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12/07/2003 01:13:25 PM · #1 |
I've had a troubling new development with my camera, and I'm hoping someone on DPC might have a suggestion.
I took my camera with me from my home in Atlanta to San Diego for Thanksgiving. Every photograph I took in SD and every photo I've taken since getting back to Atlanta has a stripe down the middle of the photo. This is regardless of what settings I'm using or what CompactFlash Card I use.
//www.titoi.com/images/4525.jpg
This image has been post processed (levels, contrast, resize, NeatImage) and the line has been removed.
//www.titoi.com/images/4525crop.jpg
This is a full size crop out of the original photograph, and all I've done is adjust levels and contrast a bit.
Here are two others- in the first one all I did is resize, the second is a crop straight out of the original file with no adjustments whatsoever. The line is the same length, in the same place, in every photograph. In color shots its always yellow. And in every shot it's perfectly straight and appears to be exactly one pixel wide.
//www.titoi.com/images/4532.jpg
//www.titoi.com/images/4532crop.jpg
All the photographs I took up until the day I left were perfectly fine. There was no trauma to the camera between the last normal photo and the first "striped" photo. The lens couldn't have gotten scratched in that time, it was completely protected up until I took the lens cap off in SD. The camera has flown before, so I don't think it had anything to do with the flight. Any other suggestions? Could static electricity cause this? The air in SD was quite dry.
Andi
Message edited by author 2003-12-08 14:12:04.
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12/07/2003 03:14:12 PM · #2 |
The only thing I can say is that just this morning a friend at work got photos back from a photo processing store with a similar line down the middle of some of the pictures but not all of them. Also it is not a digital camera. She was told that it was from the airport x-ray (she travelled out of the country). I told her I didn't know if that was right or not because it was not on all the pictures just some of them.
I have no clue. |
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12/07/2003 04:56:09 PM · #3 |
Hard to say. I don't think it is static electricity and being dry ( I am in CO). I would start from out to in. Same place, size, and width would make me start at the lens. Then to the sensor.
If you believe it is not the lens or dust, etc. you could try and reinstall the firmware and see what happens. If that doesn't do it, you are looking at having it cracked open. Under warranty?
Firmware upgrade link in this forum
Message edited by author 2003-12-07 16:59:55.
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12/07/2003 04:56:47 PM · #4 |
The fist thing I noticed is that the stripe is exactly two pixels wide, and exactly in line with the sensor array (runs exactly vertical).
Second thing of note is that the image shows thru the stripe.
My Conclusion:
The entire stripe is acting like a line of "hot" pixels. Though they are still functional, they have suddenly develpoed a high level of charge leakage.
Action:
Discuss this with Nikon, my bet is your camera will require service.
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12/07/2003 04:59:34 PM · #5 |
Originally posted by kirbic:
My Conclusion:
The entire stripe is acting like a line of "hot" pixels. Though they are still functional, they have suddenly develpoed a high level of charge leakage. |
Yep - tend to agree kirbic. This problem will occur BEFORE the image gets jpeged, because any kind of jpeg/file/memory/transfer corruption couldn't possibly cause a linear error in the image. |
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12/07/2003 05:03:21 PM · #6 |
@sonnyh:
Your friend was fed a line of BS. Damage to film from x-rays shows up as fogging. Film is not normally damaged by x-ray at the security checkpoint. Exceptions to this are very high sensitivity films (beyond 800 ISO).
The type of damage you report is commonly caused by the equipment at the lab actually scratching the film stock as it passes through. It has happened to me. When it does, the only way to salvage the photos is to scan them and retouch digitally. Have yor friend look carefully at the negatives with a magnifier to see if they are scratched. My bet is they are. If so, a complaint to the manager of the lab is in order. they at least should refund the processing cost.
A final word on airport x-ray. Since the implementation of checked baggage screening after 9-11, you should always put film in carry-on luggage; the checked-baggage x-ray systems use more powerful x-ray sources and can damage film.
