EOS 5D Mark IV Pixelated/Blank Images in Burst Mode

[FSchleyhahn]

I have a Canon 5D Mark IV and am noticing "weird" images as shown in the attachment when shooting in burst mode.  Is this a sign of a bad memory card?  I'm getting ready to go on a trip and want to ensure I don't have any problems so I'm hoping someone could help me identify what this may be a symptom of.  Thanks in advance for your assistance.

[deebatman316]

Do the pictures look like this on the LCD screen on the camera too. Are you using both card slots or 1 card slot only.

[FSchleyhahn]

I'm not for sure--after importing them into LR, I deleted them from the memory card.  However, I don't think they did look like that on the LCD screen only because I am always reviewing my pictures on the camera and those definitely would have stood out.

[p4pictures]

I have seen similar issues occur where Lightroom has had some issue reading images - they look similar to what you showed - but I could read them without error using the Canon DPP software. In my case I simply made a good 16-bit TIFF in DPP and imported that in to Lightroom. 

[FSchleyhahn]

I'm only using 1 slot with a 64gb CompactFlash memory card.

[deebatman316]

What brand of CF card are you using. Before you start changing memory cards. Put the camera in live view and see what the live view image displays. Live view shows exactly what the image sensor sees. If it looks normal then the memory card is the problem. If it still appears corrupted the image sensor is bad. The cost of the image sensor is worth more than the camera itself. So looking into camera replacement would be best.

[Waddizzle]

This type of image corruption is consistent with an issue with your memory card.  It is also a symptom of a bad or failing image sensor.

[FSchleyhahn]

So, do you think replacing the memory card will be the solution?  Or, if there is a bad or failing image sensor, that would need to be repaired by Canon, right?  Replacing the memory card won't fix that, correct?

[deebatman316]

If the image sensor is bad you don't fix it. You replace the entire image sensor. The image sensor is worth more than the camera. If the image sensor is actually bad it's best to look into a new camera at this point. But I would try new memory cards first to see if the problem goes away. Another way to see if the image sensor is bad is to put the camera in live view. If everything looks normal. Then your memory card(s) are the source of the problem. Not the image sensor itself.

[FSchleyhahn]

Thanks a lot for your help.  In Live View, everything looks fine.  However, I'm a member of Canon Professional Services so I am sending it in tomorrow to have them look at it and get their opinion on whether or not they think the sensor is going out on it.  I'm on the fence right now anyway on replacing it with the 5D R5, but was wanting to hold off until the MII is released later this year.  I am hoping it is just the memory card (I am currently using a 64gb Transcend CompactFlash (160mb/s) and will just replace it if Canon doesn't think the sensor is going out on it.  My guess is that out of the 5,000 images I recently took on my trip, only these 6 were like this, so it's probably the memory card.  But I'll feel a lot better knowing Canon looked it over before I go on my next trip.  Thanks again for your help.