Image Artifact

[Manicouagan1]

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I have observed a rare artifact in a few of my SL3 images.    Strips of the image running side to side across the narrow dimension of a frame have an artifact that appears as defocused or more likely two sightly offset images from one another.   My guess is that it is interference of two frequencies of sampling because there is more than one of these "defocused strips in a single image.   Has anyone seen something similar and know what causes the artifact? The artifact is rare and seen only in my sharpest images, in this case with the APO 90-280 zoom at f 5.6  and a focal length of 280mm, shutter speed 1150 second handheld.    

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[Luke_Miller]

The only time I've seen something like that I attributed it to a lens stabilization glitch.

[Stuart Richardson]

I would agree. Lens stabilization can cause some odd artifacts, particularly with long lenses. There are a lot calculations and minute mechanical positioning. In this case it is both in the lens and in the body, and at times I think it can get caught out in mid adjustment. It is hard to visualize what might cause this kind of blurring only in this area, but I think I have seen IS do enough weird stuff that I would also guess that that is what is going on here.

[Paul2660]

Agree, Lens Stabilization.  I get this or similar issues with the 90-280 and SL2 and SL3.  My issues are more like blotches of out of blurred part of an image.   It also may be the shutter selected. 

In my use, I have pretty much started only using the ES with the 90-280 much past 156mm.  Hybrid is worthless as is mechanical.   This is even on a tripod, as I this lens really needs EFC.  Also the issues for me are worse if I have the camera in the vertical orientation.   I attached two shots, both were a vertical capture, Hybrid shutter on the first, ES 2nd. 

The is a PIA for me, and I do have to check images after shooting.  Had hoped the issue would be less evident with the SL3 and its newer shutter, but not the case for me.  (NOTE this is not wind causing the issue, day was calm and if it was wind issue would be more uniform, not blotchy)

Paul C 

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Edited June 17 by Paul2660

[jaapv]

Yes - this is a well-known thing for longer lenses and not limited to Leica.

[BernardC]

43 minutes ago, Paul2660 said:

In my use, I have pretty much started only using the ES with the 90-280 much past 156mm.  Hybrid is worthless as is mechanical.   This is even on a tripod, as I this lens really needs EFC.  Also the issues for me are worse if I have the camera in the vertical orientation.   I attached two shots, both were a vertical capture, Hybrid shutter on the first, ES 2nd. 

How does it look without any stab? Stabilization and tripods don't always get along.

These types of issues can be a pain to diagnose. It's a bit easier with digital because you get immediate feedback, but there are still a huge number of variables, many of which are unknown. Zeiss published a series of articles on the subject of achieving maximum sharpness, back in the early days of digital. One of their surprising findings was that a cinema fluid head produced sharper results than solid tripod heads. That's not true in all cases, but it's a good example of the kinds of variables involved.

[Manicouagan1]

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The puzzle is a fuzzy strips (there is more than one)  run top to bottom in a landscape view.   As far as I know the shutter slit moves top to bottom, and I believe the readout is the same.  This picture was taken using mechanical shutter.  

[Paul2660]

I have found with the 90-280 and verticals, when on a tripod I seem to get the best results with ES and no stabilization.  Using a remote to trigger the camera or self timer. I tend to shoot everything in a 3 stop exposure bracket and the issue I commented on tends to happen more on one of the image in the sequence. I wish Leica would allow a pause between exposures something Panasonic offers on the S1R and I assume the A1RII. One thing with 90-280 is it is so sharp that all the small issues (blotchy blurr) are very easy to see. 
 

Daytime 146mm to 280 can also be affected by heat shimmer so I try to always look for that. 
 

Paul