Anybody know what's causing these white bands in my photos?

Ohio-Web-Design · Oct 1, 2008

Friends,

I have a Canon Digital Rebel that I've owned for about 3 years. For the past year or more, whenever I shoot a photo that has lighter colors -- such as a photo with the sky in it -- I'm getting a white band across my photo. It's always the exact same arc, in exactly the same place in my camera.

I just ordered a new 55-200mm lens, and I was hopeful that I wouldn't have the same problem - which would suggest that my 18-55mm lens was the problem. Unfortunately, the lens arrived today and I'm seeing the same white band with photos shot on the new lens, which tells me it must be coming from the body.

Here's an example... a quick, crappy photo I shot a moment ago out my office window, just to demonstrate the problem. The first image is the actual photo, the second image I exaggerated the problem in Photoshop so you were sure to see the problem area.

So... does anybody have an idea of what might be causing this? Is there an easy fix, or am I going to need to replace the camera body to eliminate it?

tasman · Oct 1, 2008

Could be something in front of the sensor. Does it happen on all of the photos?

Ohio-Web-Design · Oct 1, 2008

It's apparent on all photos that have light colors in it. I saw it a lot this summer when shooting photos at the beach... the light sand, the blue sky, things like that all make it pretty clear. Indoor shots of close up objects I've never had a problem with.

Big Mike · Oct 1, 2008

Welcome to the forum.

Have you cleaned your sensor?

When shooting bright things, or in bright light, you will be more likely to be using a smaller aperture (larger F number) and that will mean that dust & debris on the sensor will be more visible because of the increased Depth of Field.

I can't say for certain, if this is something on your sensor (on the glass in front of the actual sensor) or if it's a problem with the sensor itself. It could even be a light leak in the camera body.

If you haven't cleaned your sensor, then I'd do that first. It's something that needs to be done on these cameras from time to time. Search the forum and/or internet for 'sensor cleaning' and you should get all the info and instructions you need to do the job yourself.

Ohio-Web-Design · Oct 1, 2008

Thanks for the quick responses. I took the camera into my local camera shop this afternoon. I got a brush and some solution to clean the sensor as Big Mike suggested. I persuaded a knowledgeable photographer who worked there to actually clean it for me to ensure it was done right.

After getting everything clean, we were still seeing the white band. They called their repair guy, and he thought the CCD sensor probably needs replaced/repaired to solve the problem - and they suggested that would start in the $300 range. :grumpy:

We're headed to Acadia National Park on Friday, and there's no way I'm going during peak fall color season without a camera. So I bit the bullet and walked out with a new Canon Rebel XS. That certainly wasn't the plan for the day, but unfortunately it wasn't looking promising to revive the old camera.

So if anybody is looking to buy a Canon Digital Rebel extremely inexpensively, drop me a line... :wink: