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• Compact body; 34mm (1.3 in) shorter, 13mm (0.5 in) narrower and 10mm (0.4 in) shallower than D3
• Built-in flash
• Information panel of D700 is on main LCD, D700 doesn’t have a separate info panel.
• D700 doesn’t have the D3′s 5:4 aspect ratio option
• D700: 95% coverage, 0.72x viewfinder – D3:100% coverage, 0.7x viewfinder
• D700 has a lower burst rate – 5.0 fps
• 100 frames maximum in continuous shooting mode
• D700 uses a smaller battery; EN-EL3e
• Virtual Horizon can be overlaid on Live View preview image
• D700 has sensor shake dust reduction
• D700 has single CF slot unlike D3 which has two CF slots

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1000D

It can be told that the 1000D is a stripped down 450D. Canon cut some features off from the 450D in order to regain the price advantage in the entry level DSLR market. But don’t get me wrong; 1000D is not a bad camera for beginners, it can be very satisfying for the starters indeed. Actually some features of 1000D are better than 400D. So you might want to reconsider your options if you are planning to buy a entry level DSLR.

Features of  1000D

• 10MP Sensor with a 3888 x 2592 pixels maximum resolution
• 2,5 inch LCD Screen
• Live View ability
• Dust Control System
• Canon Digic III Processor
• 7 Point Auto Focus

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Outstanding speed and resolution for the discerning photographer: the EOS 50D

Canon 50D

Amstelveen, The Netherlands, 26 August 2008: Canon today strengthens its EOS range with the addition of a powerful new digital SLR: the EOS 50D. With a 15.1 Megapixel CMOS sensor, 6.3 frames per second shooting and Canon’s latest DIGIC 4 image processor, the EOS 50D delivers unparalleled speed and resolution at a price point that is unique in today’s market.

Outstanding, clean images
A newly designed 15.1 Megapixel CMOS sensor delivers ultra-detailed, low-noise images – ideal for large-scale reproduction or creative cropping. New manufacturing processes, plus redesigned photo diodes and microlenses, extend the light gathering capabilities of the sensor – allowing more pixels to be fitted on the CMOS sensor without compromising image quality. These changes ensure improved high ISO performance and low noise. High-speed, low light shooting is enabled by ISO levels of 3200, expandable to an ultra-sensitive 12800.

The EOS Integrated Cleaning System – including the improved Self Cleaning Sensor Unit with a new fluorine coating – increases protection of image quality by helping to reduce, repel and remove unwanted dust from the sensor. Stubborn particles can be removed automatically in post-production with Dust Delete Data and Canon’s included Digital Photo Professional software.

Rapid-fire performance
Canon’s new DIGIC 4 processor is fast enough to allow up to 6.3fps continuous shooting, in bursts of up to 90 JPEGs with a UDMA card. Used with Canon’s wide area AF system, which locks onto subjects with 9 individual cross type sensors, stunning action sequences can be captured – even in low-light conditions. This makes the EOS 50D particularly suited to sports and wildlife shooting.

DIGIC 4 works with the CMOS sensor to deliver 14-bit image processing, for smooth gradation and natural-looking colours – as well as ensuring ultra-fast startup times and near-instant image review after shooting.

See everything
A new 3.0” Clear View VGA LCD provides extra-large and wide angle-of-view image review, with plenty of clarity for accurate focus checks in playback. By switching to Live View mode – which displays a real-time image on the LCD – photographers can enjoy simplified shooting from awkward angles, or connect to a PC for remote shooting. Live Mode now offers three ways to auto focus: Quick AF, Live AF, and new Face Detection Live AF, which optimizes focus based on faces detected in the frame – for fast, spontaneous portraiture.

Control and ease
The famously intuitive EOS menu system includes a new Quick Control screen, for instant access to the most commonly-changed settings. A new Creative Auto mode offers automatic focus and exposure – while still allowing creative ‘tweaks’ to settings such as background sharpness.
“For advanced amateurs and semi-professionals – or professionals looking for a powerful backup model – the EOS 50D stands alone,” said Mogens Jensen, Head of Canon Consumer Imaging, Europe. “No other camera in this price bracket offers a comparable combination of speed and image quality.”

