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Here we go, - I knew that I'd eventually get this and it seems to pop up pretty routinely these days.

Any shot over ISO250 and blown highlights or deliberate high key effect induces banding around the highlight.

My D200 was brought in June (grey import) and my friends D200 in June (Maxwell stock) - his does the same (and told by Maxwell thats its acceptable and all D200's short band and it cannot be fixed

An example - straight RAW file to JPG conversion

The Full image:


The banding: (100%)


Is this acceptable and in-spec? I hope not, considering no other DSLR I've ever used (D50, D70s, 30D, 5D) does this with blown/highkey shots

Thoughts or opinions. Am I been too picky with a $2100 camera?

I had banding in both my D200 but they are fixed now via Maxwell.

Also does it show up on print?

Pharmer,
You asked and I reply:
No, not accepted as I mentioned few times here.
The early batches of D200 were not good and pls. try to stay away and have your money in your pocket till the latest batches of D200 available.
Nikon ignored it and Maxwell don't fix it.
I have three D200 sold to one of my Coporate customers in Dec. and returned to Maxwell in January, but there was no resolution

shutterbug wrote:I had banding in both my D200 but they are fixed now via Maxwell.

Also does it show up on print?

Depend on what type of banding, not all will fix or fixed.

Yes, depend on, it may appear on print.

Its a very new one - QC'd in late May. I thought the issue should be solved by now.

If I can't get a resolution from my dealer - Canon here I come.

Barrie,

What I'm seeing is more of an artefact of the extreme contrast you're trying to capture in this image - it's beyond the scope of the sensor to process this.

Given the scene, I'd call it acceptable.

gstark wrote:Barrie,

What I'm seeing is more of an artefact of the extreme contrast you're trying to capture in this image - it's beyond the scope of the sensor to process this.

Given the scene, I'd call it acceptable.

Well - why not render it blown only then. Banding is an out of sync channel issue. The D50/D70 and 30D/5D (i've used them in exact situations like this) - don't do this

I also presume the D2x does not do this either

Photographers have been shooting high contrast scenes like this for years - and living with the blown areas. Thats fine, but then banding on top of that - no way

Barrie, have you tried different RAW converters? Maybe it's a bug in the way the D2000 RAW data is interpreted?

Cheers
Steffen.

Barrie, have you tried different RAW converters? Maybe it's a bug in the way the D200 RAW data is interpreted?

Cheers
Steffen.

I definately think it can and should be fixed.
I have had my d200 since April (grey Japanese stock) and taken close to 1800 shots.
Not one image with ANY hint of ANY banding whatsoever.
I agree with you that it`s not good enough.
Nikon should be accountable and either fix it or refund you.

Is this the only instance where you have the banding or does it happen all the time? Under extreme lighting conditions the rare ocurrence is acceptable.

Matt. K wrote:Is this the only instance where you have the banding or does it happen all the time? Under extreme lighting conditions the rare ocurrence is acceptable.

Any situation with backlighting or highkey and ISO250 and over - banding everytime. eg An ambient light wedding shot next to a very bright white window - a very common type of shot.

Some you can see even at 2/3 enlargement on screen, others you have to look at 100% crop.

I'll see what happens this week with regards to warranty and go from there.

pharmer wrote:Well - why not render it blown only then.

If you're shooting beyond the expected parameters within which the sensor is expected to perform, all bets are off, as far as I'm concerned. You cannot really say it should do this or it should do that,can you? You've already broken the rules, and you should therefore expect the unexpected.

Banding is an out of sync channel issue. The D50/D70 and 30D/5D (i've used them in exact situations like this) - don't do this

So what? This is not one of those cameras. They will exhibit different problems trying to render that part of the scene in question, and the comparison is not valid.

Likewise for the D2x.

Photographers have been shooting high contrast scenes like this for years [//quote]

Using film, not digital, technology. They're two very different mediums.

I really think that what you're seeing is an expected outcome. I'm not for a moment suggesting it's good. What I am saying is that when you really stretch the limits as you have in this instance, you don't really have a right to expect results that you would expect from a simple, low contrast scene.



- and living with the blown areas. Thats fine, but then banding on top of that - no way

pharmer wrote:Any situation with backlighting

This is not simple backlighting or high key though.

Look at the whole image: it's an interior of a an older style arcade: a dark area at the best of times. Your exposure for the shot was 1/20 and f/5.6 at ISO 400.

While I don't know what the exterior conditons were like, we're looking at the sky, outside, and my guesstimate would be overcast, f/16 and 1/125 at the same ISO.

You need to reconcile and accept that this is a very signifcant exposure descrepancy, and it's that discrepancy that you needs to deal with, not any problem with the camera.

I bought My d200 before pharmer and haven't got any banding at all, must be the luck of the draw.

I think it's an early adopter problem. Even though, I'd be pissed if mine still did it.
I've not shot enough images in odd situations to see if my new baby does it, but I'm convinced already that it's a better camera than my D70.

Pharmer - I took almost exactly the same pic with my D200 about a month ago (I have since thrown out the many Haigh's wrappers!). I will have a look at mine tonight and see if there is any banding. We had a pretty overcast but not a very dark day, so there maybe highlights in my photos.

Cheers

P