digital lines in-camera, should I be concerned?

[jbbevel]

I've had this happen before, but this weekend it happened several times. I was shooting at Mono Lake and it was at night (doing long exposures). It was about 35 degrees out. I was doing a 4 minute exposure, when I first noticed it. Then later as the image shows below, it occurred again with only a 25 sec exposure.

This is with a Sony a7ii and a Rokinon 14mm 2.8 lens. I generally turn off the camera and then turn it back on. I've tried it with long exposure noise reduction both on and off and it occurred. I have also re-formatted my SD card.

What is causing this? I've searched threads and responses are varied. I have ordered a new SD card in case my current card is corrupt.

 

[MikeRan]

Not sure the cause but it’s definitely not a card corruption problem. I’m not sure the details of how the sensor readout is done. It seems some artifact of the readout, but I’m really not sure.

 

[jmbillings]

I've never seen something like that...

An artefact from long exposures would normally manifest itself as a "glow" on one or more edges of the image where the electronics heat up... no idea what could cause this (assuming you discount the card)

 

[Lightshow]

Electronic shutter, on or off?

Format the card in your computer, transfer a hundred or so pictures, any of them corrupt? If yes, toss the card, if no, stick it back in the camera and reformat and shoot some pictures(raw + jpg), are any corrupt? If yes, try a different card, same results? Send it in with the card and it's corrupted pictures, + a note explaining the issue and that samples are on the card.

 

[MikeRan]

Card corruption wouldn't manifest itself in such an organized way. likely a compressed raw image would just fail to open. JPEG corruption looks different than this.

This is happening inside the camera before the image is written to the card.

 

[MikeRan]

What happens if you substantially change the iso..

do a long exposure at say 2 minutes. (At ISO 100 if you can. Pick whatever aperture works to get the right exposure)

then do a long exposure of the same scene at,say ISO 3200 with the same aperture and something like 3.2 second exposure. Are the band more or less prominent?

im guessing this is some sort of read noise either in the analog to digital conversion or in the analog gain blocks.

 

[jbbevel]

Electronic shutter, on or off?

Format the card in your computer, transfer a hundred or so pictures, any of them corrupt? If yes, toss the card, if no, stick it back in the camera and reformat and shoot some pictures(raw + jpg), are any corrupt? If yes, try a different card, same results? Send it in with the card and it's corrupted pictures, + a note explaining the issue and that samples are on the card.

 

[jbbevel]

Card corruption wouldn't manifest itself in such an organized way. likely a compressed raw image would just fail to open. JPEG corruption looks different than this.

This is happening inside the camera before the image is written to the card.

Good point. Guess I'm grasping for straws. Was hoping someone else had seen this and had an easy answer. I'm gonna check my EFCS settings tonight to see if that's affecting this.

 

[jbbevel]

What happens if you substantially change the iso..

do a long exposure at say 2 minutes. (At ISO 100 if you can. Pick whatever aperture works to get the right exposure)

then do a long exposure of the same scene at,say ISO 3200 with the same aperture and something like 3.2 second exposure. Are the band more or less prominent?

im guessing this is some sort of read noise either in the analog to digital conversion or in the analog gain blocks.

The problem with that, is that it isn't happening consistently. For example, I tried on long exposure at about 4 minutes, and the lines appeared (horizontally this time) and I shut off the camera and tried it for much shorter 25 seconds and it was fine. Then I went back to 4 minutes and it worked fine, only to have the camera do it again about 30 minutes later.

 

[MikeRan]

Understand. Try them back to back. Without turning off the camera.

does this only happen at high ISO?

does the occurrence of the lines correlate with any camera setting? ISO is the one I mentioned because there is an analog gain block which kicks in at some setting. I wonder if the noise is being introduced by this.

 

[jbbevel]

Understand. Try them back to back. Without turning off the camera.

does this only happen at high ISO?

does the occurrence of the lines correlate with any camera setting? ISO is the one I mentioned because there is an analog gain block which kicks in at some setting. I wonder if the noise is being introduced by this.

I'll have to try again on my next night shoot.

It happened at ISO 400 with a 4 minute exposure. It also happened at ISO's higher than 3200, so I'm not sure if it's really to high ISO's.

 

[jbbevel]

Electronic shutter, on or off?

Format the card in your computer, transfer a hundred or so pictures, any of them corrupt? If yes, toss the card, if no, stick it back in the camera and reformat and shoot some pictures(raw + jpg), are any corrupt? If yes, try a different card, same results? Send it in with the card and it's corrupted pictures, + a note explaining the issue and that samples are on the card.

 

[No account anymore]

I would guess that something is wrong with the camera. I have never seen such results from night photos, not even from seriously underexposed files from any of the camera I have had, and I do a lot of night/astro photo.

At 25 sec, f:2.8 and ISO 6400 should not show coloured lines like this. I assume you are using the lens wide open, and did not push the file a lot before posting.

What about trying jpg + raw and see if both files are affected?

 

[jbbevel]

I would guess that something is wrong with the camera. I have never seen such results from night photos, not even from seriously underexposed files from any of the camera I have had, and I do a lot of night/astro photo.

At 25 sec, f:2.8 and ISO 6400 should not show coloured lines like this. I assume you are using the lens wide open, and did not push the file a lot before posting.

What about trying jpg + raw and see if both files are affected?

I'm definitely concerned that something is wrong with my camera. Any yes, both the raw and jpg were affected. The image is SOOC and I didn't change it at all.

 

[No account anymore]

If this happened to my camera, I for sure would have had it checked.

Still under warranty?

 

[jbbevel]

If this happened to my camera, I for sure would have had it checked.

Still under warranty?

Sadly, no. Trying to stay positive and perhaps use it as an excuse to upgrade.

 

[No account anymore]

Sadly, no.

Sad, yes.

Trying to stay positive and perhaps use it as an excuse to upgrade.

I like your attitude!

Almost like I hope that my camera would break down ...

 

[Lightshow]

Electronic shutter, on or off?

Format the card in your computer, transfer a hundred or so pictures, any of them corrupt? If yes, toss the card, if no, stick it back in the camera and reformat and shoot some pictures(raw + jpg), are any corrupt? If yes, try a different card, same results? Send it in with the card and it's corrupted pictures, + a note explaining the issue and that samples are on the card.

 

[Neurad1]

I've had this happen before, but this weekend it happened several times. I was shooting at Mono Lake and it was at night (doing long exposures). It was about 35 degrees out. I was doing a 4 minute exposure, when I first noticed it. Then later as the image shows below, it occurred again with only a 25 sec exposure.

This is with a Sony a7ii and a Rokinon 14mm 2.8 lens. I generally turn off the camera and then turn it back on. I've tried it with long exposure noise reduction both on and off and it occurred. I have also re-formatted my SD card.

What is causing this? I've searched threads and responses are varied. I have ordered a new SD card in case my current card is corrupt.

Had a similar problem with an Oly E-M5. It was a bad sensor Had to have it replaced. See below:

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Neurad1

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