Technologies Explained

CMOS
Canon’s CMOS technology is one of the company’s key competitive advantages, with noise reduction circuitry at each pixel site delivering virtually noise-free images. In comparison with CCD technology, the lower power consumption characteristics of Canon’s CMOS sensors also contribute to longer battery life.

Signal conversion in Canon’s CMOS sensors is handled by individual amplifiers at each pixel site. Unnecessary charge transfer operations are avoided, vastly speeding up the process of getting signal to the image processor. Noise generation is reduced, power consumption is limited and faster frame rate potential is increased.

DIGIC
Image data captured by the CMOS sensor is processed by Canon’s purpose-built DIGIC image processors before being written to the camera’s memory card. DIGIC technology uses advanced image processing algorithms to ensure precise, natural colours, accurate white balance, and advanced noise reduction. Ultra-fast processing speeds result in highly responsive camera operation and near-instant start-up times.

DIGIC chips work with a high speed DDR-SDRAM image buffer – reading, processing, compressing and writing image data fast enough to keep the buffer clear during long continuous shooting bursts. And because DIGIC integrates all key processing functions, power consumption is kept to a minimum.

EOS Integrated Cleaning System
The EOS Integrated Cleaning System combats sensor dust in three important ways: Reduce, Repel and Remove.

1. Reduce – Internal camera mechanisms are designed to minimise dust generation. The redesigned body cap prevents dust generation through wear on the cap itself.
2. Repel – Anti-static technologies, including a special fluorine coating, are applied to the low-pass filter covering the front of the sensor so as not to attract dust.
3. Remove – A Self-Cleaning Sensor Unit uses hi-frequency vibrations to shake dust from the infrared filter for a period of approximately one second after each start up. For instant shooting after power up, this feature is disabled immediately the shutter release is depressed.

Canon has also developed an internal Dust Delete Data system, which can map the position of visible dust on the sensor. This can then be deleted automatically after the shoot with the latest Digital Photo Professional software.

Picture Style
Picture Style pre-sets simplify in-camera control over image qualities. Picture Style pre-sets can be likened to different film types – each one offering a different colour response. Within each selectable pre-set, photographers have control over sharpness, contrast, colour tone and saturation. The camera’s factory default configuration is set to deliver immediately-usable JPEG images without need for additional menu settings. Picture Style presets applied to a RAW image can be revised with Canon’s Digital Photo Professional software.

The six pre-sets are:

1. Standard – for crisp, vivid images that don’t require post-processing
2. Portrait – optimises colour tone and saturation and weakens sharpening to achieve attractive skin tones
3. Landscape – for punchier greens and blues with stronger sharpening to give a crisp edge to mountain, tree and building outlines
4. Neutral – ideal for post-processing
5. Faithful – adjusts colour to match the subject colour when shot under a colour temperature of 5200K
6. Monochrome – for black and white shooting with a range of filter effects (yellow, orange, red and green) and toning effects (sepia, blue, purple and green).

Software

Digital Photo Professional Software
Digital Photo Professional software provides high speed, high quality processing of lossless RAW images. Processing with Digital Photo Professional allows real-time display and immediate application of image adjustments, giving control over RAW image variables such as white balance, dynamic range, exposure compensation, noise reduction and colour tone – plus the ability to view Auto Focus points on an image. The Lens Aberration correction tool allows precise correction of different types of distortion caused by certain cameras. Images can be recorded in camera with sRGB or Adobe RGB colour space.

Digital Photo Professional supports sRGB, Adobe RGB, ColorMatch RGB, Apple RGB and Wide Gamut RGB colour spaces. ICC (International Colour Consortium) profiles can be attached to TIFF or JPEG images when converted from RAW. This allows faithful reproduction of colours in software applications that support ICC profiles, such as Adobe Photoshop. For improved efficiency, a set of image adjustments can be saved as a recipe and applied.

