Image Dustoff Ref Photo: Does anyone know how this works? I have a Nikon with an image dustoff ref photo feature. After reading the owners manual and trying to figure this out, this is...

sontog Loc: S. California

Does anyone know how this works? I have a Nikon with an image dustoff ref photo feature. After reading the owners manual and trying to figure this out, this is what I think happens but not really sure. When you hold your camera agains a white card, it reads the dust images on the sensor or some other unknown device in the camera and creates a reference photo. That photo is transferred to the memory card and remains as a reference photo with the dust. When any further pictures are taken, the reference photo is used as a sort of overlay to take away any of the referenced dust. Does this image dustoff ref photo remain only on the memory card and is deleted when the card is formatted? Do you have to make a new image dustoff ref photo each time you delete the pictures from your memory card or format the card? I think I am in the ballpark here but not really sure. Any help would be appreciated.

snowbear

If you format the card, ALL information on it is deleted.

As I understand the dust-off process, the camera maps those pixels in memory, so the reference photo is not checked again. If this is correct, it wouldn't matter if you formatted or not.

Note: I just turned on the feature in my D40, then turned it off, then on again. Each time I turn it on, I am instructed to take a reference photo. The camera is NOT looking at the reference photo after the initial acquisition so formatting the card (or changing the card) should make no difference.

RaydancePhoto

sontog wrote:

Does anyone know how this works? Does this image dustoff ref photo remain only on the memory card and is deleted when the card is formatted? Do you have to make a new image dustoff ref photo each time you delete the pictures from your memory card or format the card? I think I am in the ballpark here but not really sure. Any help would be appreciated.

This is why I delete the images, I never format the card unless is in necessary. I delete the images off the card with the camera. I know some say always format, but I never have and I see no degradation of new images.

sontog Loc: S. California

That really should have nothing to do with degradation of pictures. It's just that when I do a photo shoot and want to delete the pictures, there are usually several hundred of them. I wonder if there is a way to bracket a bunch of pictures and delete them as a batch as opposed to one at a time?

RaydancePhoto

If you have a DSLR, or even a bridge, there is an option in the menu to delete all images, except the protected ones.

sontog wrote:

That really should have nothing to do with degradation of pictures. It's just that when I do a photo shoot and want to delete the pictures, there are usually several hundred of them. I wonder if there is a way to bracket a bunch of pictures and delete them as a batch as opposed to one at a time?

sontog Loc: S. California

When I do a reference photo, and turn the camera off and back on again, I don't get any messages, however the ref photo is still there and the camera counts it as any other photo. If I delete all the pictures, the ref photo goes away with the pictures. That would indicate to me that it is being stored on the memory card. I am shooting with a Nikon D3S, maybe it's different than your model. I wish there was a way of putting the reference photo in memory on the camera instead of the card.

RaydancePhoto

There is a way to protect a photo or photos so when you delete all, your reference photos are not deleted off the card.

sontog wrote:

When I do a reference photo, and turn the camera off and back on again, I don't get any messages, however the ref photo is still there and the camera counts it as any other photo. If I delete all the pictures, the ref photo goes away with the pictures. That would indicate to me that it is being stored on the memory card. I am shooting with a Nikon D3S, maybe it's different than your model. I wish there was a way of putting the reference photo in memory on the camera instead of the card.

sontog Loc: S. California

Great idea, I hadn't thought of protecting the picture. Thanks.

RaydancePhoto wrote:

If you have a DSLR, or even a bridge, there is an option in the menu to delete all images, except the protected ones.

sontog wrote:

That really should have nothing to do with degradation of pictures. It's just that when I do a photo shoot and want to delete the pictures, there are usually several hundred of them. I wonder if there is a way to bracket a bunch of pictures and delete them as a batch as opposed to one at a time?

hlmichel Loc: New Hope, Minnesota

I went to the Nikon sight and it seemed like you need CaptureNX to use this feature. When processing your NEF's it would use the ref picture to map and remove the dust.

sontog Loc: S. California

Duh! Erase all works great. Just because you have a nice camera doesn't mean you know how it works......LOL

sontog wrote:

That really should have nothing to do with degradation of pictures. It's just that when I do a photo shoot and want to delete the pictures, there are usually several hundred of them. I wonder if there is a way to bracket a bunch of pictures and delete them as a batch as opposed to one at a time?

clicktime Loc: Yucca Valley Ca.

You need to delete the ref photo every time you have used it because the dust can move around on the censer from moving the camera and from changing the lens. The camera needs a fresh reference photo for every shot so it can remove all the new dust and give you a clean shot.

sontog Loc: S. California

That make sense, thanks. Maybe that's why Nikon doesn't save it in the camera.