Why do severely underexposed Sony RAW/JPEG images show a dark circle in the center?
Asked 4/21/2025
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When I heavily underexpose an image on my Sony a7 III and then brighten it later, I sometimes see a dark circular area in the center of the frame, with faint larger rings outside it. I’ve also noticed this on a Sony a6500 with other lenses, and I can sometimes see it in the EVF in very dark scenes. What causes this, and is it related to lens or in-camera corrections?
Originally by user139501. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user139501
1y ago
2 Answers
4
In the Camera Settings Menu1 there is a lens compensation (Lens Comp.) item, and under that there is a Shading Comp. menu item. If that is set to Auto the camera tries to compensate for uneven relative illumination (the combination of vignetting and rolloff).
My understanding is that this correction is applied to the raw data in Sony cameras; at least partially (unlike distortion/chromatic corrections). It may also be being applied/exasperated by the rendering software also applying corrections.
Originally by Steven Kersting. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Steven Kersting
1y ago
0
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This is most likely a lens shading/peripheral illumination correction issue rather than sensor damage. On Sony cameras, Lens Comp. > Shading Comp. can be set to Auto, and that correction may affect both JPEGs and, at least partly, RAW rendering. If the correction is wrong or over-applied, brightening a very underexposed image can reveal a darker center and circular bands.
A second possibility is that your RAW software is applying the wrong lens profile, especially if a third-party lens reports itself as a different native lens. Then the software may apply the wrong falloff correction, which becomes obvious when you push exposure hard.
What to try:
- Turn Shading Comp. off and test again.
- Check whether your RAW converter is applying a lens profile automatically.
- Compare RAW vs JPEG with all lens corrections disabled.
- If using a third-party lens, verify lens identification/profile behavior.
Because you only see it in very dark, heavily pushed files, the artifact is likely correction-related and exaggerated by extreme underexposure.
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