BMPCC Hot Pixels

@stylz I don't think any of the cameras out there are hot pixel free, I think as you said it's just a matter of them showing in properly lit conditions.

The Hot pixel on mine is pure white. That can be seen in any lighting condition.

My BMPCC must be returned to the manufacturer. As is, the camera's unusable.

I have the same problem With Computar 12.5 lens it was not so noticeable, but when i put on my Fujinon B4 Zoom - it was all over the screen.

@ihavali Did you make a call to BM Uk?? What say to you about Test before Send or about the problem?? Today i will go to send another bmpcc...but for recive a worse camera again....

@ihavali Did you make a call to BM Uk?? What say to you about Test before Send or about the problem?? Today i will go to send another bmpcc...but for recive a worse camera again....

Yes they said they will test this one for sure before they send it out.


Same topic different camera: I just received my replacement of the first BMPCC I ordered from B&H a few minutes ago...guess what...full of hot pixels again!!!!!!!!!! So another camera from supposedly a different batch for a different country and same exact problem!

I give up!

Do not give up! Together we dream of a clean-up Hot!

I post here my 3rd replacement Status Quo.

Do not give up! Together we dream of a clean-up Hot!

I post here my 3rd replacement Status Quo.

so you got your replacement and also hot pixels??

Hang in there guys! My 2nd unit was good...although I cannot feel the pain for a 3rd time around like you have

I sent mine back to the distributor, yesterday. The one bright white pixel really stands out, so hopefully they'll replace the unit without any problems.

I also send my 2ªcamera 2 days ago...but with a BIG note TEST BEFORE SEND in the RMA...so i really really really really really hope ,receive a free hot pixels Camera...when i receive it post results!!

@Jeff...your camera are total free of hots? or 2 or 3 assumable hots??

Reading into this post, I had to share my experience with these hot pixels. Yeah I noticed them in some places in underexposed corners of the frame and thought it was just part of the deal, and something I could live with. But one night I was filming an, admittedly very underexposed, scene and I almost had to laugh out loud. This is not just a few 'hot'pixels here and there, this looked ridiculous.

demo1.jpg (452.84 KiB) Viewed 17579 times

demo2.jpg (517.56 KiB) Viewed 17579 times

As you can see in comparing both shots, the pattern of dots is static and identical. And yeah; I know it's silly to shoot in almost-darkness at 1600asa and expect noise-free performance, but this is not noise and feels like a weird sensor-issue that should not be there.

This is actually from my second BMPCC (the first was sent back for another unrelated issue), and footage from my first BMPCC, with which I also did some shooting in near-darkness, shows barely any hot pixels under similar circumstances. So to me it also seems a very camera-dependant issue..

Anyway; sent it back today, so we'll see!

I received yesterday my 1st replacement. It took about 2 weeks to come. It's better than the previous one in 800ASA but in 1600ASA It's horrible again. It's full of hotpixels, and now I have a new problem, cover button is very loose and clings all the time. I don't know what to do, keep changing them and in the end keep one that it will be worst? I was so happy that I received it yesterday that the new firmware came out and now I can shoot in RAW but the hot pixel issue took away all of happiness. I shot some material with RAW and test it with Resolve 9 Lite and I was super happy with what I can do in post production. I will try to shoot today in RAW at 1600ASA to see if the problem is less or more obvious.

I received yesterday my 1st replacement. It took about 2 weeks to come. It's better than the previous one in 800ASA but in 1600ASA It's horrible again. It's full of hotpixels, and now I have a new problem, cover button is very loose and clings all the time. I don't know what to do, keep changing them and in the end keep one that it will be worst? I was so happy that I received it yesterday that the new firmware came out and now I can shoot in RAW but the hot pixel issue took away all of happiness. I shot some material with RAW and test it with Resolve 9 Lite and I was super happy with what I can do in post production. I will try to shoot today in RAW at 1600ASA to see if the problem is less or more obvious.

Mine two replacements are being tested today and will ship out later this afternoon I hope. Was your replacement tested by the BM team?? If they test and we still have problems then that's the problem with QC

I received yesterday my 1st replacement. It took about 2 weeks to come. It's better than the previous one in 800ASA but in 1600ASA It's horrible again. It's full of hotpixels, and now I have a new problem, cover button is very loose and clings all the time. I don't know what to do, keep changing them and in the end keep one that it will be worst? I was so happy that I received it yesterday that the new firmware came out and now I can shoot in RAW but the hot pixel issue took away all of happiness. I shot some material with RAW and test it with Resolve 9 Lite and I was super happy with what I can do in post production. I will try to shoot today in RAW at 1600ASA to see if the problem is less or more obvious.

