topic Re: [RX100] Sensor Problem with strong light conditions ? in Cyber-shot compact cameras

[RX100] Sensor Problem with strong light conditions ?

SebCau — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 22:23:30 GMT

It will be difficult to explain with correct technical words my problem, but it was a big deception to see the poor quality of my photos (chromatic aberration, visible pixels in blue sky, quality in borders, ...).

Sure the luminosity in moutain is hard, but i thought i had an "expert compact" ...

Photo was shoot with :

Best quality (RAW)

ISO 125,

1/800s,

F/8,

Landscape mode

Please see attached files :

-> a 100% crop with AcdSee Pro, Please note peripherals whith awfull chromatic aberation, pixels in the sky, poor quality.

-> Small preview : you can see a red tint on left side, that appears on all my mountain photos, but not visible in normal light conditions.

-> RAW file for full informations

Is this normal ?

Do I bring back my camera to the shop as i can get my money back ?

Thanks !

Re: [RX100] Sensor Problem with strong light conditions ?

SebCau — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 22:27:29 GMT

Can't send RAW file nor ZIp..

So the second JPEG ...

And you can download zip file here : www.sebcau.com/Pblm_Sony-RX100.zip

Re: [RX100] Sensor Problem with strong light conditions ?

Mick2011 — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 08:53:55 GMT

Hi there, welcome to the Sony Forums

I've had a good look at this (thanks for the link to the raw file) and I'm pretty sure it's your raw convertor that's not delivering the basic processing of the file as a default. I've processed the same file with Adobe DNG Converter (a free download available here) and while the controls are pretty much non-existent, using the default conversion all of the CA is gone, sharpness is improved and the noise (it's not pixellation) is more neutral. I've done nothing but click 'process' and crop the file as you did:

All but the very best lenses exhibit noticeable CA, especially in bright, high-contrast situations like this, but when you shoot jpegs the camera automatically corrects for it, in much the same way as Adobe DNG Converter and most raw conversion apps are able to correct it as a default setting.

I always shoot raw and deal with all noise and CA issues in Lightroom, which is basically a highly customisable variant on what most cameras do when you set them to shoot Jpeg. The noise you see here you'll never see in a camera jpeg, but you'll be able to make a much more acceptable job of correcting it with a good converter.

I see the edge softness but again, this is very typical of a results from a quality compact camera. I have a £1500 Nikon lens that's not much sharper, this close to the edge of the frame. You can't really fix this in the processing but it may be that capturing with a slower shutter and a smaller aperture will improve it.

The red tint is a little odd. Again, it's not as visible in the Adobe conversion and could be another lens aberration that can be avoided by shielding the lens with your hand, to stop the sun creating flare when it's to one side, as it is here. If that doesn't help you might need to get it checked out. Without further examples it's hard to say if the red cast is due to lens flare or a sensor fault, but I strongly suspect the former.

I hope that helps understand what's going one here. It can be disconcerting, to say the least, seeing what your camera is recording as a raw file, but most of it is correctable with a decent app and good practice

Cheers

Mick

Re: [RX100] Sensor Problem with strong light conditions ?

SebCau — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 09:44:39 GMT

Hi Mick, thanks for this great full answer !

About the red tint, i'm quite sure it's not another lens aberation, because that always appears on the same side, as if i changed of point of view and if i turn camera to shoot vertical pictures...

Anyway, Thanks again for the time you took to answer me about the other "problems" i had !

Cheers.

Seb.

Re: [RX100] Sensor Problem with strong light conditions ?

Mick2011 — Sat, 08 Dec 2012 09:08:55 GMT

You're welcome, Seb

I'm pretty sure that is a lens anomaly, especially if it's always on the left: that would seem to rule out a sensor fault, which would indicate a repair needed. You can correct it using an image panipulation program but it looks faint enough that you wouldn't notice it unless you have a whole frame of white-to-neutral background, as you have in your example above.

Hope you get a chance to try out some raw processing and get the results you want.

Cheers

Mick