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12/07/2003 05:29:34 PM · #7 |
Originally posted by kirbic:
Have yor friend look carefully at the negatives with a magnifier to see if they are scratched. My bet is they are. If so, a complaint to the manager of the lab is in order. they at least should refund the processing cost. |
Film (=negative) scratching may not necessarily be the fault of the lab. Dirt (=sand) can get lodged in the canister's dust filter leaving a wonderful scratch on all or part of your roll. A beach can be a bad place to change film. |
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12/07/2003 05:43:37 PM · #8 |
Originally posted by dwoolridge:
Originally posted by kirbic:
Have yor friend look carefully at the negatives with a magnifier to see if they are scratched. My bet is they are. If so, a complaint to the manager of the lab is in order. they at least should refund the processing cost. |
Film (=negative) scratching may not necessarily be the fault of the lab. Dirt (=sand) can get lodged in the canister's dust filter leaving a wonderful scratch on all or part of your roll. A beach can be a bad place to change film. |
True, and good point. Would that make you say "son of a beach!!"?
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12/07/2003 09:03:01 PM · #9 |
| Can airport x-rays damage cf cards and camera sensors? If so how can I minimize this? I am going to the Caribbean in 4 weeks to wiggle my toes in the sand! |
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12/07/2003 09:08:09 PM · #10 |
Originally posted by Dim7:
Can airport x-rays damage cf cards and camera sensors? If so how can I minimize this? I am going to the Caribbean in 4 weeks to wiggle my toes in the sand! |
No
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12/07/2003 09:11:50 PM · #11 |
Originally posted by Dim7:
Can airport x-rays damage cf cards and camera sensors? If so how can I minimize this? I am going to the Caribbean in 4 weeks to wiggle my toes in the sand! |
Nope, you're fine. My cards & camera fly with me almost weekly, so they would have been toast long ago if there was any significant damage potential. I always carry on my camera, I don't trust the baggage manglers!
Have fun in the Caribbean, raise a beer for us poor saps stuck back in the Great White North.
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12/07/2003 09:33:47 PM · #12 |
Thanks for the info kirbic
I will raise a few for all our fellow DPCers. I wont let the manglers get their paws on the Dim7 either.Cheers |
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12/07/2003 09:45:25 PM · #13 |
I folks, this is a classic CCD chip issue.
It appears to be a overload of an inline transfer. In the broadcast world we see these vertical stripes all the time if the cameraman points the newscamera directly at a hot light source. It overloads the shift register of the FIT (Frame Inline Transfer) or IT (Inline Transfer) CCD causing a temporary vertical strip as described.
I am puzzeled to see the strip in low light or without a hot light source. My recommendation is to return it to Nikon for a check up. My opinion is that you have a deflect in the CCD or a filter.
Here is an overview that I lifted from a relevant web site describing how a CCD works.
The detailed operation of a CCD imager chip is fairly complex, but here Ãs a simplified explanation of how they work.
Over the active image-sensing area of the chip, there Ãs an array of tiny sensor cells, each typically measuring 10 x 5um (micrometres) or less. The array of a typical CCD sensor has 297,984 of these cells, arranged in 582 horizontal rows and 512 vertical columns. Inside each cell there Ãs a light sensitive element "essentially a very tiny photodiode" together with a charge-transfer area which forms part of a long vertical shift register. There are also two control elements, called the readout gate and the overflow gate, and a short section of a long vertical structure called the overflow drain. All parts of the cell apart from the sensor element are covered by metallisation, so they're kept in the dark.
When light falls on the sensor element (as part of the image), the photons generate charge carriers and as a result a small quantity of charge builds up in that part of the cell. How much charge builds up depends on the amount of light reaching the cell, of course. The area directly under the sensor element is designed to contain this charge, as a kind of "bucket". Then after a short time, a voltage pulse is applied to the readout gate. This has the effect of lowering the "retaining wall" on that side of the bucket, allowing the accumulated charge to flow out of the sensor bucket and into the charge-transfer area.