EOS Utility
The latest version of EOS Utility provides essential support for Live View remote shooting, camera configuration and image transfers. Tightly integrated with Digital Photo Professional, EOS Utility can be configured to monitor ‘hot’ folders, automatically renaming and moving incoming images to a structured file system. Users can also tag their images with EXIF data, including copyright information.

Picture Style Editor
Picture Style Editor allows users to create individual Picture Styles that fit with their personal requirements. Each Picture Style contains detailed information on how specific colours should be represented within an image. Once new Picture Styles have been created, they can be uploaded directly into the camera and applied to JPEG or RAW images. When working with RAW files in DPP, both personal Picture Styles and the 6 predetermined Picture Styles can all be adjusted.

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It is clear that Canon needed to do something against the success of D300 produced by Canon’s biggest rival, Nikon. So Canon upgraded 40D as expected. But soon everybody saw that 50 D was better than expectations of the photographers and people of the photography industry. We can obviously see some major differences between 50D and 40D, such as the totally new image processor Digic 4. It’s price is also quite good for this kind of DSLR. It is cheaper than Nikon D300. Canon 50D Body Price is $1400 in Amazon.com pre-order (While D300 costs $1600 in the same website). Long story short, with this new semi-pro model, Canon will surely satisfy the customers.

Canon 50D

Basic Features of 50 D

• 15.1 Mega-pixels CMOS sensor
• 6.3frame per second continuous shooting, maximum burst 90 JPEGs with UDMA card
• DIGIC 4 image processor
• ISO 100-3200, expandable to “12800″
• 9 point wide area Auto Focus
• 3.0” Clear View VGA (640 x 480) LCD with Live View mode & Face Detection Live Auto Focus
• Magnesium  body
• EOS Integrated “Cleaning System”
• HDMI connection : for high quality viewing and playback on a High Definition TV
• Compatibility with Canon EF and EF-S lenses.

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If we compare 450D and 400D we see that, 450D have a liveview system and 2 megapixels more than 400D. When we consider the differences between 400D and 350D we again see a 2 megapixel difference and a dust control system. What I’m trying to say is; there are such minor differences between the old model and the next model. Dust control system for example; you can clean the dust on the cameras sensor for $10 or less on your own. And megapixel difference won’t be a matter since you are a beginner and won’t take picture for commercial campaigns. If your budget is low i strongly advice you to buy older models of the brand you want. I’m a Canon user so, my examples are mostly about Canon but you can apply the same things to Nikon or any other DSLR manufacturer. Instead of buying a 12mpx 450D for $1000, you can just buy a 350D for $400. They have the same fundamental functions and 350D will be enough to learn photography concepts, settings and all other things you need to learn about photography.

In sum, if you have a large budget than buy any DSLR you want, buy if you have a limited budget consider buying older and cheaper models. But don’t forget to compare the camera you want to buy with other brand’s same (or similar) priced camera. (For example; In my opinion Canon 350D is a far better choice compared to d40 or d40x of Nikon)

In the last post i tried to define fashion photography. And now i’ll give some tips to the ones who are interested in fashion photography. This is a first part of a tips series about fashion photography which will continue to be published during this week. You need a good camera, a tripod and a lighting system for taking fashion shots.

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Research and Learn

Just like in every other kind of photography, you need to search a lot of magazines, view lots of pictures, to have enough knowledge about it. Examine the lighting, poses and expressions of models in these pictures. Also you have to be familiar with your equipment; first of all your camera, than lighting system. Practice until you get totally get used to them. You have to be able to adjust your lighting and camera settings for any condition to be a good fashion photographer.

