This is the first time I've seen this, and was curious if anyone else has had a similar experience. I've had my 20D since 2004 and its got about 12,000 shutter clicks on it. The top of the image is underexposed, and strangely colored. Though the color could just be due to underexposure I guess. I'm not sure what could have caused this, or if its even anything I should worry about. I'm just an amateur, but I'd still rather not be losing pictures. Luckily this wasn't anything special, just trying to get the exposure set right.
In addition to a possible shutter assembly failure, I'd also suspect the sensor and/or a failure in writing to the card. Some of the shutter failure pics I've seen there was more of a softer transition between the normally exposed portion and the dark area, in your example there is a very hard transition. Can you reproduce the problem? If so, try a different card before shipping to Canon.
edit - 12K is not a lot actuations, but a shutter assembly can fail at any time.
doesn't look like a shutter problem, as wes said, looks like either sensor or data issue. how cold is it there? may have been a contributing factor.
i'm not sure about cmos sensors, but ive seen ccd sensors do similar things, but they generally have a bit of a magenta colour to it, where as that is more red. sometimes it will cover the whole frame, other times just small portions such as in your example.
Thanks for the comments guys. Here are some answers to your questions:
Wes, no, I can't reproduce the problem. This was on a trip this past weekend, and I took 20 pictures after this one with no problems. I haven't actually tried taking any more pictures since then.
rancho_relaxo, the temperature was below freezing. This was on a backcountry ski trip. The temperature was 21 degrees when I looked during the day. This was taken after sunset so the outside temp was most likely lower than that. I had just gone into our snow cave with the camera which had been outside. The temp in the snow cave was around 35 degrees, and the camera was somewhat wet from snow that had melted on it and moisture in the cave.
I thought the shutter ran side to side, not up and down. Am I wrong? I guess I don't really have anything to base my assumption on, I just assumed that was the way it worked.
I have that same problem... or sometimes the pics were half-black on the frame.
I was thinking it's the shutter, and card... well it came out it's my computer.... the 20D for some reason [ on my computer ] it doesn't want to share USB connection with other devices like external drives.
I used another workstation... went out fine. Or try another reader then transfer the files...
or try viewing the picture on your 20D LCD... if u see the same problem-- then it could be the shutter assy..
I already deleted the images from the CF card, so I can't re-transfer them to a different computer or use a different reader. I did not format the card, so I suppose I could use recovery software and see if I can get that image off again. But I don't have any recovery software...
I put the image back on the CF card, and viewed it on my 20D. Looks the same as it does on the computer.
I ran Error Checking on the card. It ran, then said "Disk check complete" and nothing else. I assume if it doesn't give me any bad news, all is good?
The CF card is pretty old (bought it when I got the camera in 04), and is the one I use the most. Despite all my cards being Sandisk Ultra II, this one is faster at transferring to the computer than the others, so its always the first one in the camera, and frequently the only one I use on a day of shooting.
So I think I agree with the majority here in saying it doesn't look like the shutter due to a hard transition across a single row if pixels. So that pretty much leaves the card and/or the sensor. At this point is it worth sending the camera in to Canon, or just stop using that card and see if it happens again? I think I'm inclined to stop using that card and see what happens.
I noticed in the EXIF data that you were in Ae mode with a 1 second exposure in second curtain flash. Is it possible that things got out of sync and you just caught the 2nd shutter closing?
Just a thought,
Gil
Gil_W wrote:
I noticed in the EXIF data that you were in Ae mode with a 1 second exposure in second curtain flash. Is it possible that things got out of sync and you just caught the 2nd shutter closing?
Just a thought,
Gil
I suppose that's possible. I don't use the flash all that much, and had set it to second curtain flash years ago and left it that way. So it never occurred to me. But, if it was a miss timed flash/shutter closing, would it have the same look as a shutter failing? The reason I ask is that the majority who have responded don't think it was a shutter issue. Just asking...
Gil_W wrote:
I noticed in the EXIF data that you were in Ae mode with a 1 second exposure in second curtain flash. Is it possible that things got out of sync and you just caught the 2nd shutter closing?
Just a thought,
Gil
That's probably very likely- it sort of looks like the blades not in sync with the flash
