Weird "artifact" in 70D photos.

[ckjohnson72]

Hello everyone,

Let me start by saying I'm new to the group. I'm not a pro photographer by any means, but I don't shoot in auto mode. I originally bought my 70D for astrophotography, but have used it for everything and love this camera.

I was shooting photos of my stepson's graduation yesterday, and noticed a weird light artifact across a few photos. When I got home, I noticed it was in a number of the photos. Not all, but in about 50% - 75% of the photos. I focused the camera on the wall, and shot a photo of just the plain brown wall and there is clearly a trapezoid shape of light in my photos. I switched out lenses, and the shape is still there. I changed out batteries, and it is still there. I even thought that maybe I had accidentally switched a setting somewhere, so I reset the camera to factory defaults and it is still there. 

I'm concerned that something is wrong with my sensor.

Any suggestions?

I will post the photos here in a few hours, I left the card at home. 

[RobertTheFat]

We'll have to see it; but from your description, it's more likely a broken or sticky shutter than the sensor.

[ckjohnson72]

[TTMartin]

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@ckjohnson72 wrote:

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Yep, shutter failure.

[TTMartin]

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@ckjohnson72 wrote:

I was shooting photos of my stepson's graduation yesterday, and noticed a weird light artifact across a few photos. When I got home, I noticed it was in a number of the photos. Not all, but in about 50% - 75% of the photos. I focused the camera on the wall, and shot a photo of just the plain brown wall and there is clearly a trapezoid shape of light in my photos. I switched out lenses, and the shape is still there. I changed out batteries, and it is still there. I even thought that maybe I had accidentally switched a setting somewhere, so I reset the camera to factory defaults and it is still there. 

I'm concerned that something is wrong with my sensor.

Any suggestions?

I will post the photos here in a few hours, I left the card at home. 

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Sounds like your shutter is starting to fail. As bad as this sounds it is generally a repair worth making. Prices I've seen quoted for replacing the shutter are just under $200.

[ckjohnson72]

Thanks for the quick reply guys. I'll get those photos up as soon as possible. It's a bright trapezoid in the upper left corner, about 1/8 of the photo tall, about 1/4 of the photo down. 

[diverhank]

I concur with others...most likely it's a pre-cursor to a shutter failure...

[ckjohnson72]

[ckjohnson72]

At first I thought it was just the strange lighting conditions at the graduation, having a dark reception with bright backgrounds on all sides, but it is coming up in every photo. It is very pronounced in the photo of just the brown wall (I will post that in a couple of hours).

Thanks again everyone for your help.

[RobertTheFat]

One of the shutter curtains has become misaligned, allowing extra light to fall on the triangle and causing it to be overexposed. Something must have broken or worn out. If you want to save the camera, the shutter will probably have to be replaced.