Canon EOS R7 distortion/compression on images shooting RAW??

[cadams]

Hi all,

Earlier this year I made the switch from EOS 90D to R7. I've had some success using the camera but I seem to be encountering this very frustrating distortion behind my images when shooting both RAW and JPEG.

I'm not asking for editing advice as I strongly believe it is related to the camera itself and this is more so an operational post. I've seen these wavy lines on JPEG images but never with RAW however.


My equipment is: EOS R7, RF 18-150mm, EF-EOS R mount adapter, EF 70-200mm, EF 100-400mm.

I shoot regular RAW. They come out at 6960x4640 pixels.


Could anyone shed light on the wavy lines behind the aircraft and different colours? It seems to mostly occur when shooting with the sky behind the aircraft. It appears worse when a clear blue sky.

I have had these wavy lines using the RF lens and the EF lenses so I highly doubt it's related to the lenses.

It seems the further I zoom in, the worse it looks and that is the case also using both RF and EF lenses.

I've tried turning off all in-camera settings, but to no avail. The images still turn out the same.

I also looked at shooting JPEG but the images look even worse.


Was hoping there could be anyone to explain this issue and either how to fix or whether I should look at using another camera?

As the EOS R7 is an APS-C camera, could this have anything to do with the cropped frame? Or could it be with the R range of Canon cameras? Highly unlikely it would be all of them?

Very frustrating as I love the image quality that the R7 produces.


Here are some example images:

I've tried to include different images from wide focal lengths and all the way to 400mm.

NOTE: Original UNEDITED RAW only cropped in for viewing purposes + Jetphotos equalised versions to illustrate







I look forward to responses,

Kind Regards,
Chris

[davepotter]

Great post Chris and an issue I've also suffered since moving to the R7. Would be keen to hear if anyone knows of a fix to avoid the compression of the sky.

[DadatLBA]

Hi Chris

I have a R6II shooting uncompressed RAW Ihave no such issues using both RF and EF glass.

A few suggestions - if you have not tried these already?

What shutter mode are you using? Full electronic shutter on the R7 is known to cause some issues with skewing or warping

What RAW converter software are you using, test using the Canon software provided free with the R7 - are the results any different?

Are you shooting compressed RAW or full RAW - try both to see if there is a difference

Make sure the conversion to jpeg is best quality

If you are a YouTube user Duade Patton an Australian bird photographer has made some videos discussing the R7 issues. You might get some help there

David B

[cadams]

Thanks David, I'll have a look at Duade Patton on youtube and see if there's anything there.

I shoot full RAW with regular mechanical shutter and edit using Adobe Lightroom Classic. My editing technique from the 90D RAW to the R7 has not changed so theoretically speaking I don't believe I'm doing anything different or wrong. But I will see if compressed RAW changes anything however I highly doubt it as I also see these issues on JPEG.

I definitely aware of the R7 electronic shutter distortion, I've tried alternating between both for testing purposes and I don't get any different results unfortunately, still the exact same wavy lines etc.

It has been frustrating because I'm only able to use the R7 in certain scenarios at the moment, and I've reverted back to my trusty 90D for anything involving the sky...

Perhaps it would be worth contacting Canon and/or invoking warranty?

[DadatLBA]

I would try contacting Canon and send them some sample shots.

One other desperate suggestion: Have you tried shooting with VR turned off?

In the past I have had an occasional issue with a 7d2 with long lenses and slower shutter speeds i.e 400mm and 1/250 or 1/200 shutter speed. One small section of the aircraft had slight motion blur but the rest of the aircraft was sharp. The problem was down to me with shaky hands and my panning technique, The lens VR was working at its limits. Perhaps the VR on the camera and the VR on the lens not working together properly are causing the problem?

I really am grasping at straws here!!!

Hope you can solve the issue

David B

[Chevelle]

The images in the right column are from the site's "Check for dust" feature, correct? If so, I wouldn't worry about it and your camera is fine. I get the same things with my R5 and R7 and friends have the same with other brands as well. The dust tool is excellent for finding dust (much better than Lightroom's dust finder), but it's like an equalizer on steriods. Anything that's changing a fairly consistent blue sky to all different colors of the rainbow is doing an insane amount of processing, so one shouldn't go looking for or deducing imperfections like banding, artifacts or compression in that view unless it's apparent in the original photo as well.

[cadams]

The images in the right column are from the site's "Check for dust" feature, correct? If so, I wouldn't worry about it and your camera is fine. I get the same things with my R5 and R7 and friends have the same with other brands as well. The dust tool is excellent for finding dust (much better than Lightroom's dust finder), but it's like an equalizer on steriods. Anything that's changing a fairly consistent blue sky to all different colors of the rainbow is doing an insane amount of processing, so one shouldn't go looking for or deducing imperfections like banding, artifacts or compression in that view unless it's apparent in the original photo as well.

Yes, the right images were taken from the JP equaliser, however when also using the photoshop equaliser which is weaker, the distortion is still quite strongly visible.

Furthermore, the distortion on photos edited and exported at 1920px is also visible even to the eye without being equalised.

I will post a couple of these in the photo processing forum for advice, however I get no such distortion using any other camera (I've used two Canons and two Sonys in the past) and I am always one to chase perfection with my work.

[DadatLBA]

Hi Chirs

Another suggestion I discovered this morning. Are you using filters i.e UV on your lens? Duade Patton has suggested that UV filters can cause softness and or wavy distortions.

David B

[cadams]

Hi Chirs

Another suggestion I discovered this morning. Are you using filters i.e UV on your lens? Duade Patton has suggested that UV filters can cause softness and or wavy distortions.

David B

Absolutely no filters.

The images are as normal as can be with regards to settings.

My process is the absolute standardised in-camera regular RAW, to Lightroom editing to processed JPEG.

[Chevelle]

Yes, the right images were taken from the JP equaliser, however when also using the photoshop equaliser which is weaker, the distortion is still quite strongly visible.

Furthermore, the distortion on photos edited and exported at 1920px is also visible even to the eye without being equalised.

I will post a couple of these in the photo processing forum for advice, however I get no such distortion using any other camera (I've used two Canons and two Sonys in the past) and I am always one to chase perfection with my work.

I still think this is just light atmospheric haze combined with JP's very strong equalizer. The R bodies have very high contrast, so they show the different layers of haze more prominently than other bodies. If it was a sensor problem, you'd see bands going across the fuselage and not just the sky. Do you have examples to show where planes are higher in the sky (which would likely have less haze than low on the horizon)?