Mine two replacements are being tested today and will ship out later this afternoon I hope. Was your replacement tested by the BM team?? If they test and we still have problems then that's the problem with QC

They sent me a new camera. The camera dealer had it done. i didn't speak with BM directly.I've just sent the footage with the issue. I'm guessing they didn't check the new one, cause I also having issues with the button for the cap, it's very loose and making a noise. The new one is better than the previous one in native ISO but still having hot pixels. I cannot understand how the cameras going to the people that they testing them, like Philip Bloom, John Brawley etc. are hot pixel free? How many cameras will need to change to get a hotpixel-free camera? I really like the camera, and love the features, but come on guys what's wrong with the quality control? Is it a pixel remapping issue or a sensor flaw?

I´m Waiting for my 3rd replace, but for all the coments...i hope be in wrong, but i´m thinking are a sensor problem in ALL BMPCC that only appears when need a low light shoot(800/1600ASA)...a BM answer can HELP...

When i receive my 3rd free hots i post...but can be difficult

Just quit expecting the camera to be some kind of low light monster and you'll be fine... The camera needs light. If you can see hot pixels in well lit footage then it's a real problem... Otherwise it's just a limitation of the low light capability of the camera...

Just quit expecting the camera to be some kind of low light monster and you'll be fine... The camera needs light. If you can see hot pixels in well lit footage then it's a real problem... Otherwise it's just a limitation of the low light capability of the camera...

It's not low light capability problem. We're talking about hot pixels. It's like you're having a dead pixel in your monitor is the same thing. It's constant and it's still there no matter what. Just when in light is not that obvious because is white. Low light white pixels in not in a constant positions.

To move on I want add that I did some tests to my BMPCC after I've install the 1.5 firmware and I believe that the problem is less. I' m getting a few hotpixels in 800ASA but are not that obvious. At 1600ASA I'm getting some more and the previous are more obvious but if I stay at 800ASA I believe I'm fine. I think I'll keep my first replacement for an urgent work I have, but sometime I'll have to sent for repair in the button cap which is very loose and making noise. All tests are for PRORES not RAW.

I am getting a few hot pixels if I crank the exposure high in Resolve. I think its natural...but they are not dead pixels, hot and dead pixels are different phenomena. Dead ones are bad.

My two cents...
I'm in BMPCC purgatory right now, waiting on either my cam or its replacement to return from BMD. I'd like to know if there's a way to trace this problem back to a lot or batch of offending cameras. You know, like they do with salmonella and E. coli in food? It seems, by omission, that not all BMPCCs have this problem.
I'm slightly peeved by a few of the rationalizations I've read in this string.
The first if which is, "This is not a lowlight camera." Then why even bother including 800 and 1600 ISO? For those times I occasionally shoot in the real world, I'd like a clean image. Even if it's hard to make a bad pixel out at low ISO, it's still there.
The second, "This is normal." No, it's not. I've been shooting for 23 years from the Sony M7 with a 3/4 inch deck all the way up to the cameras of today. I've seen a bad pixel here or there and have used procedures to eliminate them. Never have I seen anything close to the constellation of pixel stars on my screen.
Third, "run it through dust and scratches." Fixing perpetual blemishes is post and losing sharpness via filters is not an acceptable part of a workflow the same way gaff taping a radiator hose every time you drive a car isn't.
In summary, clients don't want excuses or dots in their video.

Some people have valid gripes about the pixels. Some people are being neurotic. If you base this off the lens cap test and you've sent 2-3 cameras back....you are being neurotic. The BMPCC is far from perfect. Luckily you can resale them at new value and go buy another camera that suits your pixel needs better until they get this NEW camera sorted out. I understand complaining to get the word out there so BMD can realize they need to fix something, but at some point it just becomes tiresome griping. When you gripe at others for accepting the flaws of a camera, making the best of it, realizing it has limitations, not expecting the same features as a $10,000 camera, well.....

