Participating Frequently

Question

Horizontal colored bands appearing in imported raw files

Forum|Forum|11 years ago
May 18, 2014
25 replies
62453 views

I just now started to have mostly magenta horizontal lines or bands appear in imported a Sony Nex 7 ARW files. When opening the same file with Sony’s raw converter or DXO Pro, the bands are non existent. I have noticed that sometimes but not always, the bands will disappearing in LR after I examine a photo by clicking on it to enlarge a selected area and the loading finishes. Exported photos will have the bands. Also, If I first open the files with IDC or DXO, the file will then import into Lightroom without the bands. I have run diagnostics on the SD card and the hard drive with no errors showing up. Running LR5.4 on a Macbook Pro. I’m totally confused. Any enlightening comments would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

These artifacts are exactly like those in the post Re: Why do I get Colored bands on some images in LR4 and LR5, but not in Aperture?

This topic has been closed for replies.

Show previous replies

S

Searsnotwillis

Participant

I Also had these issues this past week while on vacation. Every time I used Lightroom CC to facilitate the import of photos I would get a certain number of these glitched out banded photos. Using the same (built in SD card reader) on my MBP I would also Manually transfer the same NEF files from my d750 to a backup file on the same SSD internal disk and have ZERO corruption, every file I manually transfer is fine. I am curious about this because it seems to have started shortly after a recent update to Lightroom CC. This is certainly something worth keeping an eye on, I will no longer be using lightroom to transfer anything.

dj_paige

Legend

It's your hardware, there is a malfunction somewhere, Lightroom does not modify your photos in any way.

sabyasachig

Participant

Hello dj_paige, to my awareness, this doesn't seem to be a hardware issue from any end. I had the same issue with my licensed LR classic CC while importing *any* image (either JPEG, RAW, NEF, whatever image format it supports) whether from the camera or a simple one downloaded from the net to the local D drive. I'm using Windows, and have tried switching the windows version too. Nothing seems to solve the issue. Obviously, my local drive doesn't have any issue as it's a 4-month old new hp laptop manufactured a year back. There is definitely issue with the software in that it seems to include RGB horizontal lines with the actual image distorted on the background with a silver black watermark on it. It happens only when any image is already imported and the "develop" tab is selected. Just importing doesn't cause any harm. Reading all the thread issues people are facing, I think I'm the first one writing even a JPEG downloaded image is not getting to be developed with LR for this weird issue.

6

6ab3

Participant

I just encountered the same issue with my D800, copying files over from the camera (connected via USB 3.0) through Lightroom CC, storing the copied files on to an external hard drive (Seagate usb 3.0 750 gb). From what I've read it seems the conflict may be in transferring data via a usb 3.0 source to a usb 3.0 destination using the same usb controller/hardware. I'm using a PC btw. This is the first time I've transferred files from a 3.0 connection to another 3.0 connection through LR, and this is the first time I've encountered these artifact. I'm guessing that Lightroom is the culpret, as it's the program handling the data transfer, which appears to be misplacing some data points every so often in translation between devices. I'll try recopying the files tonight via the same cabling, but this time using explorer to transfer the files...and see if anything gets twisted... if not, it's likely LR.

dj_paige

Legend

I'm guessing you didn't read the rest of the thread, because then you would see that everyone is suggesting you have a hardware malfunction somewhere.

I'm guessing that Lightroom is the culpret, as it's the program handling the data transfer, which appears to be misplacing some data points every so often in translation between devices.

Lightroom uses your operating system to move photos from camera card to hard disk (or for any other move or copy).

I'll try recopying the files tonight via the same cabling, but this time using explorer to transfer the files...and see if anything gets twisted... if not, it's likely LR.

You'd be much better off using different hardware.

