a friend told me of an Apple program called Aperture that eliminates hot pixels for his D7000, but I don't have a Mac. I got to play around with his D7000 and a rented Nikor 17-55 2.8. Freakin nice.)

Again, thanks.