Some people have valid gripes about the pixels. Some people are being neurotic. If you base this off the lens cap test and you've sent 2-3 cameras back....you are being neurotic. The BMPCC is far from perfect. Luckily you can resale them at new value and go buy another camera that suits your pixel needs better until they get this NEW camera sorted out. I understand complaining to get the word out there so BMD can realize they need to fix something, but at some point it just becomes tiresome griping. When you gripe at others for accepting the flaws of a camera, making the best of it, realizing it has limitations, not expecting the same features as a $10,000 camera, well.....

some of us had valid reasons to replace the camera, like visible hot pixels in well exposed conditions. All of the cameras I returned(4 times so far) were confirmed to have issues by BM support...there is a difference between bad low light performance which is to be expected from this camera vs having a sensor that was never supposed to pass QC. I agree though, having issues is not a reason not to use the camera and keep complaining...after all some of us have only ever used 8 bit H264 crap and somehow made it work for the task at hand

Neuroses notwithstanding, I believe our criticisms are warranted. If my replacement from BMD has the same problem, I'll have to punt on the ol' BMPCC. I'll take a hit on the lenses and accessories that have gone well beyond the standard 30-day return period. It's not pickiness or drama, it's business.

Here's a quick update to those of you who are interested in this topic and have cameras for replacement:
I received my two replacement BMPCCs yesterday, they were tested by the BM support team in the UK prior to shipping. Let me first start by saying that these guys have been amazing when it comes to customer support.

Now to the not so good part: one camera exhibits very little to no hot pixels at ASA1600 in low light conditions, the other has the exact same issue. I'm starting to think that there is a firmware glitch that's causing these hot pixels to pop because when I first opened the two cameras and did a quick test I could have sworn that I didn't see any hot pixels in either...maybe I was just too optimistic
Just to make sure I wasn't being unfair to BMD or expecting too much of the camera in low light(or for that matter in shadows of properly exposed footage) I captured a scene in RAW with the exact same lens at 24P and ASA1600 and processed it with Neat video to get rid of temporal noise and determine if what I'm seeing is indeed hot pixels vs noise:

Here's a PNG export of one frame from the camera I think is not too good
https://www.dropbox.com/s/jqdycc68s246l ... .13%29.png
Here it is from the second camera
https://www.dropbox.com/s/shscdvhynq0ik ... .20%29.png

I've circled the pixel areas in question, you can clearly see pure white pixels and a lot of them in the frame from the first camera, the second camera I had to zoom in to 200% on AE to be able to even see them.

Anyway, another important thing to note is that hot pixels appearance seems to be related to the frame rate, at lower frame rates they are much more obvious even in the one camera that seems to be free of hot pixels

@ihabali, looking at yours another-one-replacement camera frames, I start thinking, that the only ones units without the hot pixels is from the early release batches Can some one find hot pixels, for exemple in here - http://www.eoshd.com/content/11509/8-ci ... camera-raw ?

@Ihavali, if it´s are Cameras sended by BM as a "Normal" cameras...

About neuroses and other things...people have enought money and a little perspective.Hot Pixles are a problem.a PROBLEM To me, would make damage in normal work footage...so its a BIG PROBLEM.
I don´t buy the camera to make vimeotest or youtubecats...

If my camera returns like Ihabali...i return again, so if any in BM reads some this post, please,please, please, please...SOLUTION.
@Sergey ...i think the same....but also think can be a solution somewhere in a firmware or maping...again...BM, please ...

Pd: Also can ask again (how make Nivou in post) to Andrew(eoshd) if he have detected hot pixel issues...letsgo to Ask !! Its possible that they have the HOLY UNIPOCKET

(sorry for spaneglish)

If you want to see how many hot pixels you have put on the lens cap, set your frame rate to 23.98, ISO to 1600 and your shutter to 180 degrees, then turn on focus assist.

It looks like a star field.

Curiously, if you set your shutter to 172.8 or 216 most of the hot pixels go away. This might be related to the fact that 180 degrees has more motion blur than it should.

This how it could look like without lens cap

Does this happen at all ASA settings? I ask because the frames you referenced from Andrew Reid were all shot at ASA800, and I think most of John Drawley's samples were at ASA800 as well...maybe it's just how this camera behaves at anything about native ASA?

Nope, the camera doesn't behave much different at all when you change the ISO/ASA setting - the sensor always captures light the exact same way, it always operates at ISO 800. It's just that setting the cam to ISO 1600 makes it pull up the image digitally, thereby emphasizing the hot white pixels to a degree where focus assist can detect them.

