Discussion Forum Leica S System S2 Any ideas on the purple line in the following images?
  • December 27, 2011 at 5:29 am #1767
    Arif

    Going through some of my recent pictures, I noticed this purple line and wanted to know if others have noticed it as well on their cameras or if I am doing something wrong. I am attaching pictures taken by two different lenses (35/120) so it is not a lens problem. It does not appear in all pictures but mainly in low light/pushed two+ stops. I do not see it at all when I have used good light.

    Thank you,
    Arif

    Attached files

  • December 27, 2011 at 2:14 pm #1771
    constable

    Hi Arif

    i may be being blind, but I can’t see a purple line?

    Ed

  • December 27, 2011 at 3:02 pm #1772
    hikemate

    i may be being blind, but I can’t see a purple line either

  • December 27, 2011 at 3:28 pm #1774
    Arif

    Sorry, I should have highlighted the line in the 100% crops which are reattached. Please find them between the red boxes in these pictures (you may have to double click them twice to see at 100% resolution).

    Apologies for the inconvenience,
    Arif

    Attached files

  • December 27, 2011 at 3:54 pm #1775
    constable

    Hi Arif

    OKnow I see it. I’ve never sen anything like that I’m afraid. Is it in the DNG?

    Ed

  • December 27, 2011 at 5:56 pm #1779
    andyc

    Hi Arif
    is this just a single line at exactly the same position each time ??
    it looks more like a fault with the Sensor if it is.. unlike a scratch which would be more prevalent the more you close the aperture on a lighter background.. I have not seen this before on a S2 but you need to have it checked out.. how old is the Body as a few Sensors became cracked in the early supplies including one of mine.. Andy

  • December 27, 2011 at 10:16 pm #1781
    hoppyman

    Hi Arif. I have the M9 not the S2. However similar artefacts have been rarely reported with the M8 and M9. In those instances it appears to be a problem with the sensor and its supporting electronics. It may only be evident in particular conditions (as you noted).
    The fix in those cases has been usually warranty priority repair by replacing the complete assembly. The electronics and processing in the S2 are quite different to that in the M’s of course.

    I recommend that you talk with your dealer promptly and include 100% crops as you have shown here.

  • December 27, 2011 at 11:27 pm #1783
    Mark Gowin

    Hi Arif,

    Unfortunately, I have seen this before except my line was green. I was able to show this problem on my camera to Stephan Shulz and Toni Felzner (S2 product managers) at the S2 studio event during PhotoPlus in NYC last October. They indicated that it can be fixed with a custom firmware. I choose to send my S2 back to Germany for repair since it was experiencing problem with the remote release port. You will have to contact Leica for resolution. Hopefully, the firmware approach will work for you. Basically all it entials is for you send Leica Germany an uncrompressed DNG photographed to their requirements (sorry I can’t recall them).

    Also, I can assure you that the line the photos you showed is not from a scratched sensor. I accidently scratched my sensor cover glass when cleaning and know exactly what that looks like in a photo.

  • December 28, 2011 at 1:48 am #1786
    Arif

    Ed, Andy, Geoff, and Mark,

    Thank you very much for the replies. Looking through more files, it seems to be in the same spot, is on the DNG, and is only on some files so seems like a sensor/electronics issue and not a cracked sensor issue. I recently had the electronics replaced due to minor issues (stuck menus) but that is not what caused it since I could also track a few older pictures with the same issue so I am thinking it must be related to the sensor as Mark stated. I am currently traveling so will get back to my dealer in a few weeks and am keeping my fingers crossed that a firmware will be able to do it.

    Mark, if you ever find the name/instructions for what to do/who to send to, then please send me a pm.

    Thank you all for taking the time to help me.
    Arif

  • December 28, 2011 at 10:51 pm #1790
    Stuart Richardson

    Hi Arif,
    Unluckily, I have had this before on 2 DMR’s, the M9 and on Imacon and Hasselblad scanners. This is a function of CCD’s and how they work. As crazy as it sounds, what is most likely happening here is that a random cosmic ray has struck one of the CCD pixel components and shorted it out. This causes a chain reaction down the pixel array resulting in the line you see there. It is not as uncommon as it sounds. The only way to fix this is to have Leica map out that pixel (basically, they assign it to act like the neighboring pixel…you would never notice the difference). This might be possible from a distance, or you might need to send the camera in. With my DMRs and M9, I had to send them in. With the M9, they just replaced the CCD under warranty. The Hasselblad and Imacon scanners allow you to calibrate the CCD in flexcolor. A Kodak rep explains this in the following youtube video (among other things). He gets to the issue at hand around the 8 minute mark. As he says, airline travel increases the problem, as does being near the poles (me in Iceland…not good), but it can happen anywhere. My DMRs got it in Japan and California, and the M9 here in Iceland. Not there one shot, there the next. : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98FZ8C6HneE

  • December 29, 2011 at 1:41 am #1792
    Arif

    Hi Stuart,

    Thank you very much for the detailed reply and for the link to the video which was very helpful, informational and very current. Seems like this is not a unique issue to the S2 and is possible on all electronic cameras/scanners. I will contact my dealer when I return to Tokyo and work out how to best handle this situation (firmware or sending the camera in). Will keep this group posted on the outcome.

    Thank you again for replying,
    Arif

  • January 7, 2012 at 9:54 pm #1831
    madmanchan

    Arif, I may also be able to help you regarding your current affected images (i.e., images that you’ve already shot that show the purple line). I have a software tool which I can use to patch bad (partial) columns/rows in the raw data. Let me know if you’re interested.

