Digital artifacts

[josephwalsh]

Here's an ongoing problem: About one out of 25 of my downloads have these defects. Both D200 and D700 show it.

I'm shooting RAW and downloading with Lightroom 2.

Changing card reader didn't help.

[josephwalsh]

Well, it won't let me send them..says there's an "error" in the file.

Anyway, it shows as a small rectangle of pixilated color. This occurs at random places within an image, just one per image. I say small...in an 8x10 print it would probably measure .5 x .75 inches.

 

Sometimes (1-200) there is a "smear" and color overlay, usually magenta, that cover almost half the image.

 

I did try shooting jpegs...same results. Different CF cards, same results. (I'm using Lexar and Sandisk)

[phule]

If you've tried different cards, and different card readers, have you tried using a different computer?

 

Can you upload a RAW file to a service like Rapid Share or the web space your ISP might provide you and provide a link here?

[martijn_houtman]

Joe, I too had this problem, and in my case it was always a faulty CF card. It's gone haywire on me

once, and I noticed some pictures came out bad after that more often. I just threw the card away and

bought a new one, just because I did not trust it anymore.

[ronald_moravec1]

Card problem. Format the card in the camera. never erase images. download as oftem as you want and partials are ok, but never erase. Just reformat to clear the card.

 

If the problem persists, toss the card

[josephwalsh]

Ronald, Martijn,

Like I said, I used several different Sandisk and Lexar cards with same results.

I always format in the camera.

[josephwalsh]

Rob,

That I have not tried...I called my son and arranged to see him in a few days to try your suggestion.

My computer is a 6 month old Dell Inspiron 530 running Vista (shudder) 32

[phule]

I think that, if it's happening with both NEF and JPG files from two different cameras, the common factor is the computer. I think that is a more likely scenario than two different cameras failing at the same time in the way.

 

If the problem goes away using your son's computer, then you will still need to isolate the error on your machine. It might be software (corrupted Lightroom? seems unlikely...) but it also might a fault with USB hardware and/or USB drivers. Re-installing the USB drivers is easy enough but testing the USB hardware would probably require you go and buy a 3rd party USB card and install that. So perhaps before diving into all of that, you could give Dell a call.