Weird Line in Pictures: Lens or Camera Problem?

[aribabybug]

Very occasionally, I notice a weird purple line in my images. It's always in the same place, the lower right-hand corner of the image. It mostly shows up in bad images (noisy, underexposed, or both), so it hasn't been a big deal, since I usually delete those images anyway. It shows up unpredictably, so I haven't been able to determine if it is a problem with a specific lens or with the camera itself. I have a used Nikon D200, and I know the problem occurs with my bought-new (I've owned it about a year) Nikkor 50mm 1.4 lens. I'm including an image with the problem for reference. Is the problem with my lens or my camera? Also, is there anything I can do about it?




Thanks in advance for your help. (Also, if this is in the wrong part of the forum, feel free to let me know where it should go.)

[jdepould]

Could be banding, but it's hard to tell with an image that small.

[RecurrentNerve]

This is a shot in the dark, but try using a different memory card, it could be a problem there. If it disappears with a new card, that's your problem. Also, try to replicate the problem with 2 different lenses. I suspect it's not a lens issue, the fact that it's a dead straight line suggests it's a data-write issue, so that means card, sensor, or something in-between the two. It's all about narrowing down the problem.

[OsmosisStudios]

Originally Posted by jdepould

Could be banding, but it's hard to tell with an image that small.

I looked. Lord did I look, But I cant find anything.

[candleman]

the only line i can see is in the form of a vertical pole through their heads

[inkista]

It's not banding. Banding affects the whole image.

I can see it. It's just above her left elbow. It's a single-pixel purple line. I think it's a sensor issue. You can, of course, fix this in post when it appears, but it'll be a PITA to do that for every shot. If the camera's under warranty, I'd say send it in. If it isn't, there may not be much you can do about it.

[kuvahmagh]

Thanks inkista, I would have never found that. How bad is it in a print? I can't imagine a single pixel line would do much up to 8x10?

[jdepould]

Originally Posted by inkista

It's not banding. Banding affects the whole image.

I can see it. It's just above her left elbow. It's a single-pixel purple line. I think it's a sensor issue. You can, of course, fix this in post when it appears, but it'll be a PITA to do that for every shot. If the camera's under warranty, I'd say send it in. If it isn't, there may not be much you can do about it.

Got it now. Almost looks like a problem with the color interpolation, because it looks like the luma values are in tact.

[aribabybug]

Thanks for the replies. I imagine it's a camera issue, but it doesn't happen too often, so I'll just have to pay attention when I use other lenses to confirm my suspicions. Also, since it usually happens on images that I'm going to end up deleting anyway, it's not the end of the world. Especially since it's so thin, and can be pretty easily removed. If it showed up in every image, that would be something entirely different. The camera isn't under warranty, so I guess I'll just deal. It isn't enough of an annoyance to be worth the money to fix.


Thanks again for the responses. I thought that maybe it was something easy to fix, and if so I would feel pretty dumb for not doing so.