Has anyone noticed that the hot pixels get worse as temp increases? (Camera has been on for a while). My replacement hasn't arrived yet and didn't think to test this hypothesis before I sent it in to BMD. Moment of truth Monday approaches just as my brand new Voightlander arrived this week.

Has anyone noticed that the hot pixels get worse as temp increases?

Sounds reasonable. What are "hot pixels"? They appear when the photo site burns out. Higher temperatures could accelerate that process.

This is disturbing-- I've been on the verge of placing an order for a while. Since I'm not desperate for a camera, I'll stick with what I've been using until the hot pixel issue's been resolved.

Has anyone noticed that the hot pixels get worse as temp increases? (Camera has been on for a while). My replacement hasn't arrived yet and didn't think to test this hypothesis before I sent it in to BMD. Moment of truth Monday approaches just as my brand new Voightlander arrived this week.

I accidentally tested this just now when I forgot my pocket camera on while I trying to figure out how to convert the camera's HDMI signal to AV...the camera was super warm when I remembered about it and just for fun I turned on the peaking filter and bam! hot pixels all over at ASA1600 and a lot more than usual at ASA800. hopefully when it cools down things will be back to normal

My D5200 started to show a lot of hotpixels after we had finished a three-day shot. The cam was practically bricked and I felt really lucky about my Dealer having given me a replacement.

I really hope that we won't get similiar issues with the Pocket! Would be a Nightmare to get your Sensor burned during a shot. Especially if the warranty period is over.
Has anyone done a serious test if Cam starts to show new hotpixels as it gets hot and keeps the temperature for some time?

Edit:
Wow, that sounds really scary! So changes are good that the Cam will turn into a disposable Camera if used seriously.

Confirmed: Once the camera cooled down the hot pixels disappeared...

IMPORTANT NOTE: this is a cap on test...I have not verified the actual video results while the camera is warm...my observations mean absolutely nothing except what I just noticed on the camera screen

So this could as well be hot pixels on the display? That's two good news! First, these hot pixels are not permanent (or at least they are detected and mapped out by firmware), and second, this probably doesn't affect recordings at all...

The hot pixels are definitely not just in the display. It is recorded from the sensor. I tried my camera as a C cam on a tv show and the two takes at 23.98 1600iso 180degrees are completely useless. The new 1.5 firmware fix for 180 degree bug has minimized this because the now it's actually 180 degree instead of 360 degrees.

If you place the camera at 1600iso 23.98 360 degrees you should still see hundreds of hot pixels. The hot pixels diminish as the exposure time goes down. For example, there are less hot pixels at 25fps and even less at 30fps. Less hot pixels at 216 degrees then 360 degrees, etc.

If you have a camera that DOESN'T behave like this please post here. If it's unique to only some cameras then I want to send mine back (but I suspect this will be the same for all cameras)

Same here with the hot pixels. Is anyone in these forums actually working for BlackMagic? As far as I am aware, this is a weakness in firmware, which should recognize and cover up the hot pixels internally as part of the processing of the footage.

I looked at lots of places online, but there seems to be nobody suggesting that BM is actually taking care of a firmware update.

Please, some BM employee respond and tell us if you are planning on fixing this in the firmware?
I love the camera otherwise, it's really a magnificent step in the post-DSLR-revolution era.

Thanks from Berkeley,
Toby

This is being looked into. When we have more information about this subject, we will let you folks know.

Ouuuyeah!! Thanks Tony, hope a quickly solution because my camera is still in BM London, under tests is the last informations...

Done lens cap test on my unit.

I can see stars from hot pixels at ASA1600 but none at ASA800. Also these are not solid white pixels. In my case most of them are green and some of them are blinking. I did not done any video test as I am waiting for the lens to come. This is brand new unit out of the box. Is there any one single unit that does not have this issues?

Kind regards
Adam

This is brand new unit out of the box. Is there any one single unit that does not have this issues?

To a certain degree this is normal behavior for almost every sensor. Usually camera firmware detects and remaps hot pixels, don't know if the bmd devices do it as well.

So basically one should be worried whenever he sees hot pixels in ASA 800 which is native for this sensor, is that right? I will have to do some tests when the lens arrives and verify if it will be visible on footage.

