Fixing a Stuck/Hot Pixel on a Canon EOS 400D

This evening I was processing some photographs I'd taken with my Canon EOS 400D earlier today and, while doing so, I noticed for the first time that it appeared to have a rather prominent red stuck pixel. I looked back through some of my earlier (although still pretty recent) photographs and could see it there too, although it did appear to be fainter.

Assuming that it was just "one of those things" (it's not like it's something that isn't easily fixed in Photoshop) I didn't think too much of it for a while but then I got curious and did a little bit of searching on Google. In doing so I found this page. Given that there was nothing to lose I decided to give it a go. Here's what I did:

1. In the menu I turned on JPEG+RAW shooting.
2. With a lens on, and with the lens cap on, I took a 10 second exposure.
3. I then went back into the menu and, still with the lens on, I did a manual sensor clean for around 10 seconds (turning the camera off to finish the operation).
4. I turned the camera back on and, once again, with the lens cap on I took a 10 second exposure.

After doing all of the above I downloaded the images to my machine and had a look. Sure enough the stuck pixel I'd seen showed up really well on the first image. Here's an image of it, on the left is a 100% crop of it and on the right is a blown up version of it:


I also found a couple of blue stuck pixels too. However, on the image I took after I'd performed the manual sensor clean, there was no evidence of the stuck pixel. I have no idea how or why this works but it appears that it does make a difference.