Is this normal for D700?

[qwerty02]

I took these photos using Aperture Priority on a D700 but it seems like there are bright lines coming from all the brightest points in the picture.
Is this normal?
I just got this camera back from nikon for the same problem and they said there's no defect, this is "characteristic performance". (For the record, these are a new batch of pictures. I sent them to Nikon today for re-assessment and am waiting their reply)
Can I ask you folk's opinion? Also if you do have D700 that does not show these defects, can I possibly grab pic and show it to them?
What I can't understand is why its present on the D700 but not on my old D70. Oh, and the rep said this is a problem of the D700 only but if I upgrade to the D3 the problem should go away. Hmmm......
Initial Photo (assessed as normal performance) Yellow arrows my editing.

New Photos: Both unprocessed.

Thanks for everyone's advice!

 

[Yangzw]

I took these photos using Aperture Priority on a D700 but it seems like there are bright lines coming from all the brightest points in the picture.
Is this normal?
I just got this camera back from nikon for the same problem and they said there's no defect, this is "characteristic performance". (For the record, these are a new batch of pictures. I sent them to Nikon today for re-assessment and am waiting their reply)
Can I ask you folk's opinion? Also if you do have D700 that does not show these defects, can I possibly grab pic and show it to them?
What I can't understand is why its present on the D700 but not on my old D70. Oh, and the rep said this is a problem of the D700 only but if I upgrade to the D3 the problem should go away. Hmmm......

Then perhaps you can tell the rep another option will be changing to another system...like canon! ;p Maybe there is something wrong with the sensor?

 

[tabako]

My D700 from malaysia definitely do not have this problem, perhaps you can tell the rep that we will all be buying from Nikon Malaysia instead of Singapore. Since they are cheaper and also do not have this defect.

 

[Big Kahuna]

Wow...that looks pretty bad....I have taken a few thousands shots with my D700 now and never noticed that....but having said that.....it's still early to say yours is definately faulty unless you put two camera in the same spot using same settings and lens to shoot same scene to compare :sweat:

 

[MacroMarlin]

Actually, this is bad! Sorry, not trying to splash TS with cold water, but what I am trying to say is that this is very abnormal for any camera, let alone an FX. There could be certain small amount of flares, but this is.....outrageous, sort of like a dirty oily filter. Check with any other lens?

I'm sure you have already checked that yr lens is clean and filter is ok......

 

[qwerty02]

Yup. these were shot with a Nikkor 28-105. went home, took out a Tamron 28-300, also developed horizontal streaks when shooting night scenes against a dark background.
The first pic is from an astronomical telescope. The oblique band is something I've never seen before until now.
I must say even with smudgy filters I have never seen banding like this. Smudgy filters tend to cause blurry images or haloes/splashes, not lines.
Still waiting for Nikon to reply.

 

[tabako]

Yup. these were shot with a Nikkor 28-105. went home, took out a Tamron 28-300, also developed horizontal streaks when shooting night scenes against a dark background.
The first pic is from an astronomical telescope. The oblique band is something I've never seen before until now.
I must say even with smudgy filters I have never seen banding like this. Smudgy filters tend to cause blurry images or haloes/splashes, not lines.
Still waiting for Nikon to reply.

If they give you BS excuse again I suggest that you escalate to their manager. Try to kpkb as much as possible, you paid $3000 for a body that performs worse than a $500 camera, its totally unacceptable.

btw, your images look a bit noisy. What ISO did you use? Did it only happen on certain ISO?

I have not used ISO more than 3200 before, let me go home tonight and try the rest of the ISO and see if it happens to me.

 

[Cjhnsn]

it never happens to me.
u shud bring to nikon svc centre i think

 

[edutilos-]

How long were the exposures?

What is the ISO value?

This could be light leak from VF, it is more commonly seen in daytime long exposure (during use of 10 stop ND filter) when you do not cover VF. Most people do not notice because not many Singaporeans do long exposure..

If it's not that, then it could be a sensor problem.

 

[edutilos-]

Read these, not sure if it's the same issue but earlier batches of Pentax K7 experienced something sounding like what you write here, the pictures are gone though:

http://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/pentax-dslr-discussion/87118-k7-noise-banding.html
http://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/pentax-dslr-discussion/118861-k-7-defective-sensors.html

Green/red banding could be sensor overheat.

 

[qwerty02]

Thanks for the replies!
These were done using ISO6400
I've tried it down to ISO200 and its still present. Its less obvious when you under-expose and more prominent with over exposure.
Its also a disaster when taking photos of stars since these are essentially bright points of light on a dark background. According to the rep who served me, astrophotography is not a supported application.

 

[Ferderico]

I have been using my D700 for awhile... and I have never experience such problems as TS had stated.

u seriously need to ask for an exchange or repair...

 

[qwerty02]

I did bring it down to Nikon. They had a tech look at it and he (she?) pronounced it "normal".
I just got off the phone with Nikon again and the new rep serving me today said that I shouldn't use ISO6400 on the D700 and that I should not take nighttime photos with high contrast lights. He described ISO6400 as being reserved only for "extreme situations". If I insist on doing so, he said I should take a tripod and use "Native ISO" because using 6400 "overheats" the sensor.
What I truly can't understand is that the D700 is marketed as a high-ISO performer due to its large sensor and yet the Nikon folks are saying I should not use high ISO, especially for low light conditions.
Huh?

 

[qwerty02]

Ferderico --> would you have any pics taken of night scenes which includes lights like these in a dark background? If you do and especially if they're taken at high ISO, do you think I could ask you a copy to show that other D700 don't have this problem?

 

[SnagIt]

This is obviously a defect. I think I saw one of the guy over a flickr group has this problem too. Saying it's normal and not shooting at ISO6400is a nonsense and irresponsible answer. You seriously consider fixing this.

 

[chngpe01]

Thanks for the replies!
These were done using ISO6400
I've tried it down to ISO200 and its still present. Its less obvious when you under-expose and more prominent with over exposure.
Its also a disaster when taking photos of stars since these are essentially bright points of light on a dark background. According to the rep who served me, astrophotography is not a supported application.

Perhaps you can let us know how many secs exposure? at ISO 6400.

 

[qwerty02]

Do you have any idea how get it fixed since Nikon Singapore (or at least its reps) says its not a problem?
(Actually he told me the camera is just a tool. Its up to the photographer to get the settings right)
I dunno, from the pros here, is it reasonable to say don't shoot photos of lights at night or if you do so, don't take high ISO shots and don't make your exposures too long?

 

[Grouch23]

"what happens to a photosite when it contains too many photo-electrons (due to too much exposure to light)? Well, if left to its own devices, the information (electrons) can spill from one photosite to another, corrupting the data in the adjacent site (a concept called "blooming," or well overflow)."

http://www.bythom.com/ccds.htm

T.S, in you photos, you have a very localize bright source of light which in this case too much photo electrons. Especially when you have push the ISO higher.

D700 is great as a high-ISO performer due to its large sensor especially for low light conditions.
However, when there is a localize bright source of light, the intensity gets too high for a single photosite to handle.

Maybe this is why the Nikon rep suggest lower ISO when shooting this kind of intense lighting situation. So that the photosite can have better control of the photo-electron instead of spilling over.

Just my humble opinion.

 

[reject]

even iso 6400 i don't get those lines.

you've tested with lenses got the same result, looks like sensor issue to me.

hope reps give you a delighting solution.

 

[daredevil123]

This is not normal Bring it back to Nikon. If the reps still insist no problem, ask to see the manager. Even my d40x do not get this.