Grey bands on RAW pics from 20D

[bruce neufeld]

Today I noticed a rather disconcerting problem with some sunset shots

I took in RAW mode with my new 20D. There appear to be grey bands

that follow what appear to be certain color/luminance values in the

photos. I used EOSViewerUtilty 1.1 to convert the photos, both to

JPEG and to 16 bit TIFF, same results. I was using ISO 1600 at the

time. I did not notice anything similar shooting in RAW mode under

brighter conditions and lower ISO's. Has anyone else seen anything

like this?<div></div>

[bruce neufeld]

This is the entire pic from above. Even at 420 pixels across, the grey banding is visible.<div></div>

[damian_tinsley]

Bruce this has been the subject of a couple of other postings as well. I have the same issue with my 20D. The banding appear to be a result of BOTH taking the photo at fairly high ISO rating i.e. 1600 or 3200 and the Canon EOS viewer utility that comes with the camera. It is a software issue rather than a problem with your nice new shiny 20D. Try the following:

 

1) Examine the photos using Digital Photo Professional, also bundled with the camera.

 

2) Save from DPP or transfer to Photoshop and work there (I haven't had any problems saving to JPEG from photoshop)

 

3) Adjust the exposure compensation in the EOS viewer utility as little as + or - 0.1 of a stop - you should find the banding goes away.

 

FWIW, shooting in RAW and working with the image in EOS viewer seems to give exactly the same problem, although some people have reported the issue as being the other way around i.e. images fine if viewed in EOSV and banded in DPP. As I said, mine were banded in EOSV and fine in DPP.

 

The one aspect I can't comment on is whether this is an inherent issue with JPEG files at high ISO in the camera itself as I haven't been shooting JPEG (luxury of a 2GB card!)

 

Hope this helps

[bruce neufeld]

Damian, your suggestions were bang on. I'd still like to know why Canon's software is so buggy.