D7000 Strange red colour on left side of images. Help

[MartinCornwall]

Hello all,
Tonight I went out to catch a double Iridium Flare within the same frame but it clouded over 4 mins before the event. So as it was dark I did some long exposures of the river and noticed a strange red colour cast on the left of the images, mainly showing at the bottom, but extending up the right hand side. At first I thought it was light ingress via the viewfinder, but it was occuring on any direction the camera was pointing in. Came home and did a test with the lens cap on and the red area was still there and the same shape. At first I thought there might be a problem with the sensor so swapped lenses and it didn't happen. Swapped back and the problem was back. Put the lens on another body (D3200) and the red cast didn't occur. The problem only appears on the D7000 with the 18-200mm f3.5 - 5.6 vr11. Any ideas or help would be appreciated, thanks in advance.

 

[WayneF]

Red Streak in dark sky: Turn off AF (to be manual focus). Has to be the switch ON THE LENS. It should help.

 

[nikonpup]

hope you meant right side or it is a trip to the eye doc for me. First shot i would think lens filter, 2nd i am thinking some sort of light leakage. Cover the camera (no light) and take a shot.

 

[MartinCornwall]

Sorry yes it was on the right side. I was in manual focus, the red is more visible on the dark shot which was in a dark room with both the lens cap on and the viewfinder covered. I've done a lot of long exposures with this set up over 2 years and this is the first time I've seen this...

 

[BackdoorArts]

Cover the viewfinder as well as the lens cap and see if you get it. I suspect its coming in through the viewfinder. I got this with my D7000 and D600 when there was direct light behind the camera. I suspect on long exposures it wouldn't even need to be direct. They include a plastic cover for the viewfinder, but I find it to be a pain. I use a piece of cloth over top, or cup my hand over it, depending on the situation.

 

[MartinCornwall]

In the post above I put that the viewfinder and the lens were covered. The dark photo was also done in a dark room with no light but still this red fringe occurs. It is not the sensor as originally thought as it doesn't happen with the sigma 10-20mm.

 

[BackdoorArts]

If you're only getting it with the 18-200mm then it sounds like it could be light leak with that lens, though if you're getting it in a totally dark room I'm a little baffled since you need light from somewhere to actually do the leaking.

 

[MartinCornwall]

Thanks Jake, that was my thoughts as well. How can you get light leakage with no light. It only started last night and is visible on all images and exactly the same shape. It can't be some kind of weird sensor noise either as it doesn't occur with the sigma with identical camera settings. I will do some more testing tonight when it is dark. The camera was in a cupboard in a dark kitchen last night during testing, hence no light available.

Martin

 

[Marcel]

Martin, are you using auto iso by any chance? Does this banding happen at iso 100 as well. It could very well be sensor noise caused by heat. It's been documented that with very long exposures, the sensors do heat and could produce noise like that. Is this major or just something you worry about. Remember that cameras are not supposed to take pictures in the total dark... Without light, there is no photography (well, except infra-red).

 

[MartinCornwall]

Marcel, I am using a manual set ISO. I only used the darkness of the cupboard to disregard any light leakage issues. I did a similar shots in the same river location about 6 weeks ago and there were no red fringe banding issues then and none ever even with longer exposures. It only started occurring last night and is very annoying. Yes I could crop it out, but this would be no good for creating panarama's in very low light. Also if it was sensor noise it would occur with the sigma lens and identical settings which it doesn't. This has got me perplexed and will have to do some more testing tonight.

 

[Marcel]

Is VR on or off? Could it be electrical noise due to VR? I have absolutely no clue but like this investigative road.

 

[MartinCornwall]

VR is off, everything is manually set as well.

 

[BackdoorArts]

I'm thinking Marcel is onto something with the sensor noise. None of this makes any kind of sense in my early morning fog, but given that this does not happen with your Sigma (assuming all other things are equal - including the 30 sec exposure time), I noticed that you shot with the zoom wide open at 18mm. For giggles I'd try it again at 50mm and at 200mm and see if it does the same thing (I would expect it to), and then turn on Long Exposure NR and see if it goes away. I don't believe I'm offering answers, but it may help focus the symptoms.

 

[Marcel]

I think you should send your file to Nikon and ask them if they have a clue as to what could cause this. Really strange that it happens only with one lens. If you know someone that has this lens, maybe you could try with another one.

 

[MartinCornwall]

Jake I just got back and did a couple of tests and was about to post when I read your latest reply. I had just already tried zooming and what's weird is that as you increase the zoom in small increments the effect lessens with each image and disappears entirely after about 40mm. Did try your idea of the NR before posting this and it has zero effect on the red fringe. If it was sensor noise surely the zoom on the lens should have no effect as all other in camera settings remain constant. Getting more miffed now....

Marcel, I don't know anyone else with this lens but keeping all in camera settings constant would surely invoke the same sensor noise regardless of the lens used. I just tested it with my 35mm f1.8 with the same camera settings and there was no red fringe. Mmmmm?????????

 

[Marcel]

Then maybe try the lens on another camera in the same conditions... I'm running out of ideas... But still believe this has to do with some kind of digital noise. As far as what could cause it, well, that's another mystery.

 

[WayneF]

FWIW, I have suffered red streaks in a 70-200 mm lens.

It may be a different thing, since the ones presented before here are three small streaks from left to right. Mine was like this:

It is not coming from outside the camera. This was at an astronomy clubs dark site, and it was Dark, no lights allowed anywhere. And no one else was there at the time anyway. And it was independent of how the camera was aimed (mostly up, nothing in field of view). Mine were 20-25 second exposures.

Here is another reference to same thing (in Swedish):
Astronet forum • Visa tråd - Märkligt ljusfenomen på sensorn med olika objektiv

He says the images with the red were 70-200, and those without were 24-70mm. He says the fix is to turn off AF - but it has to be off with the switch on the lens (not the body).

My streaks were in every shot with a 70-200mm lens, but in none with a 14-24mm lens.
And I could not duplicate this in the 70-200 again (in tests at home). The lens AF switch could have been the variable?

There are AF and VR mechanisms in there. Whether or not those use IR sensors is unknown to me.



FWIW

 

[BackdoorArts]

Try Wayne's suggestion. Very weird, but your test leads me to believe it's definitely lens related.

 

[WayneF]

Here is more evidence (at least of my case)...
70-200mm lens, f/2.8, 30 seconds, ISO 3200, ceiling in a very dark closet.

EDIT: CORRECTION. I am sorry, but I was trying a few things the first time, but in verifying that I could duplicate it, discovered that my confusion was misrepresenting the facts.

It is VR causing this red streak, NOT AF.

VR On - same red streak. Unadjusted.

VR Off

Q.E.D

 

[MartinCornwall]

Okay after some further tests the red fringe starts to show on the D7000 at ISO1250 and on the D3200 at ISO6400. Only with the 18-200mm lens below about 40mm. Then after reading Wayne's post I tried it with the lens on Manual focus as well as the body to no effect. Then I saw Wayne's updated post about the VR causing this effect and BINGO The VR was the cause of this problem. After nearly 3 years with the D7000 and about a 75k shutter count I was amazed that I hadn't seen this effect before. But on the night of the double Iridium flare I set up 2 cameras, one being my new D3200 so in the haste of setting up 2 cameras in a dark environment I missed turning of the VR on the 18-200mm. Problem solved. Many thanks for the input from everybody and especially to Wayne for the cure. I can have faith out in the dark again.
PS Marcel you were spot on on post#11 but I had wrongly assumed that VR was off with the confusion of setting up 2 cameras. THANKS MARCEL JAKE WAYNE...