I recently purchased a 5D mark IV that seemed to add a magenta cast to everything I shot. I normally shoot raw and figured it might be an Adobe issue with Lightroom, but I also tried Luminar and Capture One and had the same issue with them... everything was too magenta... both highlights and shadows. I tried different lenses, and tried shooting the same scene at the same exposure with different cameras and everything looked normal... except with the mark IV.
It turns out there is a small number of 5d mark IV's that have some sort of a sensor or board issue that causes them to have a strong magenta cast.
It happens under most lighting situations, but is especially noticeable when shooting under studio lights where normally you have a lot of control over the light color and quality.
I purchased the camera just a couple of weeks ago so the local dealer I purchased it from happily swapped it for another 5D mk IV that was not exhibiting the magenta issue and now everything is working fine.
Fortunately I found a couple of other examples online of folks that have had this same problem, because at first I thought I was going crazy...
So FYI, if it seems like the color is off on your 5D mark IV and it is too magenta, it most likely is a flawed camera and you should get it replaced or repaired by Canon.
Uncorrected RAW image converted to JPG showing the strong magenta cast out of the camera
It was pretty jarring when I saw it. It took me a while to even think it could be the camera. I've seen a color shift from a studio light that was on the verge of burning up the flashbulb, so that was my first thought is that I had a light that was about to die. I swapped out the lights and the problem persisted, I tried switching lenses and still magenta, I then switched to a 1Dx Mk II and the color was suddenly perfect. After a few more tests it was clear it was the camera. I tried resetting everything and a custom white balance but it continued to have a magenta cast no matter what.
Fortunately when I Googled "5D mark IV magenta" I came up with a couple hits and examples of exactly what I was struggling with.
I have never seen anything like this out of a camera, either.
I recall a camera of yesteryear, the EOS 40D (c. 2008) also had a strong magenta cast. I recall struggling with making a profile in Apple Aperture to offset it.
Im having the same problem, I just bouth the 5d mark iv and it has that magenta cast out of the camera, using auto white balance, what did you do to fix it?
I had it replaced by the store I purchased it from after talking with Canon. Canon will repair it under warranty, but I had bought the camera that same day. I showed the store what it was doing and they swapped it out straight away.
Good to hear. Definitely an odd issue that would likely have most people scratching their heads
fgphoto wrote:
I had it replaced by the store I purchased it from after talking with Canon. Canon will repair it under warranty, but I had bought the camera that same day. I showed the store what it was doing and they swapped it out straight away.
Just out of curiosity, what happens when you white balance in your raw processor on the white background in that lens shot? Does that not fix it? And are you sure it's not an AWB problem or something related to that. I know quite a few folks with this camera, myself included and have never seen this. Does not mean it's not an issue, but still wondering.
Gochugogi wrote:
I recall a camera of yesteryear, the EOS 40D (c. 2008) also had a strong magenta cast. I recall struggling with making a profile in Apple Aperture to offset it.
I thought the 40D's magenta color cast was just a problem with the LCD and not baked into the files....?
It has now been more than a year, so I don't remember the specifics, but ultimately, the files coming out of the camera (jpg and raw) had a magenta cast. I am fully color managed and the magenta existed even if you tried to factor it out with a custom white balance... the end result was a magenta image on the computer. Replacing the faulty body solved the problem.