So after the readout pulse, the charge that was generated in the sensor element by the incident light has been shifted into the charge-transfer area alongside. And as mentioned earlier this area is actually part of a long vertical shift register, which links all of the charge-transfer areas in a complete column of cells. This shift register is used to transport the charges in each of the charge-transfer areas down the columns, and ultimately out of the chip.
How does the shift register work? By passing the charge in each charge-transfer area down to the one below it, using exactly the same kind of process that was used to shift the charges into them from the sensor elements. There's another set of gates between each pair of adjacent transfer areas in the column, and by pulsing these the charges are level where the "retaining wall" on that side of the sensor "bucket" is a little lower than on the charge-transfer region side. This means that if the charge builds up in the bucket to reach that level, any further charge simply flows over the "wall" into the overflow drain, where it Ãs drained away. This system prevents the photosensor elements from ever
completely filling with charge, which would tend to make the CCD imager saturate and its output video "wash out" in highlight areas.
By the way the type of CCD imager we've described here is known as the interline transfer type, because of the way the charges from the sensor elements are shifted first sideways into their own charge-transfer region, then down the vertical shift registers and finally out via the horizontal shift register. This is the type of CCD imager used in most home video cameras, camcorders and digital still cameras.
There are other types of CCD imager, which use a different system to shuffle the charges out of the array. The frame transfer system has a second complete storage array underneath the sensor array, which allows charges from the next image to be built up while the first charges are being processed. However these chips are roughly twice as complex as the interline transfer type and also tend to need a mechanical shutter for exposure control, so they're more costly.
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12/08/2003 08:53:29 AM · #14 |
Thanks all for your input. I sent the same message with links to Nikon and they replied- on a Sunday night no less. They said the pixels are dead and to either send it in or take it to an authorized place for repair. I've called the local authorized Nikon repair place and left a message. I certainly hope this is covered in the warranty.....
Thanks again for all your comments!
Andi
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12/08/2003 09:17:10 AM · #15 |
Ahaze, your links are broken! I can´t see your images.
In tha same way of your description a Had a trouble with my nikon in very low light with no NR activated. If is a simply noise. Difers of your "lines", but it reaveals some green or red dots from one to 4 pixels in an hot spoted area. It heppens with low light long expositions and have accented effect with ISO higher to 200. The problem is completely solved if NR is turned ON. But I thought if you are not having the same, a bit amplified trouble.
Despite of it, Morgan tells an important issue! |
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12/08/2003 10:01:58 AM · #16 |
Originally posted by GoodEnd:
Ahaze, your links are broken! I can´t see your images.
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Weird- no one else is having that problem. I just checked the four links and all were working fine.
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12/08/2003 11:39:30 AM · #17 |
Originally posted by ahaze:
Originally posted by GoodEnd:
Ahaze, your links are broken! I can´t see your images.
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Weird- no one else is having that problem. I just checked the four links and all were working fine. |
I´ve tried again, without success. I cut the link and manually pasted in a new browser window and this not work too. I´m very curios about your images...
Message edited by author 2003-12-08 11:40:56. |
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12/16/2003 05:28:52 PM · #18 |
A new warning/concern with NEF files.
I recently did some shots in the mountains using some RAW NEF files (mostly fine jpegs). Had to redo my hard drive and all prefs got lost. Anyway...when I downloaded my pics from my camera, Image Capture started and dl'd them (this might happen with other non-Nikon software) it only dl a small pic of my RAW files, THEN ERASED THE CF CARD! No, RAW files, just the jpg.
I had to go back into Image Capture and turn off the delete files (for next time), and auto download.
The lesson...download all my pics from Mass Storage and not allow a program to do it (how I was doing it, until the hard drive mishap). Check your preferences on these! Now I am looking for a data recovery product, because I have some valuable pics of me and my dog spreading the ashes of my recenly deceased 13 year old lab. Gotta have em!
Live and learn!
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