heavy colour banding issues with D5100

C

chrisgl

New member
Hi

I've been experiencing banding issues with my D5100. the banding tends to be really bad and noticeable on some shots - see below crop of an example image. Many others shots are perfectly fine though. I've boosted the contrast with photoshop to make the issue more visible, so it is not actually as strong on the original photos but it does notice on some prints. The banding appears in both jpegs and raw images. I have this issue mainly for sunrise/sunset high contrast scenes with clear skies so am aware that banding can be an issue sometimes with these but it just seems really strong and noticeable, is that normal? Could it be an issue with the sensor? do any settings affect banding/make it worse? e.g. for jpegs using Active D-lighting or using vivid colours with higher saturation/sharpening etc?

I'm still fairly new to DSLR photography so if any answers to the above points are obvious I apologise, but I appreciate any feedback :)

Thanks a lot!



untitled-1.jpg
 
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J

J-see

Senior Member
I've lowered exposure and pushed clarity and vibrance to see what it is.

untitled-1.jpg

The colors are there so that's not the issue and I'd not consider this banding since it follows the tone gradation. I don't know what the original shot looked like so I can't see much in the histogram since this one is changed.

It reminds me of a low resolution screen trying to show a high resolution shot.

Is that building red in reality or did you make it red?
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J

J-see

Senior Member
Btw, when you say this is a crop, is that the image scaled down in size or a part of the full shot?

If it's a part, that would explain why I see strange things in the channels and histogram. Then it could be the cam is clipping, that could explain the loss of the blue channel in the building. I see the building as is in green and red but the blue channel only displays a black silhouette.

Still, the original would be better to see what goes on.

This far it looks more like an issue where something is over-compressed.
 
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Bob Blaylock

Bob Blaylock

Senior Member
chrisgl said:
Hi

I've been experiencing banding issues with my D5100. the banding tends to be really bad and noticeable on some shots - see below crop of an example image. Many others shots are perfectly fine though. I've boosted the contrast with photoshop to make the issue more visible, so it is not actually as strong on the original photos but it does notice on some prints. The banding appears in both jpegs and raw images. I have this issue mainly for sunrise/sunset high contrast scenes with clear skies so am aware that banding can be an issue sometimes with these but it just seems really strong and noticeable, is that normal? Could it be an issue with the sensor? do any settings affect banding/make it worse? e.g. for jpegs using Active D-lighting or using vivid colours with higher saturation/sharpening etc?

I'm still fairly new to DSLR photography so if any answers to the above points are obvious I apologise, but I appreciate any feedback :)

Thanks a lot!



untitled-1.jpg
Click to expand...

My immediate reaction, on seeing this, is that it looks like the expected result of too low a quality setting on a JPEG image. Or in other words…

J-see said:
This far it looks more like an issue where something is over-compressed.
Click to expand...
 
V

Vinnydude

Senior Member
Press the I button and goto quality, make sure that is at the highest it'll go, pretty sure it's called 'Fine'. If you want to really take control of your images, shoot in RAW mode. It basically takes all the raw data from the sensor giving you a huge amount of control over your images when it comes to editting them. There are a few free RAW editting pieces of software, but Lightroom is by far my favourite and very reasonably priced.
 
C

chrisgl

New member
Thanks very much for the replies so far!
@ J-see the building is coloured light red/orange by the rising sun. it is much brighter though I just made it darker to make the issue more visible. the crop is part of the full shot
@Vinnydude I'm still learning so I shoot in JPEG plus RAW but the setting for JPEG has always been "fine". wherever the lines are visible on shots, they also appear in the RAW files, not only the JPEGs

I seem to have misplaced the original file but will look for another example.

really unsure what is causing this, it seems to ruin many otherwise nice shots :(
 
Horoscope Fish

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
I would try opening the RAW file in 16-bit mode in Photoshop, or some other application that supports it, and see if the posterization/banding disappears. If it does, you know the issue is that the color range exceeds what an 8-bit file can process cleanly. I have a feeling that may be what's happening here (for whatever that's worth).

On the other hand, if the posterization is present in the RAW file when opened in 16-bit mode, I'd say there's an issue with the camera; the digital/analog converter, or the sensor, being the two most likely culprits, because there's no way on earth that color range is blowing out, much less blowing that badly, with 12 or 14-bits to work with.

....
 
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