Severe banding on 5D

[Jayst84]

Hi all,

I bought my 5D new in November 2008 and have been more than happy with it, up until last night.

I took 24 frames last night, and about half of them exhibit this horrible and very pronounced band across the full length of the top edge of the frame. It seems to be on the darker shots that it is more evident.

I've done a bit of reading on the 'net today, and it seems this was a problem when the 5 first came out. Though most seem to report problems when using AI focus, I shot this on single shot. Did Canon never get around to fixing it? Is this something that doesn't come up often, so we're expected to just live with it, or work around it?

I've attached a 100% crop from the top right third of the frame. And the full frame, just to show the lighting conditions. Both are untouched RAW files, opened in ACR, and saved as maximum jpgs.

Crop:

Full frame:

Can anyone shed some light?

Cheers,

Jamie.

PS. To save you looking, here's the basic EXIF:

1/100
f11
ISO400
WB - Flash
AF - Single Shot
EF24-70 f2.8L USM @ 24 mm
580 EX II off camera, triggered by Cactus V2s

 

[onform]

Check your firmware version. As these problems arrise they usually fix it with a firmware update then all subsequent models are released with this modification. My version has ver: 1.1.1

I was going to say you have the shutter speed too high as this is a classic symptom but it shows 1/100 which should be fine. Does it do it at 1/160??

Looking at the top photo I cant see banding in it?? but that may be my monitor. have you tried viewing the photo's on another screen??

 

[Jayst84]

Thanks for the reply. My firmware is 1.1.1. The banding is still apparent to me in the crop here, though not as obvious as it is in the original file. It's also very noticeable on the camera LCD now that I look at it. So it's definitely there.

Doubly annoying as last night's shoot and one I have scheduled for tomorrow, are for a pretty serious competition I was hoping to enter.. the deadline for which is this weekend. Grrr.

I'll try to replicate the problem tonight and narrow down what it is that's causing it.

 

[konastab01]

Its a full frame camera isnt it?
If so I suffered this on my d3 by using it in full frame mode shooting with a DX lens.
Maybe that.?

 

[Jayst84]

It is full frame, but the lens is designed for it. Canon released a list of 6 lenses back in 2006, with which the problem was supposed to be worse. The 24-70 wasn't one of them.

I'm just surprised that if it's the same problem that's been known since the camera was released; that Canon haven't released a fix.

 

[Canon Bob]

Just a long shot but was there any stray light from a flourescant source leaking into the scene?

Bob

 

[Jayst84]

Just a long shot but was there any stray light from a flourescant source leaking into the scene?

Bob

I don't think so. Possibly some tungsten or sodium from the window but I'm pretty sure there's nothing fluro around.

My latest theory is RF interference from my cheapo flash triggers. Though I'm clutching at straws a bit.

 

[Jayst84]

Looks as if my straw-clutching was well founded.

Experiments tonight are all clean as a whistle, except when using the flash trigger when every shot shows the same banding pattern at the top of frame. Looks like those Skyports could be on their way sooner than I thought.

Thanks for the suggestions everyone.