Also for beginners, it is important to learn using daylight since they do not have a studio, shooing outdoors is the way for getting good results. Early morning or afternoon are really good times for taking fashion shots. To learn more about using daylight; read Colors and Using Light in Portrait Photography

Team

In fashion photography and glamour photography, you need a team that consist of a hairstylist, stylist, make-up artist and a photographer. If you are seriously interested in fashion photography, you need to have all these specialists in your team. For starters maybe you can be a one-man team, but this will only work in your learning stage, not in semi-pro or pro level. If you are just trying fashion pictures and don’t have an intention to be a pro, learn about make-up and hairstyling just a little and try to perform them before your shooting session. But as i told, this system work only when you are learning and trying to get used to the camera and lighting system not for professional works. If you need to be in the market eventually you need these specialist in your team.

After working different stylists, make-up artists etc. you’ll find some of them more successful and more reliable. Bringing all these specialists together will create a team for fashion photography.

Finding Models, Make-up Artists, Stylists and Hairstylists

Modelling agencies, can provide you not only opportunity to contact and find models, but also provide chance to find make up artists, stylists etc. For the beginners, starting with semi-pro models are better for learning and test shots. Another channel that you can find models, stylists and make-up artists is internet and all its tools; such as forums, communities, web sites, groups. Search for the groups and communities on the internet. This will increase your chance to find specialists and models at you level when you are a beginner. Because agencies generally have the contact information of professional make-up artists and stylists. But i really doubt most of them will want to work for a beginner fashion photographer with a small portfolio. I personally believe internet is a better source to find the specialists in your level.

Internet provides you the greatest source to make necessary connection for the job, fashion photography. Also design schools are good for making connection with the designers. Especially young and passionate designers will be more willing to work with you. Speaking of young designers, i also want to remember you, younger stylists, hairstylists, make-up artists, designers and models are willing to work for free in exchange of a copy of the film or digital image. In fashion sector portfolio is everything and young specialists surely want to increase the amount of work in their portfolios. Also read my article about finding models. And working with models

Equipment and Studio

I’m not going to explain all the equipment you need in detail. I guess you already have an opinion about that. Simply you need a camera, tripod and a lighting system. In addition to these equipments, some extras like batteries, memory cards or films, reflectors, flashes, diffusers can be needed in fashion photography. Again internet provides a great source for the photography and studio equipments. You can buy used or new equipments on e-bay for reasonable prices.

Having a studio is really costly and unlikely to have for younger photographers, but eventually you’ll need one. Not for professional purposes but for learning you can build your home studio for really cheap prices. Read my article about building your own studio.

Keeping you equipment simple but effective gives you a ease of mobility. Also less experienced models can feel uncomfortable while working with a huge pile of equipment. A quality digital SLR camera, a tripod and reflectors are the only things you neet to begin.

Markets

This part is for the photographers who are living in the USA. New york market for fashion and fashion photography is really hard to get in and compete. As a foreigner (to US) i can say that European market is easy to penetrate compared to US. Especially European cities like Paris (France) and Milan (Italy) are providing rich sources in terms of fashion and fashion photography. These fashion capitals of Europe have more runway shows and fashion magazines, which makes it easier to find jobs and chances to gain experience as a photographer, for a photographer. Europe is also provides chance to find, undiscovered talents and beauties, especially in countries like Scandinavian countries and eastern European countries there are a lot of beautiful talented and willing young semi-pro models. Consider this option If you also want to be a talent hunter. In other European countries, fashion industry may not be as big as Italy and France but still they provide a nice opportunity to have a bright career. It is easier to shine in smaller fashion industries of these countries. A quality portfolio will help you to get noticed by the local and international fashion magazines.

Also remember; your portfolio only shows the technical abilities and knowledge of you. If you want to separate yourself from the sack, you need to show signs of talent and creativity. To show these your pictures should be different, aesthetic and impressive. My advice about this, is getting inspired and increasing level of knowledge about not only fashion photography but also other genres of photography. Also cinema, fine arts and all other kinds of visual arts can help you to get a different perspective. Sometimes a picture that you see on internet, that taken just for fun, can make the bulb on your head shine.