Adam

Hallo Blackmagic,

i'm interested in purchasing the pcc.
but, when there is dead/coloured/black/white static pixels, i would say, the pcc is a toy, nothing else.

please answer, if you can fix it with a firmware update or if the processing of the camera is too much weak to map out 'dead' pixel, as other cameras do.

thank you
best

Just want to clarify, the hot pixels are not there permanently.

They start showing up when you extend your exposure time. If you stay at 180degrees and don't go past 800 iso you will be fine. I think in some situations you might get away at 1600iso at 180degrees. But don't ever try 1600iso x 360degrees. The camera can't do it. The only reason I discovered this is that 180degree bug was shooting at 360degrees.

To be perfectly honest, I think BM should disable that combination for their own sake. They're probably getting a lot of cameras sent back. Even if there was a way to blackshade and correct this, the sensor performs well at other settings so I wouldn't want to black shade and average out those pixels permanently. Then we're talking about storing different black shades for different ISOs and this seems like it's getting beyond the scope of this little camera.

@Jason T

I found a night test footage on YouTube at ASA1600 and 360degrees shutter angle. It seems to be possible. I cannot paste links, I get an error. You can find this movie by searching for "black magic pocket cinema camera asa 1600". The particular movie I am referring to is made by Jan Mocňák.

YouTube will usually hide this issue because these are truly single pixels that get stuck. When DSLRs have hot pixels they are down converted in-camera and a hot pixel will look like a 4 point star. But the BM is 1:1 and unless it is a 1080p vyoutube video, a single pixel (even dozens of them) will be blended out. But for TV, this would fail HD quality control at pretty much any broadcaster.

I'm using my camera again for a Discovery show all this week and I'm not worried as long as I don't push it too hard.

Waiting still for my replacement since first of November...hope that BM answer come quickly and can use in a Dark scene job that are near incoming(not for youtube) . I think that the camera not are a toy, but these problems...

Finally I had a chance to do some filming and test this hot pixels issue. In low light situation I can clearly see hot pixels on the screen and in the footage regardless of which ASA I am shooting with and shutter angle although the higher ASA and shutter angle the more pixels I can see. I will probably sent my unit back and wait for a replacement. The only problem is that I need this camera for shooting this month.

Is there any time frame that I should return the camera for replacement? What is the usual procedure, sending the camera back directly to Blackmagic?

This is getting worrisome and the more I think about it the more worried I get.
I am in the process of sending my BMPCC back because of a couple of hot (or dead) pixels.
BMPCC is very accommodating.
However, I went back to my old Canon T2i-- shot some raw footage using Magic Lantern- saw a LOT of hot pixels.
And remember what I had done in the past-- there is a manual sensor cleaning function that basically allows you remap the pixels on the sensor-- cause-- that's how you fix it-- And with regular DSLRs this is not an issue-- cause the controls are there.
So I followed the procedure- shot some footage-- ALL hot pixels were gone.

Hmmm... as we know these cameras have a 1995 level of control over certain settings and functions.
There are a lot of functions missing in this camera. So my concern is now-- am I going to have to send the unit back for recalibration (remapping the pixels) everytime I start getting hot pixels-- which does happen eventually. How am I going to do that? Will the camera be supported?


Now I'm worried- I'm in the process of doing an exchange on this camera and I am beginning to doubt it's longevity. It may be 'cheap' compared to others but I may just hold out for a Mark III that I know shoots incredible RAW low light footage using Magic Lantern and has all the features I need. I'm not going to have to wait for Canon to get some fairly basic functions that the BMPCC doesn't have-- you know the list- erasing file, time left to record, etc.

I'd like some sort of confirmation that these cameras aren't designed to be obsolete faster than Apple products.

Just want to clarify, the hot pixels are not there permanently.

They start showing up when you extend your exposure time. If you stay at 180degrees and don't go past 800 iso you will be fine. I think in some situations you might get away at 1600iso at 180degrees. But don't ever try 1600iso x 360degrees. The camera can't do it. The only reason I discovered this is that 180degree bug was shooting at 360degrees.

To be perfectly honest, I think BM should disable that combination for their own sake. They're probably getting a lot of cameras sent back. Even if there was a way to blackshade and correct this, the sensor performs well at other settings so I wouldn't want to black shade and average out those pixels permanently. Then we're talking about storing different black shades for different ISOs and this seems like it's getting beyond the scope of this little camera.

Exactly the same with my bmcc. Either 180º and 1600 ASA or 360º and 800 ASA are fine but 360º with 1600 ASA is hot pixel apocalypse...