Canon 6DMK2 sensor bad pixels - what are your experiences?

[FM3AAR]

Hi all, I've shot some 4K daytime shots thru my new Canon 6DMK2 since April of this year, love the camera. The other night I shot for the first time some thunderstorm lightning shots. When viewing the dark pictures, I noticed white spots where there should have not been any. When I zoom in 100% on these white spots, they look like a white square inside a gray box. After reading up some on this, I'm assuming this is a dead pixel/switched off pixel/masked pixel? In reading, it is normal for Canon to have a few bad sensor pixels and they will mask/turn off the offending pixels before sending the camera out for sale to the public, so they should not be showing up as white pixels right?

I know I should be shooting in RAW and if I did, these white spots would be removed in PS. But I don't currently shoot in RAW because of the file sizes nor do I have PS. I currently shoot in large jpeg which works for me right now. I have posted a jpeg picture below I took with the lens cap on at f/22, 6.3 sec exposure/bulb. I have circled the offending pixels. Looks like I have 7 white pixels and 2 red (hot?) pixels. These white pixels show up in the same place in every dark photo I take. I contacted Canon today as the camera is under warranty. The person was not a tech, said I can't talk to a tech and only said to send it in. A tech would look at it and fix it if they determined it was fixable. My questons are:

1. Is this amount of bad pixels normal in a new Canon camera? Or just live with it and do post editing because likely more pixels will go out as the camera ages?

2. If I send it in, all Canon will do is turn off the offending pixels or will they replace the sensor? Do I want to chance a new sensor which might be worse?

3. I asked the Canon person if he could over the phone run me thru some internal camera program which might mask out the offending pixels? All he offered was to have me return the camera to default setting which I already tried. I also previously tried the manual sensor cleaning program in the camera which didn't help. 

Before I send it in, has anyone been thru this and how did you deal with it and why? Thanks, Charles 

[Peter]

Happy reading https://kameratrollet.se/how-to-get-rid-of-hot-pixels-on-a-canon-camera/

[FM3AAR]

Peter,

Thank you for that link. It was informative and useful.

I experimented per the article:

1. Long Exposure Noise Reduction: I took a 7 second long exposure with lens/eyepiece capped with Noise Reduction on, I found the white pixels were gone. Took another picture with the same settings as above but with Noise Reduction off, I found the white pixels present.  

2. In Camera Sensor Mapping: I manually cleaned the sensor 3 times per the instructions in the article. I found the white pixels remained as before. 

I hate to send the camera in to have Canon map out any bad pixels only to have more pixels go bad down the road as the sensor ages. To avoid that, I believe I will start shooting any night time long exposures with Noise Reduction on. If I don't use NR, I have a friend sending me a copy of Lightroom and I will remove the white pixels with LR as mentioned in the article.

Thank you for responding to my post. It was appreciated. Charles 

[Peter]

 Or just download darktable for free and activate "Hot pixels". This is from my 6D.

[shadowsports]

I shoot in RAW+JPEG with NR on.  Never saw this (of course).  Going to have a look on mine as well. 

[RobertTheFat]

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@shadowsports wrote:

I shoot in RAW+JPEG with NR on.  Never saw this (of course).  Going to have a look on mine as well. 

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Just to be clear: The "Noise Reduction" that was raised in this context is Long Exposure Noise Reduction, which one would normally use only outdoors at night, rather than for general shooting.

[ebiggs1]

"2. If I send it in, all Canon will do ..."

... is fix it.  Number 2 is your answer. 

The person on the phone is not a tech.  Send it in with a full simple explanation of the complaint. It will be fixed and you will get a warranty of the work.

[ebiggs1]

" But I don't currently shoot in RAW because of the file sizes nor do I have PS."

You don't care if you have the best image anyway!  So, why worry about some small white dots which are probably not 'hot pixels', BTW. That's why Canon needs to look at it and check it out.

The two most important on top before anything else is to shoot Raw file format and edit in PS if great photos are what you seek. I can understand not wanting to buy or rent PS but there are alternatives that are almost as good.  But Raw file format is mandatory for the best results in 98% of the time.