Betalogue

I purchased my Nikon Coolpix 5000 a year and a half ago — right after the camera model was first launched.

What I didn’t know at the time is that, just like LCD screens, digital cameras — more specifically their CCD (charge-coupled device, the circuit that responds to light and effectively captures the image) — can have dead pixels too.

Over the past year or so, I’ve noticed one, then two, then three dead pixels — or more specifically “stuck” pixels (that stay bright all the time). They are, of course, only noticeable when the image content reveals them, i.e. with really dark content.

Unfortunately, by the time I got around to communicating with Nikon about it, my one-year warranty had expired. So I am stuck with three stuck pixels, and there’s not much I can do about it, except hope that I won’t get more of them.

Fortunately, a dead/stuck pixel is easily fixed with an image editor such as Photoshop, with its “Healing” brush. But still… It’s rather disappointing, after HAVING spent so much money on a digital camera.

I also cannot help but wonder whether weather conditions have anything to do with it. On occasion, I take the camera with me in the winter time to take outside pictures. And, well, it can get really cold around here. The operating range listed in the manual is 0 to 40 degrees Celsius. Well, I have used it on several occasions in situations where the temperature was far below zero.

Anyway, three pixels out of five million isn’t too bad, I suppose. It just takes a few clicks to fix. I still hope I won’t get any new ones.

This entry was posted by Pierre Igot on Friday, July 11th, 2003 at 5:11 pm and is filed under Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.