ubejammin Posted June 2, 2005 Share Posted June 2, 2005 Ok...I'm hoping some of the digital guru's on this site can help me with the strangest problem I am encountering on a senior portrait. I took several photos of this senior and printed about 30 proofs. On about 1/2 of them I can see a checker-board effect throughout the entire picture. I went back to my CF card and pulled up the original pictures there and I either can't see them or they are very faint. However, as I click on the picture in Photoshop (Elements), at certain resolutions I can see the check-board really well. The really bad part is that it is showing up on the prints...but only some of them. The 3 1/2 x 5's and 4x6's are terrible, but the 5x7's and the wallets are fine. I have already verified with the lab that the checker-board is on the files that I sent them. I shot these pics at high-res jpeg with a D70. Has anyone ever seen this before? Is there ANYTHING I can do to get rid of this? I will try to post an example; however, because it is showing up at different resolutions, I don't know if you will be able to see them or not. The funny thing is I had a family portrait session the same day just before this session. Same equipment, same lighting set-up, everything - and their pictures are fine. The only thing different is the CF card that I used. I appreciate any help. Thanks!!<div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
merlin Posted June 2, 2005 Share Posted June 2, 2005 Looks like a sensor malfunction. Assuming it's still under warranty, I would send it it and have them fix it. It will probably take a long time. Take some more photographs and double check that it's still doing it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubejammin Posted June 2, 2005 Author Share Posted June 2, 2005 Alright....Would the same sensor malfunction cause the camera to pick up colors that aren't there? Here's an example of another photo I took where the two people are wearing off-white shirts with blue jeans. If you look at the folds in the shirts, you can see a blue cast. I actually didn't notice this until the couple saw it on their proofs!! The strange thing is that when the jeans were in the picture the blue cast was there, but when I did a head and shoulders only shot the blue cast didn't show. Let me know what you think of this.... Also, just something quirky that I don;t know if it applies or not...but the checkerboard does not show on the picture until I view it at 66.7% in photoshop. At every other resolution the pictures look fine, but once I get to 66.7% I get a checkerboard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
picturesque Posted June 2, 2005 Share Posted June 2, 2005 Suggest you e-mail Jean-Baptiste Queru (a fellow photo.netter), who seemed to have figured out the cause of the problem someone else had recently, and who obviously knows a lot about the technical end of digital cameras and sensors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James G. Dainis Posted June 3, 2005 Share Posted June 3, 2005 I've seen Jean-baptiste a few times on this forum, but I think he mostly hangs out at the Canon EOS and Digital Cameras forums. If one has a problem with a digital camera, that would seem to be the forum on which to ask. James G. Dainis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ken dennis Posted June 3, 2005 Share Posted June 3, 2005 It looks to me like a coruption, of the information being sent from the sensor, through the board, and being imprinted in the card! Just about like on your computer, when you have a file with corupted info, things are not put in the right order so it will look jumbled! Your problem might be a degradation of the software instaled in the camera, and its not sending the right color code and other info to the card! Have you recently changed any of your equipment you use, I/E flash unit, ETC? A jolt to the system, by a non compatable flash, could in efect, degrade the software, in the same way, dirty electricity has on a desktop! Ken. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ken dennis Posted June 3, 2005 Share Posted June 3, 2005 Oh! One other thing I forgot to mention! You never want to leave your camera pluged into a wall outlet, durring an electrical storm, for the same reason as any computer that does'nt have a very good surge protector! Ken. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fotografz Posted June 3, 2005 Share Posted June 3, 2005 Shoot some shots with the suspected CF card and see if it does it again. Then shoot the same scene with a couple of different cards. If they all do it, then you have eliminated the CF card as the culprit. BUT, if it only happens with that one card, there's your most likely answer ... send the card in for replacement. The blue cast could be a byproduct of the other problem, or just a function of color balance with flash providing cooler shadow areas compared to the ambient lighting. Artifacts and jagged lines will show up on images in PS when the enlargement size is a fraction. Always work on an image set to a whole number, and inspect images with the number set to 100% for the most accurate view. As far as fixing the existing checkerboard effect try this technique we use at the ad agency to diminish halftone "checkerboard" when reproducing printed materials: Blow up the image to a huge file in steps until it is 300% larger than the original. So if you have a 10" wide file @ 300 dpi, take it up to 150% then to 300% so it's 30" wide. Then apply a slight blur. Then reduce it back down to printing size. That usually diminishes the effect to acceptable levels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul_sokal___dallas__tx Posted June 3, 2005 Share Posted June 3, 2005 Does the checkerboard effect show up if you view the image in another program other than PSE? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
