D7000 w/nikon 18-200 red noise on long exposures

I was out shooting Long exposures the other night with my D7000 with the Nikon 18-200. I kept getting red noise on the right side of the images (like image had a red gel that faded out). These were at High ISO's so I dropped the ISO and it was better. After trying a few things, I found my other lenses did not do this. I put the 18-200 on my D700 and it did not do this. I went to my local Camera store, and with their D7000 and a 18-200 they had in stock, same thing. Anybody ever come across this and have a solution? From now on, I'll use other lenses for long exposures but wondering if this is causing issues with normal exposures. It seems I have soft focus time to time.

Had you covered the viewfinder? Sometimes on long exposures you can get light leaks from the viewfinder that could cause something similar to what you're describing.
Or a leak from the lens itself. Hard to tell without the actual photo to see what you are talking about.

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Do you have High ISO noise reduction on? If not then give that a shot. Also, Active D-Lighting can introduce noise in those situations, so if you don't need it (or don't know what it is) turn it off. Or at least stick it on Auto so it will only get used if the camera thinks the situation warrants it.

I covered the viewfinder and also put the camera in a dark cabinet and had the same results. It is like the lens is generating the noise. It only does it with the 18-200. I put 4 other lenses on it and it did not do it. At the camera store same results. And their 18-200 was the only one that had the noise. I tried Long Exposure NR On & Off, High ISO at High, Normal, Low. No difference. The attached picture is with the lens cap on. 30s, 6400. It will also do it at ISO 800 but not as bad, but remember, this lens only.

Opening this up again just because this happened to me for the first time today. As Marcel points out covering the viewfinder is very important!! With an SLR you have a single light path, so when the shutter is open light will get in both ways. I forgot this rule today shooting in broad daylight with the sunrise behind me and there was a big red wash on the side of my image. Covered the viewfinder with my hand and bingo, no noise. Lesson (re)learned.

Yup, I've been left scratching my head due to this issue as well. I was taking a series of long exposure HDR shots using a remote and couldn't figure out why the !@#$ I kept getting some strange light wash on my images. After about the 5th attempt, I finally figured it out.

Your camera should've included a viewfinder cover that looks something like the image below. Check your camera box (you did keep the box, right?) because it's small and easy to miss. Just swap out the rubber eyepiece on the viewfinder and problem solved.



Of course you can just use your thumb as Jake mentioned. But if you're shooting remotely, a piece of electrical tape or black duct tape works well too. Those make nice additions to your camera bag, as they come in handy in a variety of situations!

Phil Hobby said:

I covered the viewfinder and also put the camera in a dark cabinet and had the same results. It is like the lens is generating the noise. It only does it with the 18-200. I put 4 other lenses on it and it did not do it. At the camera store same results. And their 18-200 was the only one that had the noise. I tried Long Exposure NR On & Off, High ISO at High, Normal, Low. No difference. The attached picture is with the lens cap on. 30s, 6400. It will also do it at ISO 800 but not as bad, but remember, this lens only.View attachment 22717

Click to expand...

Well, taking a picture in a dark cabinet will make digital noise for sure. Remember that the camera will try to make grey out of that black and this will force the sensor to create "something" out of the black. If it's dark, the lens is not producing any noise, it's the sensor that is trying to make something out of nothing. I think this test does not prove anything worthy.

The cap is in my bag. My brain is often somewhere else. LOL

Two things that can add additional noise to long exposures, besides the obvious culprits, are

1) light leakage from seams and rubberized joints in the lens.

2) Heat generated by the sensor, aka - thermal noise. Thermal noise is the #1 cause of noise in digital images. A long exposure will generate significant sensor heat and the higher the ISO is set, the higher the heating factor. Thermal heat is also a function of the sensor size, the smaller the sensor, the greater the heating. The best way to avoid thermal noise (actually the *only* way) is to shoot at the lowest ISO so as to increase the signal to noise ratio. Avoid the temptation to bump up the ISO on long exposures, leave it at 100 (or 200 depending upon your camera).