Digital Artifacting with 5DmkII (diagnosing the problem)

Canon DSLR Cameras

Digital Artifacting with 5DmkII (diagnosing the problem)

Posted by Jared Mcneil on February 26, 2016 at 9:18 pm

So I’m finding, more and more frequently, some digital artifacting with both 5DmkIIs I work with. At first I saw it on one camera in particular, now I see it on both. I’m beginning to think it’s my CF cards, I hope it’s not the cameras. I’m not really sure what the problem is and could use your help figuring it out.

Below are the details.

Current cards in review:
SanDisk Extreme Pro 32gb 160mb/s UDMA 7
Transcend CF 32gb 400x UDMA 7
The cards are about 3-4 years old with over 100,000 actuations, that’s probably a low ball estimate, God knows how much video I’ve shot on them. Maybe they’re just getting old?

Here’s an example of the artifacts I’m finding from both cameras, see the bottom of the screenshots:

Camera 1 with Transcend CF card
Canon 5D mkII, EF 24-70mm, 4.5f, 24 fps, 100 iso, cinestyle color profile – mounted on glidecam:

Camera 2 with Sandisk CF card
Canon 5D mkII EF 24-105mm, 4.5f, 24 fps, 800 iso, cinestyle color profile – Mounted on tripod:

I also find some crazy glitching from time-to-time with stills. Not sure if it’s related, but this is what it looks like:

The fact that these two examples have artifacting at the bottom is coincidental. I can provide examples when it happens on people’s faces, or to the majority of the frame. I have noticed that it happens when associated with movement.

Thanks for the help!

Jared Mcneil replied 10 years, 2 months ago 2 Members · 2 Replies
2 Replies

Warren Eig
February 28, 2016 at 5:56 pm

I had this happen to me years ago with Lexar cards that were brand new with the first 5D (the one that didn’t shoot video). I contacted Lexar and they explained they need to update the firmware on the cards. Sent them back and never had the problem again.

The samples you sent look like drop out and because h.264 is GOP it is making up the missing info from other frames. Perhaps a call to Sandisk to see if they can look at the cards? Have you tried to blow air into the camera card bay to clean out any dust on the contacts in the camera? It could be the cards failing or the contact in the camera.

If this happens all the time, I’d get hold of a new CF card and see if the problem goes away. If it does, it could be your old cards. If it doesn’t it might be the cameras.

Also a rule of them, I use a Brother labeler and label each card. This way I know what card captured what footage. If I see an issue I can monitor the card. If there is no label they get mixed up and you don’t know what card could be problematic.

HTH.

Warren Eig
O 310-470-0905

email: info@babyboompictures.com
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For Camera Accessories – Monitors and Batteries
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Jared Mcneil
February 29, 2016 at 9:42 pm

Hey Warren,

Thanks for the feedback. I haven’t tried what you’ve suggested. It probably is the CF cards, they’re old and have seen plenty of use. I’ll give their prospective companies a call and in the mean time try new cards.

It’s strange that it’s both cameras with different CF cards. One camera I travel with more frequently and shoot outdoors with more. If it was that one then I could consider dust as the problem. But both? Definitely worth cleaning though just to make sure.

And thanks for the H.264 tip. I learned something new about codecs today. 🙂

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