BetterPhoto Q&A
Category: New Answers

Jagadeesh Andrew Owens

Horizontal Banding Across Pics

Can anyone tell me why these bands appear on about one out of every 100 photos? Have a Nikon D70, and these bands appear with which ever mem card I use, flash/no flash, either lens I have, and mostly when shooting raw. Please help!

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May 13, 2006

BetterPhoto Member

I'd have my sensors checked. It looks like scanning lines to me.

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May 13, 2006

Sharon Day

I would email Nikon and ask them. Let us know what they say.

http://www.nikonusa.com/template.php?goingto=cu_contact1&cmd=init

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May 13, 2006

Andrew Laverghetta

it looks like digital noise. Check what ISO you're shooting on. I say this because when I used a high ISO on a Nikon D1 it had similar noise.

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May 13, 2006

Jagadeesh Andrew Owens

Guys - I think I figured it out. In most (if not all) cases, I was using an extremely small aperture and fast shutter speed, and trying to compensate with flash, resulting in what looked like a very high ISO or pushed film. Does this sound plausible to you??

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May 17, 2006

Andrew Laverghetta

Did you have to lighten the photo but a lot? If for some reason the flash underexposed a lot then it could be from having to lighten it. Though, I don't think using a small aperture and fast shutter speed (as long as it's within what the nikon flash can sync at. I know on canon flashes you can make it sync at any speed. It must have synced though because there isn't a big black section covering most if not all of the photo. Seems like you were close enough to where the flash could provide enough like for such a small EV (exposure value) setting.

This is what studio photographers do anyway, they usually have a pretty quick shutter speed and a pretty small aperture around f8, f11, or f16 and they light it entirely with flash. What were the settings for this though? shutter speed, aperture, and ISO? is this exactly what the photo looked like when you took it out of the camera or did you have to lighten it up a bit?

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May 17, 2006

Jagadeesh Andrew Owens

This is exactly what it looked like. And I mean SMALL aperture! I'd left the camera on it's setting that I used outside shooting bugs, so the shutter speed was 1/500 and the aperture was f/40.

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May 17, 2006

Andrew Laverghetta

f/40?? I didn't know there were any 35mm format lenses that could go down to that. f32 is the smallest I've seen on any lens, including extreme telephoto. But still, as long as enough light got to the subject, that won't matter. Still, what was teh ISO?

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May 17, 2006

Jagadeesh Andrew Owens

200

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May 17, 2006

Jagadeesh Andrew Owens

That's what my EXIF data says. Maybe it's screwed up.

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May 17, 2006

Jagadeesh Andrew Owens

That's what my EXIF data says. Maybe it's screwed up.

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May 17, 2006

Jagadeesh Andrew Owens

Hey guys! I wanted to update you on what happened with the camera. I've heard horror stories about wolf camera and sending your camera off with them (even when you purchased the year replacement warranty, as I did) but I stopped in on a fluke and asked them about the banding problem. The salesperson said if I had every scrap of everything that came with the camera, she would exchange it for me! She just said it sounded like a defect, and since I'd only had the camera two months, it'd be no problem. I'm so happy! Just FYI...

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May 26, 2006

Slim Brady

it can happen with any camera and it has to do with the flash not communicating in time (sync) with the camera (delay).

The other problem is that its not a canon :)

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May 26, 2006

Jagadeesh Andrew Owens

Ha ha! I couldn't honestly say which one's best, as I've only ever had Nikons (film and digital). I've never even picked up a Canon digital. I tried a Canon 35 mm in the store, and hated the way it fit my hand....

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May 26, 2006

Bob Chance

Bravo Brady:

You got it in before me. LOL!!

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May 26, 2006

Robyn Gwilt

LOL Just seen the thread, and ditto on the Canon - as we say down south - Sorry for yoooouuuu! Canonista !!!

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May 26, 2006

Justin G.

#1. The dog is in focus, the TV is blurred and it's only a couple feet away so I don't know where f/40 came from.

#2. The ISO and graininess have absolutely nothing to do with the notorious Nikon banding. Yeah it's EXTREMELY grainy but you can see the banding clear as day.

Return the camera or send it off to get the sensor fixed/replaced.

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May 26, 2006

Bob Chance

The banding is obviousely an electronic, or should I say, digital defect.
No way an incorrect aperature or shutter speed do anything more than give you an inproperly exposed picture, either too light or too dark.
And as Andrew said, flash sync wouldn't give you multiple banding in the picture, it would however give you one big band, either horizontally or vertically, depending on which direction your shutter travels, and that band would usually be solid black. Out of sync flash is when the flash fires at too high of a shutter speed, so what happens is the second curtain of the shutter is already closing when the flash fires, resulting in part of your film or sensor being covered by the curtain and not being exposed.
At slow shutter speeds, usually from 1/60 down, the second shutter curtain doesn't begin to close until the first one is completely open. For vertical shutters, the sync speed was 1/125 because there was a shorter distance the curtains had to travel.
At faster shutter speeds, the second curtain begins to close before the first is completely open. And the faster the shutter speed, the sooner the second curtain closes behind the first resulting in just a narrow slit between the two as they traverse in front of the film plane to make the exposure.
Thank you for attending flash 101.

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May 27, 2006

anonymous A.

This digital imaging artifact is known as banding and can, and only shows up in specific and unusual conditions, involving extreme exposure and/or exposure compensation settings and high contrast scenes.

Banding like this is pretty rare. Nikon has reported it in their new D200s and will replace faulty cameras, but I don't know if the offer applies to D70s.

None of this has anything to do with flash, ISO, or the f stop. Great that the dealer has agreed to take it back!

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May 27, 2006

Slim Brady

this happens with a very underexposed image, more like noise. The photo itself was probably in a dark room with a flash and then PS trys to fix it which causes the noisy look. Your camera goofed, it happens. If its a nikon take it back. Of coarse they'll take it back for a trade, they've got tons of'em lying around.

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May 27, 2006

Jagadeesh Andrew Owens

Thanks all for your help! I didn't really mean to get the ball rolling on this one again, as I've already had the camera replaced, and just wanted to let you know and thank you for your input! But please, go see me thread "A Call To Arms, Animal Lovers" and think about it....

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May 27, 2006

Slim Brady

its not the truck, its the driver

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May 27, 2006

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