C100: Dead Pixels - Why the need to blackbalance?

A

Airwolf

Active member
So I've learned that before going on a shoot you should always black balance the camera otherwise you end up with dead pixels on the image. I've accepted this, but it is kind of annoying to have to do this every time I go somewhere or pull out the camera, sometimes its nice to be able to pull the camera out, turn it on and shoot right away without going through a minute of prep first. I didn't start on a pro video camera so this concept is unknown to me. I started on consumer cameras, then DSLR's and now the C100.

Does everyone else have this issue or is it just me?
 
Well I don't black balance nearly as often as I should and have had no issues at all. The closest thing I ever got to a dead pixel was a weird lens flare that created what looked like one but it was actually user error.

In order to get the absolutely cleanest look at any given ISO, sure, black balancing will help, but in 95% of practical applications it isn't necessary. Just definitely make sure to do it after a flight or long trip with the camera.
 
Doing a white and black balance is pretty much standard procedure. Takes me all of 15 seconds if that to get the camera looking good. But hey, it's your call! A little prep before the shoot, or color correction and noise reduction in post.
 
I don't own the camera, but when I shoot with it generally just custom W/B to A, then I shoot a little chart off the top to help with post. Most of the time I have shot with this camera we used the Ninja 2 and just handed over the footage. If the camera came with something other than a fixed EF mount I would have bought it.
 
If you run the camera at 16,000-20,000 ISO you'll get dead pixels. If you stay away from the high ISO's you will not run into that problem. I used my C100 from December through April for over 300hrs and had dead pixels happen twice because of using super high ISO's. GL I did it once a week after noticing the problem. No problems.
 
You will notice dead pixels more often at high ISO settings , but they do not actually cause pixels to go bad. I have always had to be careful since shooting in HD with a bad pixel showing up, which of course leads to routinely doing a black balance (sometimes it takes several black balances to correct the offending pixel0. Had to do it with my XDCAM HD camera and even the Canon 7D/5D cameras has a way to mask a pixel. What will lead to more bad pixels is flying with a camera at high altitude. The more you do that the more you should check your camera. I always black balance the C100 when starting a new job.
 
Yes, with iso above 4000 (or 6400) you can get dead pixels (recorded white, red, blue dot). Black balance clean them (or mask them).
For my level of quality I don't need make BB after every change of ISO/GAIN. But yes, if you have time and if you need the best quality (with some external recorder) you can did BB with every change of ISO/GAIN. It can improves denoiser processing in analogue part of the CMOS chip.
 
I black balance my C300 with every ISO change, especially when I am using high ISOs. (At times I go upto 16000 and a few times 20000). However the black balance is a pain, as I remove the lens and place the body cap and blackbalance it. Am kind of paranoid about dust.
 
mhood said:
I read the recommended procedure and also use the body cap when black balancing my C100 but have wondered why a lens cap on the lens wouldn't do. Black is black, right?
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it's just a 100% way of making sure no light leaks in. Of course you can BB with a lens cap on. I've done it on a AF100 without the lens cap on! It worked fine with that cam. I BB with the body cap on though usually :)
 
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