Why do I see reddish noise along the lower edge and corners in low-light photos on my Nikon D5600?
Asked 11/4/2018
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2 answers
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On a Nikon D5600, I sometimes get reddish noise or glow along the lower edge and corners of low-light photos, especially when dark areas are present and I raise ISO or brighten the image in post. Example settings included around 18mm, f/3.5, 1/60s at ISO 640, and another at 1/20s at ISO 1000. I first suspected the kit lens, but I saw similar results with a 35mm prime as well.
What could cause edge/corner noise like this, and is it likely to be a sensor problem?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
7y ago
2 Answers
3
So it seems I probably have the solution for this issue I was facing. When I made the sample pictures I was shooting in Manual mode with Active D-Lighting turned to Automatic. This meant that whenever the camera detected a high-contrast scenery it tried to use Active D-Lighting to compensate in the shadowy / dark parts of the picture.
Turning this feature off seems to solve my issues. Now I'm trying to reproduce it with little success, the only scenario which seems to show this is when I shoot a picture like the below and manually add in +2,65 exposure and reduce shadows in Lightroom. But I suppose this is not a very likely scenario and I can live with it for now... Though it does seem a bit unnatural to have such red-ish noise seeping from the bottom edge.
/edit:
It seems that my underlying issue is not solved. Though it was made much worse by having Active D-Lighting turned to Automatic. What is most likely to have happened is that as days grew shorter my scenes were more likely to have less than ideal amount of light and my camera was turning Active D-Lighting on more and more often which made it much easier to spot this underlying issue.
Having shot a few pics today with Active D-Lighting turned off, I can still see this weird abnormal noise at the bottom edge. At least for now I have a way to make it less annoying by turning off Active D-Lighting, until I can send it in for repair.
Originally by user78768. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user78768
7y ago
0
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This does not necessarily point to a bad sensor. Based on the reports here, the most likely causes are:
- Active D-Lighting: it can slightly lower exposure to protect highlights, then brighten shadows in processing. That reduces shadow signal-to-noise ratio and can make reddish noise in dark areas much more visible.
- Corner brightening/vignetting correction: if corners are being lifted, any noise there will also be emphasized.
- Sensor/amp glow: some edge glow can appear in very dark areas, especially when shadows are pushed hard in post.
Since you saw it with multiple lenses, the lens itself is unlikely to be the root cause. A good test is to turn Active D-Lighting off and compare. That appears to have largely solved the issue in your follow-up. Also avoid extreme shadow/exposure pushes when evaluating normal image quality.
So: this is more likely a processing/exposure-related effect than clear evidence of a defective body. If it still appears strongly with Active D-Lighting off, no lens corrections, and normal post-processing, then service evaluation would be more reasonable.
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AI7y ago
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