Why are some of my photos coming out almost completely purple?

Question

Some of photos that I took look like this one. Look at the purple picture, it is supposed to be exactly the same as the one on the right-wall, window, etc. Nothing purple in it at all. This happens more often in open air / sunny weather but from time to time it happens randomly as well. I noticed that chances are higher if I take longer to focus/zoom, etc. At other times, photos look perfect. I tried to reset everything, adjust white colour settings, etc, but it does not seem to help much. I also tried different memory cards and still having the same problem.

My camera is Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZX1 and I'm shooting JPEG.

Answer 1

From the Exif Info,
The normal photo has exposure 1/60s, ISO 80 and f4.9 without flash, focal length 13.6mm.
The purple one has exposure 1/60s, ISO 1000 and f5.9 with flash, focal length 33mm. This picture should have been overexposed by at least 3 stops + flash if you had taken it with the same lighting as the normal picture.

Its possible that the flash is throwing off your white balance... it could also be that the camera thinks that that it is using a flash (while it does not fire) and over compensates for the white balance.

I would check the Exif info of all the ones that are purple, see if it says flash is on and may be that is the reason it ended up messing up your white balance.

Answer 2

I would say 100% you have a faulty camera or memory card. (assuming they appear like this on both the camera and computer)

Try another memory card, failing that take your camera back to the shop.

Answer 3

Googleplus did not let me see your photo(s). Says I have no right to use the service. Anyway, your problem sounds familiar to me. The purple disturbances on photos could well come from faulty connector between the sensor and the cable that connects sensor to processor. Temperature affects the connection, as well as air humidity. You notice more purpled images when shooting in sunshine where camera gets warm, the same when you take your time with taking shots and your hands warm the camera as well as the energy consumption of the camera itself generates warmth while keeping ready to shoot. Sometimes it is not so obvious.

You can not fix the cable connection to sensor by yourself. I tried to do it on my Canon Powershot, but obviously it was not enough to just hold the cable and give it a feeble "shake". I've been told there is no fix but to replace the sensor, which is a job for repair shop. I'll try to take look at your example shot later.