—- End of Fashion Photography Tips —-

]]> http://ermany.net/2008/06/fashion-photography-tips/feed/ 3 http://ermany.net/2008/06/street-photography-part-6-equipment/ http://ermany.net/2008/06/street-photography-part-6-equipment/#comments Sun, 01 Jun 2008 17:42:37 +0000 admin http://www.ermany.net/?p=201 In street photography you don’t need a large group of equipments. You need only a camera and optionally you can use filters etc. The classic camera for street photography is the Leica 35mm Rangefinder. A good camera for street photography should be quiet, reliable, quick to operate and light. Leica Rangefinder cameras have all the specialties that needed for street photography but they are expensive. I’m a SLR user and i think that having a SLR is better if you are interested in more than one category of the photography. What i’m trying to say is you can take great street pictures with your SLR too, you don’t need to have a Leica Rangefinder camera for creating impressive results.

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Compact cameras are light and quiet compared to SLR’s but they lack a lot of technical abilities, such as speed, lens quality etc. SLR cameras are lauder compared to Rangefinder and compact cameras, so what? Unless you are taking pictures in a library it wont be a problem, plus street itself is a crowded and laud place.

In sum, it is up to the photographer, i’ve seen people who took amazing shots even with the simplest compact digital camera. Equipment doesn’t matter for many categories of photography. Th most important thing is creativity and imagination….

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In street photography you should be fast to capture the pictures of right moments therefore you should use a fast shutter speed and reletively fast ISO. Actually using low ISO values like 100 is better to have less grain/noise in the picture but in the evening when shadows of buildings cover the street it is hard to take clear shots without a tripod at this point i advice you to switch you ISO value to be able to use faster shutter speeds. In such conditions 400 ISO should be ideal, but if it isn’t use something like 800. But remember increasing ISO will also increase the size of the grain in your film or level of noise if you are using a DSLR. In sum, in the evening and early morning hours it is better to use fast ISO speeds like 400, and to get pictures with less grain use ISO 100 during the day.

As i said to capture the right moments on time, fast shutter speeds are preferred in street photography. For example 1/125 sec. will be enough to freeze the action. But if you want to give the feeling of motion, you can use slower shutter speeds, like i did in “Frozen in Time”. Actually as long as there’s enough light in the environment, using aperture priority mode (Av in Canon cameras) of your camera will be a good choice.

I prefer to use medium aperture between f/4 and f/8 in street photography. These aperture settings both let the photographer be fast in daylight and give enough depth of field range to avoid focus problems. As you know the lower f values such as f/4 , f/2.8 etc. lets more light into the camera therefore increase the speed of shutter. Also as the f number decreases, depth of field range gets narrower which lets you isolate the subject from background.

I don’t know is it true to give exact numbers as if they are rules. Indeed there’s no “right” settings, since they change according to each camera, film, lens, environment. The numbers and i’m writing here are just commonly used approximate numbers for the settings. Don’t forget to try different settings, angles and compositions…

Digital SLR Cameras fo Beginners

Rebel XSi (450 D) , 40D, 30D

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Sony DSLR-A100

This is Sony’s first digital SLR camera however it has some significant advanced features such as built-in image stabilizer and dust control system plus it’s 10 megapixels. It can be a good choice for beginners.

Spesifications

I never used 450D or Rebel Xsi but i read about it a lot. It seems it is quite better than other cameras of the series (Digital Rebels). It has Dust Control System, Lİve LCD screen and it is 12 Mega-Pixels. Plus it is light and compact also it comes with a lens with image-stabilizing ability. I think it is a good deal, but considering it’s price it is so close to more professional cameras like 30D and 40D.

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The average price difference between Rebel Xsi (450D) and 30D is $100, and between Rebel Xsi (450D) is $250. If you can afford a Rebel Xsi (450D), you probably can afford 30 D and 40 D too. These cameras are semi-professional, unlike Rebel Xsi (450D). They are faster than Rebel Xsi and have higher ISO speeds are available. Their fastest shutter speed is 1/8000 second, and highest ISO value is 3200, these values for Rebel Xsi (450D) are 1/4000 second and ISO 1600.

