Horizontal banding on Canon 550d

[Gerry Casa Christiana]

Hello all

 Hello all

Just wanted to ask if this has happened to any of you before and what did you do about it I have noticed that for the last couple of sessions I have been having horizontal banding  on my pictures. Could this be a cable issue or is it because the temperatures are warmer?  Any ideas?

Thanks

 

Gerry

[Davey-T]

There are a few threads on this problem if you do a search.

Dave

[Gerry Casa Christiana]

Yes I've seen but nothing seems conclusive. Some say could be cable others sensors but nothing much more. Strange as it's never happened before. Thanks

[Stub Mandrel]

Usually its temperature related, makes them much worse.

Noel Carboneri has an action that virtually eliminates them from finished images.

Darks help too, if taken at a similar temperature.

[Gerry Casa Christiana]

21 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

Usually its temperature related, makes them much worse.

Noel Carboneri has an action that virtually eliminates them from finished images.

Darks help too, if taken at a similar temperature.

Already got that tool set but does not work!

[Stub Mandrel]

47 minutes ago, Gerry Casa Christiana said:

Already got that tool set but does not work!

Can you post an example?

[Gerry Casa Christiana]

19 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

Can you post an example?

Here is the processed file I'll have to get on the laptop to get a unprocessed one I tried with those tools but I managed to mostly get rid of them by curves. I hope it's not to carry on. I'm using a small 4 port USB hub so next time I'm going to try without it. Trying to eliminate things. 

[prusling]

Hi Gerry,  I've recently started suffering from banding with my Canon 550d. In my case this manifests itself as two parallel darker horizontal lines, each a number of pixels wide annoyingly just below the centre of each image.

After initially not finding much about this on the web, and assuming it was a sensor fault and that I'd need to replace the camera, I discovered that 'Canon banding' is not uncommon. I also discovered a fix - a free program called Fitswork4 that amongst many other useful functions can process the FITS output from DSS and remove the banding; the function to do this is Processing, Background Flatten, Lines to Equal Values. I use the default parameters and it removes the banding without seeming to do much (if any) harm to the rest of the image.

Hope this works for you.

[Stub Mandrel]

You did a good job, I can barely see the lines. This is after Noel's horizontal banding noise reduction:

[Gerry Casa Christiana]

12 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

You did a good job, I can barely see the lines. This is after Noel's horizontal banding noise reduction:

The banding reduction did help but some fancy curves did it in the end. I'll be trying different cables and such and ill post the results if I can find any solutions 

[Gerry Casa Christiana]

18 hours ago, prusling said:

Hi Gerry,  I've recently started suffering from banding with my Canon 550d. In my case this manifests itself as two parallel darker horizontal lines, each a number of pixels wide annoyingly just below the centre of each image.

After initially not finding much about this on the web, and assuming it was a sensor fault and that I'd need to replace the camera, I discovered that 'Canon banding' is not uncommon. I also discovered a fix - a free program called Fitswork4 that amongst many other useful functions can process the FITS output from DSS and remove the banding; the function to do this is Processing, Background Flatten, Lines to Equal Values. I use the default parameters and it removes the banding without seeming to do much (if any) harm to the rest of the image.

Hope this works for you.

Yes mine is very similar. Quite dark lines. I'll try the solution you said. I'm still hoping it's not something permanent. 

[prusling]

When you click on the function it applies the default parameters then displays the parameters in case you wish to make changes. I just save the modified file at that point. Hope it works for you.

[Gerry Casa Christiana]

5 minutes ago, prusling said:

When you click on the function it applies the default parameters then displays the parameters in case you wish to make changes. I just save the modified file at that point. Hope it works for you.

I'll certainly give it a try!

[carastro]

I can't see any banding in the above images.

I haven't done much DSLR imaging for a few years now, but when I was, I recall being told to remove the SD card from the camera if you are downloading directly to the PC as something electronic happens in the download causing the bands to appear when stretched. 

I subsequently removed the card and seemed to make a significant difference.  This might be different sort of banding we are talking about here though.  But might be worth a try.

Carole 

[Gerry Casa Christiana]

48 minutes ago, carastro said:

I can't see any banding in the above images.

