# Strange Image Artifact on my new 5D III



## jhanken (Aug 6, 2013)

I was walking at night, taking flash pics of the kids the night we arrived at Black Butte Ranch, OR, it was the very first outing with my new 5D Mark III body. I was also using a 430 EX II with a simple slide-on diffuser and a 24-105mm L lens.

Never mind the obvious focus issues of the photo, what the heck is going on in the lower right corner? Is this an artifact from a focused LED headlamp hitting the sensor in a weird way, or did I get a lemon body?

I shot about 800 frames, including 50 with night flash like this, over the course of a week, and this is the only frame that had any such issues. Any brilliant insight out there, should I be concerned?


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## Harry Muff (Aug 6, 2013)

Are those LED head lights? Might not be such a good idea having them shine straight into the lens. I'm thinking about the damage that lasers are known to do to sensors.


To be honest, the last time I saw that effect, it was over the whole image and it meant the sensor was screwed.




Definitely keep an eye on this.


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## jhanken (Aug 6, 2013)

> Are those LED head lights?



Yes, LED lights, the thought crossed my mind, but at least it is not a coherent, high-energy beam like a laser. Hoping that this was a passing phenomenon.


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## tron (Aug 6, 2013)

jhanken said:


> Is this an artifact from a focused LED headlamp hitting the sensor in a weird way?


No way! Have you also shot in raw? Is the result the same? Do you see this on your camera's screen?


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## Lnguyen1203 (Aug 6, 2013)

I'd guess it is a memory card problem. Do you see it on every frame or just one frame? Try reformat the card. Good luck.


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## jhanken (Aug 6, 2013)

> Have you also shot in raw?



This problem was present in the raw image, yes.


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Aug 6, 2013)

1. Does the image show ok in the camera?
If so, It looks like a corrupted file. This can be a bad download or a corrupted or damaged card. Erase your memory card (A format in camera is not a erase). You can do it by running a complete format in Windows with the card in a reader. There are also card utilities that will erase it.

If it happens again, stop using the card and use a different one. If it happens again with a different card, you may have a card reader issue or a camera issue.


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## jhanken (Aug 6, 2013)

> Does the image show ok in the camera?



I didn't notice it until I was going through my images in Lightroom, so I don't know. 

Hmm, that is two votes for memory card, I wouldn't have guessed that myself, having never experienced memory card errors before. I am using a pair of new Lexar 32GB 800X pro CF cards with my new body, since I always format the card after download, I have lost track of which card I was using for this frame. I will have to label them "A" and "B" and keep my eyes peeled for another such incident.

I have asked Canon support for help on this, and given them the link to this thread. I will share any insights that they might be able to generate.


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Aug 6, 2013)

jhanken said:


> > Does the image show ok in the camera?
> 
> 
> 
> ...


 
Your description of the issue only happening to one image of many points toward a bad memory cell in your card. Being a new card makes it even more likely to be a issue with a corrupted memory cell on the card. When the card writes to that cell, it corrupts the image. The card averages writes over the entire memory, so it might only hit the bad cell once every several thousand images.
Formatting does nothing but place a entry in the fat table telling the camera that the card is empty, it does not test cells.
A low level format or erase will write to each cell and find bad cells. It can also take a very long time on a large card. (hours)


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## chris_w_digits (Aug 6, 2013)

I've had a similar artifact on exactly one image I've taken with my 5D Mark III over the past 10 months. It caused a rectangular area of the image to be corrupted in a manner similar to this. I've filled the memory card that was in use to capacity on several occasions since it happened and it's never happened again. I now have 3 cards instead of 1 and rotate between them (Sandisk brand).


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## deleteme (Aug 6, 2013)

Memory card problem.

I have had this problem occasionally over the years with a number of digital cameras. I had two Sandisk 16GB cards that gave me this problem with every outing so I exchanged them and everything is fine. I still get nervous at fast moving events though, knowing that a key shot may have this problem.

BTW it has never happened with my Ridata or Transcend cards, only Sandisk and Lexar.


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## drmikeinpdx (Aug 6, 2013)

I would also vote for a memory card problem. I haven't had one for many years, but I remember it well!


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## rpt (Aug 6, 2013)

drmikeinpdx said:


> I would also vote for a memory card problem. I haven't had one for many years, but I remember it well!


Yup! Change the card and verify.


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## jhanken (Aug 6, 2013)

You guys all rock! Thanks.


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## Elbows (Aug 6, 2013)

One question. Did you transfer the files using the USB connection on the camera? 

I've had multiple instances of corruption of files from my 1DX using USB. Ever since I started using a CF card reader I have not had any corruption on any of my cards.

If you haven't already formatted the card, try to download the same file using a card reader.

Hope this helps


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## tron (Aug 6, 2013)

Also if the file does not exist now, try to retrieve it by a recovery program - some SANDISK cards used to come with a license for such a program - and see if it is intact.


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## jhanken (Aug 7, 2013)

> One question. Did you transfer the files using the USB connection on the camera?



No, but I did do some monkeying around. I downloaded from CF to laptop to make initial post adjustments and free up my card. Then transferred from my laptop to my desktop via flash drive (Win Vista and Win 7 don't play nicely on the home network). I will have to look on the laptop to see if the file was corrupted there as well, there are many possible points of failure on this file.


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## Wilmark (Aug 7, 2013)

This has been discussed several times previously. I experienced this and made many changes, it only happened on one computer. When i changed the memory sticks on that computer the problem went away. In my case it definitely was not the memory card. As different light room imports showed different images having the problem and the artifacts never show on the camera.


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## Taemobig (Aug 7, 2013)

Happened to me once out of 80,000+ photos I took with my 5D mk3. I shot raw+jpg and the artifact only showed on the raw file. The jpg file was perfectly fine. I would upload the files but I don't remember which photo out of the 4tb of files it is.


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