Both of these cameras are good, and preferable. But if you ask my opinion about these three, i’ll pick 40D.

There’s a web site that i appreciate; Imaging Resource. You can easily make a technical comparison between these three by clicking the following link

Compare Rebel Xsi (450D), 30D and 40D

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I will just give basic information about the recommended cameras for beginners. Also i want to say that there won’t be huge differences between the cameras that i’m going to recommend to you. Of course some of them are better than the others but you can easily understand which one is better by looking it’s price.

Canon DSLR Cameras for Beginners

Canon is a famous camera producer from Japan and it has a wide range of products, from beginner level cameras to most expensive professional ones. But we are interested in beginner level right now.

Canon 350 D (or Canon Digital Rebel XT)

This is the cheapest model of the Rebel series (2nd generation Rebel series), it is low-weight, small, easy to use and effective. Most probably it can satisfy all your expectations from a DSLR if you are first starter. This camera is released in March 2005 so it is a little bit old.

Features

• 8 Mega-pixels
• US Kit Price : $ 380 – 440
• ISO : 100 – 1600
• Shutter Speed : 1/4000 sec. to 30 sec.
• Sensor Type : CMOS
• Storage : Compact Flash Card

Canon 400 D (or Canon Digital Rebel XTi)

This is another camera from 2nd generation Rebel series of Canon. It is very similar to 350 D which i mentioned before. It is a newer camera released in October 2006 and it has couple of new features. Also it is one of the cheapest 10 mega-pixel cameras that you can buy.

Features

• 10 Mega-pixels
• Dust control : This is a really good feature to have, sensor cleans itself automatically with ultrasonic vibrations.
• Better Image Quality (Comparing to 350 D)
• US Kit Price : $ 570 – 610
• ISO : 100 – 1600
• Shutter Speed : 1/4000 sec. to 30 sec.
• Sensor Type : CMOS
• It has a bigger LCD Screen than 350 D (2,5 inches)
• Storage : Compact Flash Card

Canon 450 D (New) (or Canon Digital Rebel XSi)

This is the newest member of digital rebel family of canon also it is the most expensive camera of the series. It released in April 2008 which is the current month so it is NEW. Again it is similar to other two cameras but of course canon has added some new features to this new camera that can attract most of the beginner level DSLR users, such as image stabilized lens, dust control and live view. Another change that canon made in this camera is changing the Storage Card Type from Compact Flash to SD Cards. (The other cameras of the series were using CF [Compact Flash] cards, but 450 D is now using SD cars which are lighter than CF cards.)

Features

• 12 Megapixels
• Dust Control
• Live View LCD
• Kit comes with Image Stabilized Lens (f 3.5-5.6 EF-S 18-55mm)
• US Kit Price : $ 900 – 1000
• ISO : 100 – 1600 , It also has a function that camera can automatically decide which ISO to use between ISO 100 and ISO 400 values.
• Shutter Speed : 1/4000 sec. to 30 sec.
• Sensor Type : CMOS
• It has bigger LCD Screen than 400 D (3 inches)
• Uses SD cards for storage

Nikon DSLR Cameras for Beginners

Nikon is another famous company of camera and photography world which is also from Japan. Prices of Nikon digital cameras are slightly higher than cameras of its biggest competitor Canon.

Nikon D40 and D40x

It is a good camera for learning photography. ıt is small, low-weight ad cheapest digital SLR camera of Nikon. These are the only good points of this camera in my opinion and i also want to say that i do NOT recommend you this camera. The reason of this camera being included in the post is making a comparison more easy for you.

Features of D40

• 6,1 Megapixels
• US Kit Price : $ 470 – 500
• ISO : 200 – 1600
• Shutter Speed : 1/4000 sec. to 30 sec.
• Storage : SD Card
• Sensor Type : CCD
• Only 3 auto-focus point (There are 7 focus points in 350D)

Features of D40x

• 10 Mega-pixels
• US Kit Price : $ 580 – 620
• ISO : 100 – 1600
• Shutter Speed : 1/4000 sec. to 30 sec.
• Storage : SD Card
• Sensor Type : CCD
• Only 3 auto-focus point (There are 7 focus points in 350D)

Nikon D60 (New)

New digital camera of nikon, released in March 2008. This is the smallest digital SLR camera of Nikon. D60 offers some upgrades over the D40x. Dust control system and improved autofocus are considerable changes for D60.

