This is a serious issue and it's effecting about 20% of my night exposures... Just got this camera too... Sucks bad...

I had the same problem .not as severe as that though.
if u use photoshop raw converter..turn the sharpining all the way down. color and liminance noice reduction to 100% . adust the contrast slider all the way to the left. This fixd the problem for me. After the raw file is converted you can use levels and curves then to make any adjustments

Hi N,

This was converted using DPP I did bump contrast slightly to show the banding more. I don't have Photoshop CS yet.

This is just a pisser. I can't believe this went unnoticed by Canon (or if it didn't go unnoticed I'd be even more pissed).

I believe it could be an electrical interference problem, but it's hard to speculate too much.

I guess I'm going to have to bracket a lot on my longer exposures...

Try the eos viewer to convert the same raw file if u still have it.
My pics coverted in dpp are so noisy..i stopped using it. can you see that banding in lcd screen after u took the shot?
do have the custom function set to on or off for noise reduction for long exposures?

Same thing in FVU. I agree about noise in DPP, it's pretty bad...

I didn't use noise reduction on that particular shot, but I tested it on 3 others last night...

Hi John, That's very disturbing. Were you using a flash (why would you with night sky exposures, I know, but I'm trying to get an idea of the nature of the problem since I shoot long exposure aurora images and am considering an upgrade to my 10D). Personally, I'd send this camera back, either to the retailer or to Canono for repair or replacement.

Sorry to see your banding troubles!

Cheers!

What kind of lens and did it have a filter on it?

Hi Joe,

The problem can be created easily with the onboard flash..! I obviously don't use onboard flash on night exposures like this one though...

I was using a Sigma 15-30 EX lens here, with no filter.

jperkinson wrote:
Hi Joe,

The problem can be created easily with the onboard flash..! I obviously don't use onboard flash on night exposures like this one though...

I was using a Sigma 15-30 EX lens here, with no filter.

What ISO?

i want to duplicate the shot...i have 17-40 mm ...what where your settings..for the shot ...I am assuming that is the out of focus?

moon..sorry

moon..sorry

ISO 400

Basically if you want to reproduce it easily, go into a room with contrasty light (shadows are good). Use your on board flash at higher ISOs (400 and up).

Why it's doing this *without* onboard flash is beyond me...

Nchakos wrote:
i want to duplicate the shot...i have 17-40 mm ...what where your settings..for the shot ...I am assuming that is the out of focus?


I'd be interested in this too

jperkinson wrote:
Why it's doing this *without* onboard flash is beyond me...

Fancy running into you here John ....

I might have to get out with 20D's once I get some time and do some nite shots to see if I get the banding as well.

I took 32 indoor shots aperture priority ,fixed 250, all pics came out fine , zero banding ..just color noise in the shadows . I think u should return your copy.

What's the exif data for that shot? It seems to have severe overexposure along with some serious flare.

In fact, the banding almost resembles kind of a "linear flare" on the sensor or microlens filter that might occur under the same extreme conditions that would cause heavy flare on a lens.

This topic has been discussed many times before on this forum but with no solution or remedy for those who it effects. Many believe that it is a problem with the camera design, not something that Canon will fix under warranty.

Everyone who has fired the onboard flash on long exposures so far has gotten severe banding even at low iso. Of course it is very rare that anyone would need to do this so this is a non-issue for most.

However, many people, including myself, have noticed banding at iso 800-3200 quite frequently without firing the flash. Whether this is caused by the focusing motor in some lenses, or some other interference is not really known, but I get banding in about 30% of my iso 1600 if there are dark shadows.

This banding has nothing to do with the quality of the file or whether the picture is taken in RAW or JPEG. Those who have spoke to Canon so far have not gotten an expectable explanation for the cause, and I have not heard of anyone who sent the camera back for warranty with success.

All of us who have this problem would love to have a solution surface, but so far we are still waiting...

Justin, I've seen those threads recently however I have one question I'm curious about. In the 30% of pictures that do show banding, does NeatImage or anything else help clean it up? I've heard some people say yes and some say no. just curious as to your take on that.

Send it back to Canon. Clearly a defective body.

Justin, I've seen those threads recently however I have one question I'm curious about. In the 30% of pictures that do show banding, does NeatImage or anything else help clean it up? I've heard some people say yes and some say no. just curious as to your take on that.

Nope, neat image does not clean up the image. Someone over at dpreview wrote an action for photoshop that recognizes the banding and it seems to work fairly well, but it's a hassle to use.

Send it back to Canon. Clearly a defective body.

And as far as everyone sending their cameras back to Canon, I don't really see the point if there is no fix. Again, everyone who has fired the internal flash on a long exposure has gotten very bad banding in dark areas. I believe this is the only consistent way to check for banding and if there were people who did this test and did not see any banding than I would say that we all have defective cameras. However, most think it is a design flaw with the camera and not a defect.

EJ Peiker had the same problem with a brand new 1Ds-II. He returned it and the next one was just fine. I'd sure try sending it to Canon rather than just giving up. Be sure to send a sample image with the camera.

I was so set on buying the 20D this december and this is the only thing that has given me pause. I don't plan to take many long exposure shots, but as others have noted the banding can also occur on other types of shots (including high ISO ones). I guess I'm kind of in a holding pattern right now hoping that something can be done about it. Looks like a hardware/design issue though so I'm not sure what I will do. . . . .

jdee wrote:
However, many people, including myself, have noticed banding at iso 800-3200 quite frequently without firing the flash. Whether this is caused by the focusing motor in some lenses, or some other interference is not really known, but I get banding in about 30% of my iso 1600 if there are dark shadows.

This banding has nothing to do with the quality of the file or whether the picture is taken in RAW or JPEG. Those who have spoke to Canon so far have not gotten an expectable explanation for the cause, and I have not heard of anyone who sent the camera back for warranty with success.

All of us who have this problem would love to have a solution surface, but so far we are still waiting...

Count me as one of those affected, too. My issues are exactly as Justin describes them. Maybe 25-35% of my ISO 3200 shots are affected, regardless if it's RAW or JPG (although admittedly I haven't shot much RAW in the past couple weeks). It has nothing to do with the internal flash. Here's an example... this is the upper left corner, cropped, then downsized: