M8 - Green Smudge

[paragon]

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Hi Guys

 

any idea what the following is, it appeared today on my M8 - (only had it two weeks but I get a surprise most times I use it)

 

 

Down loaded the image into LR3 - did not look if it was on the LCD when I took the image

[Nicoleica]

Hi Paragon,

 

Was there perchance a bright light source just outside the frame? This is the normal cause of steaks such as this. It happens when a bright light just on the very edge of the frame seeps under the mask around the sensor. This masked area is normally used to provide a reference point, and if it gets overloaded with light it confuses the pixels along that row. I think that it tends to happen more with wider lenses, as the angles are more extreme then.

[jaapv]

You cropped the image and with it the cause- the green bar goes exactly to the centre. A known effect. The cure is not to have bright highlights on the edge of the frame. It is not a repairable fault, just a quirk:(.

[paragon]

It was a pretty dull day today - first shot I took of the day with a 28mm f2.8 Zeiss ZM at f8 - 1/250 sec at ISO 160 - more of a test shot before I went into a shopping Mall

 

First time that it has happened but as I said I have only had the Cam a couple of weeks and taken maybe 100 shots max

 

Thanks

 

 

Bill

 

(PS - Germans generally don't get confused ..... but let me think, it's a Kodak sensor!!!)

[jaapv]

Well, I had the effect once in 15.000 images, so it is not that common.

[paragon]

I only cropped the image to make it more clear - it is in the top third of the image - to the left of the middle section, (if the top third is split into 3)

 

just unlucky then

 

Cheers

[Shootist]

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I've only had it once also and now I know better then to have a bright light at the short edges of the sensor. Either move the light into the frame completely or completely out of the frame and this will not happen.

 

By the way it only happens on the short sides of the sensor. Never seen it on the long sides.

[paragon]

There was no bright light - it was an overcast day - the image was taken today in SW France at about 1500 hrs

 

Cheers

[stunsworth]

Well, I had the effect once in 15.000 images, so it is not that common.

 

I've had it one two consecutive images sitting in a bar in France (reading the news and it sure looks bad?). being serious it's not at all common - as my two images out of thousands show, but there's no solution when it occurs.

[paragon]

Oh, I see what you are saying - don't take an image with a (brighter) light at the edge

[ishkra]

I'm new with this "Leica world" but surely every day i discover new "strange" paranormal phenomena

[jaapv]

There was no bright light - it was an overcast day - the image was taken today in SW France at about 1500 hrs

 

Cheers

Show us the whole uncropped frame

[ho_co]

Search "dreaded green stripe" in forum.

 

It's important to see the whole image. From what you've posted, I'm not sure it's the green stripe.

 

The "dreaded green stripe" is visible from edge to center of sensor, but usually(?) in highlight areas as well as more normally exposed areas.

 

 

From M8 FAQ Sept 2008:

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

[paragon]

Show us the whole uncropped frame

 

[jaapv]

It is clearly the green stripe, but with the sky blown out 255-255-255 it is not possible to identify the bright source. I guess it must have been the hot spot of the sun in the sky which must have been on the lefthand edge. The vestiges of a shadow with the persons in the frame support this theory.

Interesting; I did not see it in this style before.

[paragon]

It is clearly the green stripe, but with the sky blown out 255-255-255 it is not possible to identify the bright source. I guess it must have been the hot spot of the sun in the sky which must have been on the lefthand edge. The vestiges of a shadow with the persons in the frame support this theory.

Interesting; I did not see it in this style before.

 

 

You can see from the (light) shadows the direction of the sun.

 

I was not "shooting" into the sun or anything like that. The shot was not exceptional or in a difficult light - it is just (yet another) quirk of the M8

 

Obviously for any such shots I should be careful when I use the M8, and maybe "double up" if the shot is valuable (to me)

 

As I said I have only had the M8 for two weeks, (a used example in v good condition with around 5,000 actuations). I thought long and hard about the purchase. My history is one of using Nikon SLRs and I also have a D300 as well as a couple of M43 cams - I have an M6 and an M3, although I stopped using film a few years ago and since using the RF cams I have moved to wearing glasses permanently.

I am only a keen amateur - nothing special, so my photographic skill is limited.

 

The shot was taken with a Zeiss ZM 28mm f2.8 - with the 28mm Zeiss hood attached

 

Although it is very early days, to date I have found the M8 disappointing in the area of ISO performance; range and absolute, at 160 it is good and 320 acceptable, but above I have not produced an image that I am happy with, (compared with the D300 and EP-1 and G1). - maybe it is my style and I can work around this. I did not expect it to be anywhere near as good as the Nikon in high ISO areas, but I did expect it to compete at ISO 800.

 

Maybe I should have upgraded the D300 to a D700, (which I may still do), although I am quite happy with the D300 I felt a need to get back to near 35mm, (don't know why!), and continued on the M43 route, (which I intend to do anyway).

 

The M8 is, and will be an interesting "exercise" and only time will tell if I will be happy with the camera - but I do hope that I will be!

 

 

Thanks for all your replies

[jaapv]

If you have problems with ISOs between 640 and 1250 you are underexposing. Shoot a full histogram and stop worrying about specular highlights. They should be blown out by nature. Expose to the right!

[Luke_Miller]

Although it is very early days, to date I have found the M8 disappointing in the area of ISO performance; range and absolute, at 160 it is good and 320 acceptable, but above I have not produced an image that I am happy with, (compared with the D300 and EP-1 and G1). - maybe it is my style and I can work around this. I did not expect it to be anywhere near as good as the Nikon in high ISO areas, but I did expect it to compete at ISO 800.

 

I shoot with the D300 as well. In my informal testing I find the D300 about half a stop in ISO cleaner in ISO noise. When making this comparison it is important to keep in mind that the M8.2 ISO calibration is different from the way Nikon calibrates its bodies. So the sensitivity of the M8 at ISO 640 is about the same as ISO 800 on the D300. I find that an M8.2 image shot at ISO 640 (800 effective) is comparable to an ISO 1250 shot on the D300. All that said I routinely shoot my M8.2 at ISO 1250 (1600 effective) and find the noise acceptable. I process in Lightroom 3 and its noise reduction makes ISO 1250 and (occassionally 2500) doable. As jaapv said - you must expose to the right to get the best noise performance (same with the D300).

 

If low light high ISO shooting is your thing (it is mine) the D700/D3/D3S rule. With the M8/M9 you can "buy back" some ISO with fast glass and use of slower shutter speeds. I can pick up maybe a half stop or so of shutter speed over a DSLR.

[paragon]

Thanks guys - as I indicated I need to modify my style - the M8 is still very new to me

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[MikeD700]

So. If I understand correctly, you can't just take any picture you want (I didn't see anything particularly adventurous in Paragon's image) with an M8 (8.2, 9) for fear of getting funny green streaks in your images? Interesting.