Features

• 10,2 Mega-pixels
• Dust Control
• US Kit Price : $ 730 – 760
• ISO : 100 – 1600 (+3200 with boost)
• Shutter Speed : 1/4000 sec. to 30 sec.
• Storage : SD Card / MMC Card
• Sensor Type : CCD

Nikon D80

Best of these three Nikon DSLR cameras is D80, it is fast and closer to professional. This 10 megapixel DSLR is good for action photography.

• 10 Mega-pixels
• US Kit Price : $ 830 – 880
• ISO : 100 – 1600 (+3200 with boost)
• Shutter Speed : 1/4000 sec. to 30 sec.
• Storage : SD Card / MMC Card
• Sensor Type : CCD

I won’t write about other brands for now because i believe starting with Nikon or Canon is better. Nikon and Canon are the sector leaders and you can find a lot more lenses and other photography equipment for these two brands than other brands. Also they have much professional and complicated cameras that you may want to buy as you get more experience in photography, probably when you want to upgrade your camera you’ll prefer to buy a Nikon or Canon just like almost every professional photographer, so if you buy a lens for the beginner level cameras i mentioned in this article, you will be able to use these lenses later when you have a much professional digital camera.

Canon or Nikon? it is a tough question, every one of them have their own advantages and disadvantages. Objectively i believe Canon has a better price/performance ratio on beginner (consumer) DSLR cameras segment.

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So What is Hot Pixels?

Hot pixels are the individual pixels that sensitive to light more than necessary and there are hot pixels on every CCD or CMOS. Even i didn’t notice before hot pixels were there since the first day i bought my camera, and knowing that there will be hot pixels in the sensor even if i buy the most expensive digital SLR, is what made me feel better. So if you have the same problem don’t worry you are not alone.

Before finding an article about hot pixels, i asked to a few successful photographers about their opinion about the problem after i described under which conditions Hot Pixels appear. Then i unfortunately found out none of them really know what it is and this is the main reason why i’m writing this article. Here are the answers i get;

• “They are dead pixels there’s nothing you can do with it.” <- Most disappointing answer
• “Probably there are dust on your sensor.” <- Dust appear as BLACK dots on the picture. It gets more visible if you use high f values. Certainly dust doesn’t look red or blue on your picture.
• “I never took pictures at night so i don’t know.”

These people are the photographers who took thousands of pictures during their career, so how come they didn’t see the hot pixels on their pictures? It is normal, even the hot pixels are always there on the same spot, they are not visible in many conditions. So this is why these photographers didn’t see them before (It is not their fault.)

Which Conditions Makes the Hot Pixels More Visible?

• First of all they are tiny, for that reason they are not visible enough most of the time
• High f values (narrowed aperture) (F 20)
• High ISOs (ISO 1600)
• Low-Light environment, night etc. (They are visible especially on darker backgrounds)
  
• Long Exposure Times (30 sec.)
  

Under these conditions hot pixels appear in every DSLR camera. Some sensor types have more hot pixels than others. As far as i know CMOS sensors have more Hot Spots on them than CCDs.

What Makes Hot Pixels Increase in Number?

• Heat; keep you camera away from heat.
• Radiation; I don’t think you worry about Hot Pixels and your camera in this condition. Also keep away from radiation.

How to Get Rid of Hot Pixels?

Actually, there is no way to get rid of them, so just ignore them. There are multiple software solutions to this problem. Use clone stamp tool of Photoshop etc. They are tiny pixels and they are gone with a simple touch. Don’t be worried because of them…

Thanks…

Thanks to Ken Rockwell for informing me about the hot pixels, and ease my worries.