topic Re: Canon 5D Mark 3 wide vertical bands in EOS DSLR & Mirrorless Cameras

Canon 5D Mark 3 wide vertical bands

zfisher — Sat, 01 Apr 2017 22:53:15 GMT

Couldn't find an answer to this question anywhere else, so here's my problem: the used Canon 5D Mark 3 I bought from eBay has wide, faint, but noticeable vertical bands when taking pictures of solid colors. I have tried this on two lenses at different aperture/shutter speed combinations and it's pretty consistent. All test images were taken at 100 or 200 ISO.

Internet searches I've tried indicate vertical banding on 5DMk3 at low ISO, but seem to be much narrower (like pixel-width) bands than I'm experiencing. Is this just the known vertical banding issue or is there something else at work with my camera?

The vertical bands are visible in both the RAWs and JPGs.

Thanks for the help.

Re: Canon 5D Mark 3 wide vertical bands

ebiggs1 — Sun, 02 Apr 2017 15:21:12 GMT

I don't notice the vertical bands but the vignetting is pretty bad. Do you post edit?

Re: Canon 5D Mark 3 wide vertical bands

zfisher — Sun, 02 Apr 2017 15:23:40 GMT

No edits, this is SOOC jpg.

You don't notice the bands at all?

Re: Canon 5D Mark 3 wide vertical bands

ebiggs1 — Sun, 02 Apr 2017 15:27:48 GMT

I don't but possibly the vignetting is hiding them on my monitor. Vignetting is a simple problem to fix in LR or PS.

Re: Canon 5D Mark 3 wide vertical bands

Peter — Sun, 02 Apr 2017 16:42:59 GMT

I don't see any banding in that picture. Can you upload a raw file instead somewhere?

Re: Canon 5D Mark 3 wide vertical bands

TCampbell — Sun, 02 Apr 2017 17:14:04 GMT

Likewise... I do not see any banding either. I've tried looking at this closely but the image is resized for the web. Possibly the reduced size is hiding the issue?

The OP did mention all test images were shot at either ISO 100 or 200, but my EXIF viewer reports this image was shot at ISO 640. EXIF also reports this was shot on full automatic exposure.

I do see vignetting, but that's normal when shooting at low-ish focal ratios (this appears to have been shot at f/4). Vignetting would diminish as f-stop is increased. (EXIF reports lens was an EF 70-200mm f/4L IS USM.)

Re: Canon 5D Mark 3 wide vertical bands

zfisher — Sun, 02 Apr 2017 17:25:24 GMT

I uploaded the raw file to dropbox, hopefully this link will work?

https://www.dropbox.com/s/pm6ygh59ld16wtv/463B9943.CR2?dl=0

TCampbell you're right, this photo is at ISO 640. When I first noticed this effect and was testing it with different lenses I set a low ISO to try to eliminate as much sensor noise as possible but the results seem pretty consistent regardless of ISO. Sorry for the confusion.

Thanks everyone for looking and trying to help me out! If this ends up being an issue with Lightroom or my monitor I'll be pretty embarassed.

Re: Canon 5D Mark 3 wide vertical bands

zfisher — Sun, 02 Apr 2017 17:30:11 GMT

I'M AN IDIOT EVERYONE.

It's my monitor. For some reason when I open it in Lightroom the bands are there but not when I'm viewing the file in dropbox.

I did the super-scientific test of un-maximizing the lightroom window and dragged lightroom back and forth and the bands didn't move! So it can't be part of the picture data. I guess it's time to upgrade monitors? Or switch to Capture One Pro?

Thanks everyone for taking a look and giving me feedback, sorry it ended up being something stupid.

Re: Canon 5D Mark 3 wide vertical bands

TCampbell — Sun, 02 Apr 2017 18:40:38 GMT

Well the good news is that the monitor isn't is almost certainly not as expensive as the camera. So if something has to be broken, I'd rather it be the monitor. 😉

Re: Canon 5D Mark 3 wide vertical bands

RobertTheFat — Sun, 02 Apr 2017 19:09:05 GMT

@zfisher wrote:
I'M AN IDIOT EVERYONE.

It's my monitor. For some reason when I open it in Lightroom the bands are there but not when I'm viewing the file in dropbox.
I did the super-scientific test of un-maximizing the lightroom window and dragged lightroom back and forth and the bands didn't move! So it can't be part of the picture data. I guess it's time to upgrade monitors? Or switch to Capture One Pro?
Thanks everyone for taking a look and giving me feedback, sorry it ended up being something stupid.

Before you give up on the monitor, try experimenting with different refresh rates. Funny things can sometimes happen if the refresh rate is a resonance frequency of the line current. (I probably didn't say that right; I'm not an electrical engineer. But try it anyway; it can't hurt.)