think27 Posted June 3, 2005 Share Posted June 3, 2005 Reminder - Please read the info on submitting photos to this forum before inserting a photograph. Less then 500 pixels wide AND you need a CAPTION to make sure the image shows up in line and not as a link. Also - no multiple image posts.. One only and the remaining images can be uploaded to a folder in your portfolio and you can provide a link for people to go to. Please. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
picturesque Posted June 3, 2005 Share Posted June 3, 2005 Andrea, please share any findings you may have about this problem. I would like to know why this happened. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubejammin Posted June 3, 2005 Author Share Posted June 3, 2005 Well, so far I have stumped the pro's. I brought the photos, my CF cards and my CD into the pro lab where I bought the camera and showed them the pics. The one thing they can agree on is that it is definitely the camera - not the CF card(s). There is a good chance it is the sensor, but this is still unconfirmed. Apparently I have missed two upgrades to the camera via Nikon's website. The pro lab kindly downloaded the upgrades to two of my CF cards and I need to go home and install them. Then I get to run a battery of tests this weekend taking numerous shots. If the camera program upgrades don't take care of the issue and the grids are still there, my camera gets to take a trip to Nikon. I really have to thank Marc Williams for your solution for the prints. The pro lab followed your instructions on Photoshop CS and ran some sample prints which looked much better. They will be satisfactory to the client. Because I am currently working on such an old version of PSE, I didn't want to try this temporary fix at home. And - this reinforced my need to get PSCS, so I purchased PSCS2 this afternoon. Now I get to learn that beast!! Thank you everyone! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
picturesque Posted June 3, 2005 Share Posted June 3, 2005 This is even scarier now that there is another sensor related (it seems) problem to worry about. Andrea, do you recall whether the camera received any electrical shocks as Ken suggested? Non-compatible flash or a drop or anything like that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
todd frederick Posted June 3, 2005 Share Posted June 3, 2005 Humm...Back to film anyone? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubejammin Posted June 3, 2005 Author Share Posted June 3, 2005 I can guarantee you I have taken many precautions with this camera. No electrical surges, no unauthorized attachments, no major bumps or crashes, etc. I am not a full time shooter and only use this camera about once a month and it is just over a year old. When not in use the camera is tucked away inside a Lowepro camera case. When in use, I use an SB800 for a flash and the Nikon SC-29 cord to connect the flash unit to the camera when on the bracket. I honestly cannot tell you what would have caused this. Neither can the people at the lab! I went back to the lab this afternoon to pick up the reprints they did for me and they were still researching the problem! And Todd - yes - thank goodness for film! I actually use a film camera as my back-up/second camera. The only reason I don't use it as my primary camera is the versatility of the digital files and the cost of developing. Although after today I think I'll be supporting that local pro lab more frequently..... They saved my as* with my client. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brian_guy2 Posted June 4, 2005 Share Posted June 4, 2005 I had a similar set of problems when using studio strobes and had the camera set to a shutter speed faster than 1/500. The whole image had a checker-board type of effect and there was a "halo" around certain things like eye glass frames (I think pretty much anywhere where there was a shadow). The halo was yellowish I believe. I solved the problem by setting the shutter speed at or below 1/500. This does not seem as if it is likely to be your problem as you are using the SB-800. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubejammin Posted June 4, 2005 Author Share Posted June 4, 2005 Brian - That is VERY interesting. All of the shots where I'm having the issues are with my studio strobes and NOT my SB800. All of the shots with my SB800 are fine from what I can tell - but they are usually outdoors and have a wider range of color tones than studio shots. I've also noticed that the problem seems to be limited to 2 of my backdrops and they are both tan/light grey. My black, white, blue and grey toned backdrops seem to be fine. I'll definitely try your suggestion when doing my tests this weekend. I've updated the D70 firmware with both upgrades and I've noticed a few changes (for the positive) already. I'm anxious to test this out. I know my lab is also waiting to hear how my tests work out. Thank you for your comments!! I love this forum! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
christian_mozetic Posted June 17, 2005 Share Posted June 17, 2005 Andrea, I've just had the same problem you're having. Just I wouldn't have thought of calling it a checker board effect so I only found this thread later. It happened to me while trying a 50mm f/1.4 AIS for the first time on a D70. I also noticed a different colour cast in the image compared to similar images taken just before or after. In case your interested here's the thread where I asked about this a few moments ago: http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00Caj0 I'd be very interested in knowing what you made of all this. Christian. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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