A6300 Banding Issue

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I received a second hand Zeis 24mm 1.8 lens today that I bought on ebay. I'm staying in a hotel in London tonight so brought my camera along for a couple of test shots. There was very noticeable banding when I looked at some of the images in the screen on the back of the camera. They are also noticeable on the images (although less so). Is this likely to be a lens issue a sensor issue or something else? I have seen similar on an Canon 24mm FD Lens that I bought and used with an adapter on the same camera.

Images are shot at f2.2. at 125 sec auto iso (round about 3200)

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by G4lly on Talk Photography



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by G4lly on Talk Photography
 
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Well I did wonder that but I also see it on this outside shot (again more noticeable on the sreen)


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by G4lly on Talk Photography


That also has fluorescent lights and the shutter speed is high enough to capture its flicker. I'd try using natural light to rule out out this possibility before going any further.
 
I agree that it's probably an artefact of the lighting.

But to answer the original question, I can't see any way that the lens could be responsible for large scale artefacts like this. If the lighting isn't the cause then I'd expect it to be a camera problem rather than a lens problem.

So a comprehensive plan is:
1. Take shots in natural light to see whether the banding still exists.
2. If it does, try a different lens and this will show whether the sensor or the lens is causing it.
3. If it doesn't, go back to those artificially lit places and shoot with a shutter speed of 1/50th or 1/25th. That matches the frequency of the lighting flicker so should eliminate any artefacts.
 
Were you using the electronic shutter? If you were turn it off and use the mechanical shutter and see if the problem goes away.

I've seen banding caused by flickering lighting when using my Panasonic's with the electronic shutter but never with the mechanical shutter and I think this is the case with other cameras with electronic shutters too.

On the theory that it could be the lens... Unlikely as this sounds it can happen, for example the Panasonic 20mm f1.7 is known to cause noise banding at higher ISO's and I've never read an explanation of why but as one of the lenses is a purely mechanical FD I don't know how that could cause any sensor issues.
 
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Were you using the electronic shutter? If you were turn it off and use the mechanical shutter and see if the problem goes away.

I've seen banding caused by flickering lighting when using my Panasonic's with the electronic shutter but never with the mechanical shutter and I think this is the case with other cameras with electronic shutters too.

On the theory that it could be the lens... Unlikely as this sounds it can happen, for example the Panasonic 20mm f1.7 is known to cause noise banding at higher ISO's and I've never read an explanation of why but as one of the lenses is a purely mechanical FD I don't know how that could cause any sensor issues.

Yes I was using the electronic shutter. I will do some testing with this and also with Stewart's suggestions. Thanks for the advice. Will post my findings.
 
Yes I was using the electronic shutter. I will do some testing with this and also with Stewart's suggestions. Thanks for the advice. Will post my findings.

Well I hope switching to the mechanical shutter fixes it. If this is the cause it's not just a Sony problem as it happens with other cameras too.

AFAIK the problem with electronic shutters and artificial lighting is that the electronic shutter is too slow and thus catches the changes in lighting caused by the flickering lights whereas the mechanical shutter is faster and avoids the issue. Anyway, hope that's it. I've had banding ruin shots so I'm now careful to switch to the mechanical shutter if I suspect banding could be an issue.
 
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