As most would be aware, I use a kodak easy-share 6340 for astrophotography. About 18 mths after I bought it I noticed like a spot of dust (black speck) on a photo of jupiter I took which was most annoying. This black spot is still there. It doesn't arise from dust on the eyepiece or even the camera lens. I usually position the object (planet) to one side of the spec/dust on the LCD when I shoot.
It developed another black spot about a week ago. This completely stuffs the final image up after you've stacked heaps of photos.
My question is: possibly these spots (dust?) are obviously being deposited on the sensor of the camera? Does this kind of camera even have a sensor such as a CCD?? Being a point & shoot camera you can't take the lens off to clean the sensor.
One COULD take it to bits (gulp!) to get at the sensor.... Not game to do that!!
Hi Paul, no I'm not sure about anything here actually, lol.......never even heard of a 'dead pixel'...these 2 black spots are positioned in a way that I can just squeeze mars in between them, so when I come to do jupiter (bigger scale) It's going to totally stuff me. I can imagine it would cost a pretty penny to just drop it off to a camera store & say fix it.
What causes dead pixels?.....I take it if it IS dead pixels, the cameras non-fixable?
I've noticed I can't see them if I take a shot of a white wall or something. Not sure what the hells going on to be honest.
I don't the details, but just like plasma TVs, LCD screens etc, pixels become non-functional for a number of reasons.
Can you take a picture of a light (not white) background (ceiling, wall etc) and post it. We can then play around with the levels, curves, colour balance etc to help make it visible. We'll soon know if its a dust mote.
I went and took a shot of the blue sky, would this be ok? I also have a frame grab out of an AVI I took last night which I will post......I'm now thinking it's dust on/in the eyepiece, but I'm not sure..
The spot looks too big for a dead pixel. I'd be going for dust. Quote from "The New CCD Astronomy"
Quote: "The visual impact of the dust varies with its distance from the focal plane. Dust motes that are very close (to) the CCD chip will throuw small, tight, and dark shadows. Dust motes further up the optical pathway, such as on a filter a few inches in front of the CCD chip, will throw larger, more diffuse shadows." End Quote.
If its a dust mote it looks like its pretty close to the CCD surface.
The shape of the black dot looks very close to being in focus (to me) I wonder if holding an eyepiece upto the camera lens & shooting off some frames would get me closer to working out where this dust actually is? In the mean time, heres 2 pics of blue sky, 1 no zoom 1 full zoom..I can't see anything abnormal..
Hi RB. The second spot, (not shown in the mars pic) just materialized over night so to speak.....I'm still suspecting my eyepieces somehow.
I've been reading about zoom cameras ie: when you zoom in or shut the camera down...it will suck dust in as the lens retracts. Hell! I don't wanna pull this thing to bits, it's gonna be like a swiss watch inside..
After thinking about the dust on/in the eyepiece scenerio, that can't be right...what's the chances of always putting the EP in the same way every single time so that the dust spot/mote always ends up just left of centre everytime??.....
So it's on the sensor that I can't get to...great! As this camera is used for general daytime use as well as astrophotography & it doesn't affect shots other than astro-foto's, I've just been informed I will NOT be pulling the camera apart for 2 specks of crap......
After thinking about the dust on/in the eyepiece scenerio, that can't be right...what's the chances of always putting the EP in the same way every single time so that the dust spot/mote always ends up just left of centre everytime??.....
So it's on the sensor that I can't get to...great! As this camera is used for general daytime use as well as astrophotography & it doesn't affect shots other than astro-foto's, I've just been informed I will NOT be pulling the camera apart for 2 specks of crap......
Where is your sense of adventure????
maybe there might be an easy pull apart and a hard one. Have a search on the web and see if someone has done it already? if it is still in warranty then get it done under that, if not then its out of date and open slather. Who knows that house insurance might come in hady for when it accidentally fell into the kitchen sink of dish washing water
Hell! I don't wanna pull this thing to bits, it's gonna be like a swiss watch inside..
Yes it will be, judging by the broken bits of our Canon G3 lens I have here. Canon said they don't bother repairing the lenses, they just replace them (CCD and all), so I expect it to be a one way adventure if you take it apart.
I'm way ahead of you Paul. A CCD arrived late last week for me to try (on loan) Can't get a decent pic of mars with it yet, due to insufficient camera settings, so I dare say it'll be getting sent back soon. I should have just bitten the bullet & got a modded toucam + adapter & been done with it.
The boss at AOE kindly sent me that Saxon CCD I've been thinking of trying. It does ok for black & white shots but colour....well forget colour shots. Camera settings include: contrast/brightness/colour.
You get what you pay for I guess. Can't really take anything away from a $115 CCD camera. Got a very nice venus image out of it the other night. I must say its an easier system compared to the way I have to capture with the kodak. To see a planet on a laptop screen & start capturing is simply good stuff. I've been experimenting with image scales ie: talking camera lens off & shooting at prime + barlow etc.
Gonna wait for the new model toucam to be released next year I reckon.