I haven't done much DSLR imaging for a few years now, but when I was, I recall being told to remove the SD card from the camera if you are downloading directly to the PC as something electronic happens in the download causing the bands to appear when stretched. 

I subsequently removed the card and seemed to make a significant difference.  This might be different sort of banding we are talking about here though.  But might be worth a try.

Carole 

Thanks! I'll try that too. Excellent 

[emyliano2000]

I get the banding on both my 450d and 600d. It's much worse on the 600d and it shows when the sensor temperature it's quite high. It's ok in the winter months when the sensor is quite cold but now it's a nightmare. Noel Carboni's Astronomy tools don't always do the job. It's bad, very bad and hard to process. I didn't process this photo because of the banding. With my lack os processing experience I can't do anything about it. It's ashame, it would make a good photo.

[michael8554]

Just this week I happen to have been in contact with one of the UK Canon camera modders concerning banding on my camera.

Among the suggestions for cause and cure were:

Earth the mount with a metal tent peg or copper pipe driven into the ground, connected to the mount with decent cable. The inference is that with metal connections the ota and camera will be earthed too.

Clip carbon beads around the power and data cables.

I've earthed my mount but haven't had a chance to buy the beads or try my 600D but I will report back.

Michael

[Stub Mandrel]

10 hours ago, emyliano2000 said:

It's bad, very bad and hard to process.

I tried to sort your image, using a screen grab, your original would

probably perform better.

First with Noels banding removal, some noise reduction then layers for levels and curves with a 'flat' part at the left to even out the noise in the background, then lifted the colour a bit. Beats any picture I've done of M101:

[michael8554]

10 hours ago, michael8554 said:

Clip carbon beads around the power and data cables.

I meant Ferrite beads

Michael

[ollypenrice]

Good job from Neil. When using Noel's banding tool be sure to use it as a layer so that any harm it does (often creating lines from bright stars) can be rescued by the unmodified layer.

The Photoshop curve below works like this: the middle point of the three in a line is the average background sky level. The points just above and below it have been brought level with it to flatten out any banding. Try this curve on a bottom layer. Go back to the top layer and use the colour select tool to pick out the background sky and erase it with the eraser. Use the lowest opacity eraser you can, just enough to kill the banding. The repaired sky will probably look unnaturally smooth so don't be afraid to use the Add Noise filter carefully to bring its noise back up to a reasonable level.

Like any cosmetic fix it's a last resort but throwing away data is rather sad!

Olly

[tooth_dr]

The depth of knowledge of you guys is immense, never fails to impress me the little tips and tricks you know.  I've been fortunate, and have never seen any banding from any of my Canons.

[Gerry Casa Christiana]

I believe Carol also said to me to remove the SD card. It's another possibility to try. I've recently seen it on mine when I changed laptop but I'm not convinced it's that. When I've done some thorough testing I'll also report back if I can see changes. 

Thanks 

Gerry

[emyliano2000]

Wow, you guys know your photoshop. I don't know how to use the layers. Need to get a book or something to learn a bit more about it. 

2 hours ago, ollypenrice said:

throwing away data is rather sad!

I never throw away my data. I keep them for whenever I have enough experience to go back to them and fix the problems.

[Gerry Casa Christiana]

2 hours ago, ollypenrice said:

Good job from Neil. When using Noel's banding tool be sure to use it as a layer so that any harm it does (often creating lines from bright stars) can be rescued by the unmodified layer.

The Photoshop curve below works like this: the middle point of the three in a line is the average background sky level. The points just above and below it have been brought level with it to flatten out any banding. Try this curve on a bottom layer. Go back to the top layer and use the colour select tool to pick out the background sky and erase it with the eraser. Use the lowest opacity eraser you can, just enough to kill the banding. The repaired sky will probably look unnaturally smooth so don't be afraid to use the Add Noise filter carefully to bring its noise back up to a reasonable level.

Like any cosmetic fix it's a last resort but throwing away data is rather sad!

Olly

That's almost exactly the curve I did  I found it by trial and error. 

[ollypenrice]

Photoshop works well if you think in first principles about what you want to achieve. Then it's just a matter of knowing the tools in the PS toolbox and working out which ones to use. As in most things, think first, click later!

Olly