Dots in final image, mainly bright red

[Mike Oates]

I am very new to PTGui, and I am impressed with the results so far,
except for one thing.

In the final image I am getting pure red dots, some are blue and some
green in a few places Over the full image there are 13 red and 6 blue
& green. At first I thought they were hot pixels, but they are larger
than a pixel and are at random over the image, I have checked the
originals and there are no dots there. They are being added by PTGui.

The image I am referring to is a three image pan and each image it
taken +2, 0 -2 EV and I selected Fused panorama. It's actually a shift
lens, so I have selected shift for the shifted images in the lens
settings. It's all aligned very well, just those dots are very
annoying.

Can anyone give any help?

Mike

[Willy Kaemena GM]

The only help would be if we can get hold of your files including project file .pts otherwise we are only guessing
good service for file sharing is : www.wetransfer.com

Willy

> --
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "PTGui" group.
> To post to this group, send email to pt...@googlegroups.com
> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to ptgui+un...@googlegroups.com
> Please do not add attachments to your posts; instead upload your files at a file sharing site (for example http://ge.tt/ ) and include a link in your message.
> For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/ptgui

[Mike Oates]

Willy,

Unfortunately my originals are RAW CR2 files at about 28MB each, there
are 9 files, rather large to upload. So I did it again converting the
RAW files to both tifs & jpgs, and I found that none of the final
images have any dots on them. I also tried the RAW files to produce a
jpg rather than the PSD files I was creating but these have the dots
in exactly the same places.

So to summerise, if I use the RAW (CR2 from a Canon 5DmkII) files I
get the dots. But if I convert the original RAW files to tifs or jpgs
before using PTGui, I don't get the dots.

So guess what I will be doing from now on!

I also found out that PTGui does not use any changes made to the RAW
files (made in Lightroom) such as colour balance, so there is a big
incentive to convert to tifs anyway in Lightroom as any adjustments
will then be used by PTGui.

Mike

[Joergen Geerds]

On Tuesday, April 24, 2012 2:46:10 AM UTC-4, Mike Oates wrote:

So to summerise, if I use the RAW (CR2 from a Canon 5DmkII) files I
get the dots. But if I convert the original RAW files to tifs or jpgs
before using PTGui, I don't get the dots.

So guess what I will be doing from now on!

I also found out that PTGui does not use any changes made to the RAW
files (made in Lightroom) such as colour balance, so there is a big
incentive to convert to tifs anyway in Lightroom as any adjustments
will then be used by PTGui.

It is always advisable to convert your RAW files to tiffs before using them in ptgui. RAW directly into ptgui is possible, but not a good idea.

You have issues with hot/broken pixels in your camera. many cameras have them, and good RAW converter (i.e. ACR within LR/PS) or the appropriate canon/nikon software) can map out those hot pixels, and replace the data with neighbor pixels. since each RAW converter has it's own strategy how to convert RAW into usable image data, and how they save their conversion/import settings, they are not interchangeable. this also means that the RAW converter ptgui is using (DCraw) can never know what settings you are using in LR, and it also can not map out your hot pixels (at least not easily).

If your hot pixels are excessive (>50-200), you might want to consider reading the camera manual, or sending it to canon for repair.

[Erik Krause]

Am 24.04.2012 08:46, schrieb Mike Oates:
> So to summerise, if I use the RAW (CR2 from a Canon 5DmkII) files I
> get the dots. But if I convert the original RAW files to tifs or jpgs
> before using PTGui, I don't get the dots.

PTGui uses dcraw to convert your raw files. So those problems are caused
by dcraw, not by PTGui. That is BTW the reason why PTGui doesn't use all
the settings you made in Lightroom. dcraw is very basic in this regard.

--
Erik Krause
http://www.erik-krause.de

[Kevin Wilton]

Personally speaking, I know that later versions of PTGUI will work with RAW
files but are you in total control of the output? I don't think so. I look
at this issue this way, you should think of your RAW files as your negatives
and the TIFFs as your working images and, only when you are totally happy
with those working images move on to the next stage of producing the pano.

I know others will disagree but I am old school, I want to be sure something
is right and have taken the 'Auto' out of everything; I don't use autofocus
or auto exposure either, control is the issue with my work. Or it's simply
don't regard it as mine.

Like I said, this is a personal not a technical comment.

