D70 images help needed

[elsa hoffmann]

A guy on a local photo forum has presented with 2 very weird issues - and I have no clue...
Perhaps you guys can assist?

First issue:

I was photographing a Park run and there was a red helicopter parked there. I took a few shots in the early morning sunlight. Portions of the red came out green ... but only on about 2 photos out of +/- 6.

his other images are shot in raw - I assume he did the same with the heli's

[Erik Lund]

Could be bad card or image transfer, or the program,,,

[elsa hoffmann]

Thats definitely a possibility...

[HCS]

Not sure which raw converter has been used, but it could also be an exposure mask that somehow got included in the conversion.

[David H. Hartman]

Do the files (NEF?) on the memory cards display that error? Where they uploaded to his/her computer using Windows Explorer or MAC Finder? If transfered with Nikon Transfer was it a supported version? The version that came with ViewNX2 and older are not supported by current versions of Windows and MAC OS X.

Ye be warned!

Dave Hartman

[elsa hoffmann]

Interesting point about the older versions. mmm

[Akira]

It looks strange.  At first, I also thought that the anomaly was caused by the data corruption during the data transfer.  But such a file should look something like the lower half of the frame rendered as coarse mosaic pattern of colorful blobs or the part or the entire image is marred by the banding patterns.

On the other hand, this image in question looks like the blown-out part of the red channel being rendered in green.

Of course, what I would try is to copy the file from the original SD card onto the computer again by simply dragging and dropping it, if it happened with the copied file.

[elsa hoffmann]

Thanks guys
I am relaying the messages to the shooter

[David H. Hartman]

On the other hand, this image in question looks like the blown-out part of the red channel being rendered in green.

Would over saturated red flip to green? Could a small loss of data cause this?

Could the computer be low on memory or virtual memory? I had problems with CaptureNX2 with the JPG preview being corrupted due to a lack of RAM.
When I first tried out my then new D800 I loss several inconsiquential test exposures as I was using Nikon Transfer that probably shipped with my D300s. The look was quite different from the sample shown.

I recently had a problem with ViewNXi on Windows 7. The cache was corrupted for just one photo. It was previewed as an almost totally desaturated image. It appeared fine in CaptureNX-D so I quit VNX-i and deleted it's cache and DB folder.

Any program that acting strangely may come around if it's cache is cleared. Clearing browser cache can fix a problem with a site that's had upgrades. I save Photoshop preferences Incase there get corrupted. That saves deleting them and setting up the preference from scratch.

I hope the problem isn't the camera itself.

Dave

[elsa hoffmann]

The shooter seems to think it is the camera. But I don't know exactly what he checked and what not. He isn't able to replace the camera (recently retrenched and at age 61 wont find a job easily) so he is trying to make do with what he has.
How lucky we all are to have what we have - and to mostly be able to replace what we need.

[Bjørn Rørslett]

It might well be the camera itself causing the problem. Transfer errors or data corruption are unlikely as these nearly always garble parts of the image by stripes. Highlights apparently are the areas of the frame being misrepresented and that could be caused by faulty circuitry in the read-out stage. Software? well that is another possibility yet not on top of the miscreant list.

A quick check is shooting a subject with strong contrast at different exposures. If the camera has a hiccup, the frames that are on the low exposure side might be just fine and the ones getting a richer exposure might show the 'green' blotched error.

[Akira]

Hmm...what I wonder about is that the reflections on each of three windshields, on which all three channels should be blown out, are "correctly" rendered as white splashes.

If the overblown red channel would be rendered as green, these splashes should be rendered as blue-green?

[Erik Lund]

It's impossible to guess what is wrong without further details.

Yes, most likely it's the in-camera processing,,,

BTW Camera One has a feature for showing in focus areas that look like this   

[David H. Hartman]

Transfer errors or data corruption are unlikely as these nearly always garble parts of the image by stripes.

...but one can hope (hope against hope?). Garbled and Stripes was my experience with my first test photos from my D800 and the wrong Nikon Transfer.

I wonder what might happen if the image were open in CaptureNX-D and "Latest picture control" is selected. I wonder if using the Neutral or Flat picture control would help. Maybe hoping against hope again?

Dave Hartman

[Akira]

I would sincerely hope that the camera doesn't have any internal hardware problem.

I wonder what might happen if the image were open in CaptureNX-D and "Latest picture control" is selected. I wonder if using the Neutral or Flat picture control would help. Maybe hoping against hope again?

That said, considering that D70 was a pretty good "IR camera" without any modification, the red channel would be easy to be blown out.  So long as the red channel is clipped on the sensor, the flat profile won't help...