5D Mark II Banding Problem – Why has the lord forsaken us?

It looks like the global economic crisis has struck again here at Canon. First it brought us the black dots from hell, and now it appears we’re having a banding problem with the sensor in the 5D Mark II. In addition to the black dots emails, I am now also getting a steady stream of emails from users regarding this issue with sample images. At high ISO, I wouldn’t be surprised to see this, but it appears this also happens as low as ISO 100 and ISO 200 from the samples I’ve seen.

100% crops from 3 images showing the banding/pattern issue

This issue is currently being discussed on DPReview and Photo.net with plenty of samples posted there. From what I’ve seen so far, it appears this issue might be related to the color blotches problem other users are reporting, which seem to be visible in darker parts of pictures taken with the 5D Mark II. I haven’t been able to check this problem myself because I’ve been busy..uh… evaluating…. a Nikon D3x for the last few days (more on this later). But I want to let everyone know that I’ve been forwarding all the data to Japan, and have also been CC-ing Maeda with every email. I’ve been promised another official response in the “very near future” so let’s wait and see.

Any hope that I had left for the 5D Mark II is now completely gone. We’re fucked here at Canon, and we’ll be fucked for most of 2009 from what I see. I do wonder how it is that Nikon is able to produce such clean, sharp and smooth looking images with the 24MP sensor in the D3x. The 100% crops look incredible. And there’s none of that banding and blotchy color noise we have, not even in the shadows! How on earth are they doing it?? No wonder they’re asking $8000 for a D3x.

And like Fake Ken Rockwell has reported, I do have a D3 and recently got my D3x as well, but it’s not what you think. I actually have those cameras for …um… competitive analysis and comparisons. As you may know, it’s important to be aware of what the competition is doing, so that we may formulate an adequate response in the future. This is why you might have seen me taking pictures of Ying and Anna with a D3 when we’re out having fun. But that’s just me evaluating the competition in my own time. That’s how dedicated I am to my work here at Canon. I even fund all of this myself.

Anyway, even though the 5D Mark II seems to be having issues (as a result of the global economic crisis, of course), demand still appears to be high and many people are still waiting to receive their copy. Thomas Hawk posted a chatlog where he discusses this problem with someone from Wolf Camera. I guess you should have ordered from Amazon or Adorama, right Thomas? By the way, we’ve been absolutely enjoying your pictures here at Canon, do keep up the good work.

Ok that’s it for now. If anyone needs me, I’ll be in my office…err… evaluating… the D3x and reporting to Maeda on my findings.