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I have an issue with my Nikon D3100:

Some of the shots show lines over the long edge. At first I thought it was only happening when using the Sigma 70-200, but after some thorough testing it appears to happen with my Nikkor lenses (18-55mm, 35mm) also. Sometimes it is just a few lines, other times it´s many.

I´ve been in touch with Sigma and they tell me it is probably my sensor suffering from interference of the sound equipment used at concerts. That was easy to dismiss, performing tests in different situations.

Then I contacted Nikon and they tell me it is probably due to my SD card. Well, I use several (SanDisk, Kingston) and the problem shows with every card. Currently, I can throw away about 25% of the shots taken at every session.

My question to you is to please look at the sample shots and tell me if any of you has seen this before? If so, what was the solution (if any)? What are your thoughts?

shot with Sigma 70-200 @ 200mm, f/2.8, 1/250sec, ISO3200

shot with Sigma 70-200 @ 120mm, f/2.8, 1/400sec, ISO3200

Photo 1 shot with Sigma 70-200 @ 200mm, f/2.8, 1/250sec, ISO3200

Photo 2 shot with Sigma 70-200 @ 120mm, f/2.8, 1/400sec, ISO3200

Thank you for your time.

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Is this visible in other situations, eg outdoors? – Darkcat Studios Dec 7 '12 at 12:21
Unfortunately, yes... At first I didn´t notice. It looks like there is some relation to the shutter speed and outdoors I usually got a very high shutter speed considering the Portuguese sun. But that is something I can not test during concerts, unless there is really a lot of stage lighting, which is usually not the case ;-) – Ron Dec 7 '12 at 14:07
Just got a message from a fellow shooter, who saw it a few times with a D7000 and a 300mm zoom, but never with his D3100. – Ron Dec 7 '12 at 14:08
1  
It's hard to tell what's going on with cropped images (we have no way of knowing whether the position and band size is consistent) but I have to tell you it does look an awful lot like RFI (assuming a horizontal scan read sequence), so the Sigma folks weren't just trying to blow smoke up your nether orifice. If the bands are the same size and in the same position in every frame (perhaps varying in intensity), I might suspect a read/addressing problem. If it changes from frame to frame and there are no colour artifacts, it could be a slightly stuttering shutter curtain. – Stan Rogers Dec 9 '12 at 3:33
Thanks Stan,Position and band size is inconsistent, some frames non-existent, no colour artifacts, so – Ron Dec 9 '12 at 10:40
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1 Answer

up vote 1 down vote

It looks like a clear example of sensor damage. My old friend's Nikon got something similar.

You need to contact Nikon service to get your camera fixed. There isn't anything you can do yourself, nor should you attempt any repairs as you might lose the warranty, or cause further damage only increasing repair costs.

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Thanks for all your input, people.Last week got the camera back from Nikon Repair... The say they fixed it, calibrated the camera, etc, etc, etc. Problem solved? No, obviously not. – Ron Jan 31 at 19:04
By now, the camera has been back and forth to the techies several times and apparently it is impossible to convince them that there is really something not right with the sensor. Calibrated, re-calibrated, cleaned, etc. – Ron Apr 21 at 10:54
I´ve heard every possible excuse, ranging from high ISO noise to slow shutter to SD card problems (that last one made me laugh so hard it hurt) Decided to step up to a D7000; using the same lenses ... no problem so far. It´s sad really that manufacturers can get away with this. Only `solace´ is that a friend with a pro Canon had the same kind of probs and also gave up. – Ron Apr 21 at 11:00

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