    Eric Chan
    Camera Raw Engineer

  • January 8, 2012 at 3:47 am #1833
    Mark Gowin

    Hi Eric,

    I had the same problem with my sensor and I pretty much just wrote off those images. Now that I know you have a software tool to correct the image I would like to go back through my affected images to see if if I have any I want to get you to fix for me if you don’t mind.

  • January 9, 2012 at 1:28 pm #1836
    Arif

    madmanchan;1682 wrote: Arif, I may also be able to help you regarding your current affected images (i.e., images that you’ve already shot that show the purple line). I have a software tool which I can use to patch bad (partial) columns/rows in the raw data. Let me know if you’re interested.

    Eric Chan
    Camera Raw Engineer

    Thank you very much Eric for your kind offer which I will be happy to accept. I will send you a pm separately.

    Thanks again,
    Arif

  • January 10, 2012 at 5:26 am #1845
    madmanchan

    Mark Gowin;1684 wrote: Hi Eric,

    I had the same problem with my sensor and I pretty much just wrote off those images. Now that I know you have a software tool to correct the image I would like to go back through my affected images to see if if I have any I want to get you to fix for me if you don’t mind.

    No problem, Mark. Please email me at [email]madmanchan2000@yahoo.com[/email] and we can follow up. (Good thing you saved the files!)

  • January 10, 2012 at 10:05 pm #1849
    Bob Moore

    Eric,

    Nice to see you here…loved your 3800 thread and the recent Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Park images.

    Bob

  • February 16, 2012 at 7:17 pm #1970
    madmanchan

    Hi all,

    An update: I have now written a free software utility (Mac only) to fix this problem for affected images — that is, images you’ve already shot which exhibit these artifacts.

    Here’s some informal documentation (overview, limitations, instructions, examples, etc.):

    http://people.csail.mit.edu/ericchan/tmp/FixBadPixels.pdf

    And here’s the software package, in case you want to give it a try:

    http://people.csail.mit.edu/ericchan/tmp/FixBadPixels.zip

    Eric

  • February 16, 2012 at 7:25 pm #1971
    Stuart Richardson

    Eric, this is genius! Thank you so much! This will be a great tool to have around. Hopefully I won’t need it, but it is very comforting to know it is there.

  • February 17, 2012 at 1:45 am #1972
    Mark Gowin

    Thank you so much for taking the time to write this software. I have suffered the purple line and have many affected images that will benefit from your software.

  • February 17, 2012 at 4:27 am #1975
    melantye

    madmanchan;1829 wrote: Hi all,

    An update: I have now written a free software utility (Mac only) to fix this problem for affected images — that is, images you’ve already shot which exhibit these artifacts.

    Here’s some informal documentation (overview, limitations, instructions, examples, etc.):

    http://people.csail.mit.edu/ericchan/tmp/FixBadPixels.pdf

    And here’s the software package, in case you want to give it a try:

    http://people.csail.mit.edu/ericchan/tmp/FixBadPixels.zip

    Eric

    Wow thanks Eric for this software!

  • February 17, 2012 at 6:01 am #1980
    Pete Walentin

    Thanks Eric. Great work.

  • February 17, 2012 at 12:34 pm #1985
    rgk

    Thank you Eric. I appreciate your efforts.

  • February 17, 2012 at 1:33 pm #1986
    Arif

    I must write and give a special thanks to Eric for all his help. He was most generous of his time and it was a pleasure to get to know him.
    Thank you again,
    Arif

  • February 18, 2012 at 5:49 am #1994
    Doug

    Eric, thank you very much; this will be handy.

    Doug

  • February 18, 2012 at 10:34 am #1996
    pophoto

    Thank you. I don’t own a S2 or have this problem. However, I was blown away to see someone contribute to this thread with such generosity and kindness to the community with the software. Sir, you are awesome!

  • February 27, 2012 at 8:34 pm #2052
    albireo_double

    I had the same problem with my S2 (two lines – one magenta, one green). Was diagnosed as dead pixels; sensor was replaced under warranty; repair took about 10 days incl. shipping. Good to see there is a software solution to fix the affected files but sensor replacement under warranty is the permanent solution.

  • May 29, 2013 at 10:05 am #3909
    noamc

    Hi, I just notticed this problem last day on my m9p
    a line of less than half the image of red dead pixel…
    i’ve tried the software of madman but once i want to fix images, after entering the numbers of the pixel as asked by the application, it writes me that the file format is invalid…. and i drag a dng coming from a leica m9

    any idea why ?
    I really need to fix many images that need to be printed and i don’t want to send for the moment my camera to germany to be fixed, last time i sent it for something else, it last 7 weeks for me to get back my camera !!!! i am a bit disapointed by leica, investing so much money in a camera and having much trouble ……….

    thanks for your help,

    Noam

  • May 29, 2013 at 8:13 pm #3910
    peterv

    Noam, I don’t know for sure if this will help, but I’d try too convert the M9 DNG in the free Adobe DNG converter before using Eric Chan’s software. See if that works …

  • June 1, 2013 at 10:32 am #3916
    noamc

    thanks for your answer, I ‘ve tried to convert with the adobe software but I still have the mistake….
    I am really disapointed I have some massive works to shoot very soon with this camera and I can’t imagine to fix file file….
    please any help again ??

  • June 1, 2013 at 4:53 pm #3917
    peterv

    You’d probably get more answers and possibly remedies over at the LUF M9 forum.

    http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/leica-m9-forum/

    All the best!

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