IXUS I / SD10 MOVIE PROBS/MARKS-HELP PLS

[endlessnameless]

HI ALL,

Just got a Canon SD10 and was wondering if you can help me. The pictures it takes are brilliant. The only trouble I have is that when I record a movie and view it on the computer I can see three tiny smear marks that are always in the same place. The best way I can describe them are like if you were looking through a glass window and there were three little flecks of fluid on the pane. They don't seem to be dead pixels because you can see the colour of something behind them (they are not solid black or white). They are transparent, but look like smears. They are noticable if I hook my camera up to a big tv where the magnification is higher. Normally I would have though it was a dirty lens. But the still picture quality is fine, and these smear marks only appear on the video, which has got me confused. Are there two different lenses for video and stills?

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks
Mark

[Jon]

There's only one lens on the camera. However the sensor is used somewhat differently for video than for still images. For stills, each sensor site gets its own data point (if you're shooting at maximum resolution). When you're recording video, it's at a lower resolution (320x240 or 160x120 pixels). So a number of sensor sites will be lumped together. You might be seeing an artifact from clusters of weak cells. Try taking a still picture at lowest (640x480) resolution, and see if there's a problem on that. If it shows up there, try zooming in to 100% or beyond on your higher resolution pictures and see if any off-colour pixels crop up. Failing that, can you do a screen capture of the video which you could then post?

[endlessnameless]

Thanks. I have attached a screen grab/ Its harder to see in still than when moving but two small transparent 'smears' are visible on the piller next to the person facing camera. One is right by the ear, the other one above that. They show up in the same spot and more or less depending on what colour is behind them. They show up more on greater magnification. I appreciate these vids are not meant to be blown up large, but it is a bit annoying.

[Jon]

I can almost imagine I can see what you're referring to. Did you try, like I suggested, a low-resolution still to see if it occurred there?