--

You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
"PTGui" group.
To post to this group, send email to pt...@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe
from this group, send email to ptgui+un...@googlegroups.com
Please do not add attachments to your posts; instead upload your files at a
file sharing site (for example http://ge.tt/ ) and include a link in your
message.
For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/ptgui

-----
No virus found in this message.
Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
Version: 2012.0.1913 / Virus Database: 2411/4955 - Release Date: 04/23/12

-----
No virus found in this message.
Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
Version: 2012.0.1913 / Virus Database: 2411/4955 - Release Date: 04/23/12

[Mike Oates]

Joergen & Erik,

Thank you both, after looking into this issue more deeply you are
right, these are hot pixels.

I had no idea that LR or ACR automatically removed hot pixels, there
does not seem to be any option to turn of that feature. If any one
knows how please let me know. I am using CS5.1 and Lightroom 3.6

When I got the 5D mkII I did tests to see if there were any duff/hot
pixels and I was very happy to find there were none. But I was being
tricked by the software as it removed them before I got to look at the
RAW image!!

So from now on I will work on TIFs

But I wish I could open up a RAW image and be allowed to see the real
RAW image just so that I see how good or bad the sensor is. How can I
do this?

Thanks,

Mike

[Erik Krause]

Am 25.04.2012 19:59, schrieb Mike Oates:
> But I wish I could open up a RAW image and be allowed to see the real
> RAW image just so that I see how good or bad the sensor is. How can I
> do this?

use dcraw ;-) If you don't like the command line, just use PTGui as you
did.

[John Houghton]

On Wednesday, April 25, 2012 6:59:24 PM UTC+1, Mike Oates wrote:

Joergen & Erik,

Thank you both, after looking into this issue more deeply you are
right, these are hot pixels.

I had no idea that LR or ACR automatically removed hot pixels, there
does not seem to be any option to turn of that feature. If any one
knows how please let me know. I am using CS5.1 and Lightroom 3.6

When I got the 5D mkII I did tests to see if there were any duff/hot
pixels and I was very happy to find there were none. But I was being
tricked by the software as it removed them before I got to look at the
RAW image!!

So from now on I will work on TIFs

Having noticed a hot pixel in a jpeg file from my Canon camera, I remembered this old post that alerted me to the fact that RAW conversion can remove hot pixels automatically.  This proved to be the case with my hot pixel.  Further web searches have now revealed a way also to eliminate hot pixels from jpeg files in camera, which may be of interest to other Canon users.  This just involves running a manual sensor clean operation.  See this link:

http://www.bluehoursite.com/articles/how-get-rid-stuckdead-pixels-canon-dslr-camera

I was pleased to find that this worked for me.  Jpeg files are now clean.

John

[DennisS]

I have shot RAW from day 1 with my D3s.  The other day I played around with .jpg.  I was shocked to see so many red, green and white pixels.  ACR does a great job of removing all hot pixels.  I shoot RAW, convert to tif then process in PTGui.  Not colored dots.

 

When I use ACR to convert the RAW images, I get a .xmp file with the same file name as the original file.  This is where the changes to the RAW file are stored.  When you load RAW files into PTGui, PTGui does not read the .xmp file, so any changes you make are ignored.  Any dots in your image will be transferred over.

 

I am also of the "old school" where I want to control each step.  With as little "auto" mode as possible I control the entire process.  My results are predictable and more consistant than letting software do most of the work.  PTGui is good, but there are better ways to process RAW images.  Even with the very few HDR panos I have done, I blend the images prior to stitching.

[Arnstein Bjone]

I see it is 8 years since last comment, but in case other come across this thread I can tell about and show some of my experiences.

I have been using PTGui since 2003(?) and have usually fed it RAWs, but yesterday I had a ca 8x3 pano, with 25 second exposure. I can't remember if I ever before have had a exposures longer than 1 sec for panos.

The red and green rectangels should have been on the right side of my collage, because the RAWs is perfect. No "hot pixels" / "group of hot pixels".

I have a dicussion in the PTGui-group and the dveloper (Joost) just wrote :"
"I'm pretty sure the raws are not perfect. But your raw converter removes the hot pixels during conversion, and while displaying the preview."

I replied that "We can leave it there, but I will investigate this further...    ...I use ACR, and I find it very strange that it "removes the hot pixels during conversion".

After converting the RAWs to (16-bits) TIFF, like I allways do for macro/micro-stacking with Zerene stacker, the outcom was perfect. Not ONE dicolored pixel.