SPC900NC Hot Pixels

[bus_ter]

Hi,

I recently bought one of the cheap SPC900NC webcams mentioned here recently, (but not from the cheap source, but from a rather unscrupulous eBayer who obviously bulk bought and then sold them on ebay for *significantly* more.. wish I had seen the thread here first )

Anyway, I've got it all installed (still waiting on nosepiece/filter) and did a Hot pixel test. There are some obvious hot pixels on the sensor, and I was wondering if anyone has the same? and whether it affects the images captured significantly?

The test was performed by using SharpCap (1.0.12.0), covering up the webcam sensor and using the following SharpCap settings.

Resolution = 640x480

Exposure = 0

Gain = 63 (max)

Gamma = 0

..and below showing the three obvious Hot Pixels highlighted

What do you think?

Have I been doubly ripped off by paying 6 times the cost and being sent a sample that's probably been checked to have hot pixels and so stuck on eBay?

[wayne weedon]

One of mine has one or two hot/dead? pixels. Or at least they show as white dots. Not sure about the other two as I've yet to try them.

Wayne....

[bus_ter]

I found a review for this webcam online (not aimed at Astrophotography, but just as a webcam) and they mentioned issues with hot pixels.

I guess hot pixels are fairly common and regarded as 'acceptable' on a low end webcam. Afterall for general webcam usage they're bearly noticeable and wouldn't cause any issues.

Philips SPC-900NC webcam Review | Webcams | CNET UK

I would still be interested if other owners of this webcam could perform the same test and comment if they have any hot/duff pixels and how many?

My test suggests 3, two white and one red.

[MrJulius]

I think this i fairly common. Even my Canon EOS 500D has Hot Pixels.

[Glider]

Mine has 6 duff pixels.

[red dwalf]

if you only have 3 you`ve nothing to worry about, my Meade has loads, won`t make any differance to the image