6

6ab3

Participant

I read the thread ( as well as this oneLightroom corrupting RAW files? Hardware issue?), and noted that it's likely hardware related. But some hardware works only as well as the software instruction it's processes. Pointing toward popular suggestions does't make something the answer until verified with definitive testing and rigor, and so far I have't come across such info that answers the question outright. My thought is that it's hardware related, but my notion was that it MAY be how LR is handling the hardware. Perhaps other software will create similar artifacts using said hardware, though I've not tested this yet, but neither have I encountered it. I would like to better understand how LR is instructing the OS to transfer files, if you have more info on that I'd be much obliged if you would share your source/knowledge toward it. I'll be testing multiple configurations of software, cables and cards, and hardware, and see what turns up in the mean time.

devraf

Participant

I am having this exact issue, and the images are getting ~dramatically~ glitched; half of them opaque with hot pink color, the other half fully banded with purple or yellow. 2014 MacBook Pro 15 inch 2.5 GHz Intel Core i7, Canon 5d Mark II, Lightroom 5 CC. All brand new hard/software. No issues importing to iPhoto (ugh), or copying to hard drive, but this is insane! I should be able to use lightroom! Has there really been no action on this issue? Feel like I deserve a refund on adobe softwares.. long time adobe customer, very disappointed. I've lots tons of irreplaceable images of Antarctica and Iceland because of this bug.

dj_paige

Legend

This is caused by a hardware malfunction

could be your camera card, card reader or cable/usb port, hard disk or memory

S

selahmerakimoon

Participant

I am having the same issue. I have used different SD cards, purchased new card reader, checked external hard drives. I have not uninstalled and reinstalled LR but I am wondering how I would rule out it being my camera or computer. Thank you!

J

jalle

Participant

I have the EXACT same problems when importing .RAF files from my Fujifilm X-T1 via a USB card reader (USB 2.0) on my MacBook Pro 13" Retina (late 2013) with OS X 10.9.3 in Lightroom 5.4. (I did not purchase the X-T1 until after I updated to 5.4, so I can't speak of whether this happens in other versions of LR)

I second sevenc's suggestions that this is NOT a hardware issue - I have tried 5 different SD cards, all formatted either on my computer or in the camera, reformatted several times (low-level format) and it STILL happens! Never with the JPGs, only with the RAW files.

However, doing a straight file copy from the SD card (in the card reader) to the hard drive before doing the import works fine - no artifacts!

Ditto if I use the internal SD reader (an internal USB3.0 connection) on the Macbook, no purple bands.

It is apparently unrelated to the OS, since this is happening both in Windows and OS X. I have posted a more detailed acccount here:

Lightroom 5.4 - "glitches" on my RAF->DNG conversions from X-T1 - Fuji X Post Processing - Fuji X Forum

One of the members of that forum has seen the same happening with Panasonic RAW files, but only when an external USB drive was connected at the same time.

When the external drive was disconnected, the images imported normally.

BTW, my Canon files import just fine, using the same SD card, the same USB card reader and the same computer - no glitches....

The most likely thing happening (my opinion) is that the Lightroom import process somehow interferes with the USB connection. It doesn't really make sense, because I am sure Lightroom uses the standard OS I/O file routines, but it seems to be the most likely issue. Is there a chance LR uses its own code for reading files off of external drives.

Other software (Aperture, Preview, Image Capture, Raw Photo Processor 64 or PhotoNinja) can import fine, whether the card is in an external card reader or not - no artifacts.

I have seen it the same issue described with Panasonic files on LR 4, so it does not seem to be limited to LR 5.4

Re: Why do I get Colored bands on some images in LR4 and LR5, but not in Aperture?

Anyone care to shed light on the issue and what could be going on here ? It seems the more obscure raw formats are affected (Sony, Panasonic, Fujifilm) and that Canon/Nikon users do not experience it (at least I haven't found it described online).

This is a serious bug, because unless you do a re-import of the RAW/RAF file, the image data is permanently corrupted. It is not an issue of corruption of the embedded JPG preview , it is the RAW file itself. Once it has been imported by Lightroom, it displays the artifacts in other programs as well (Aperture, Preview etc)

Trying to convert the image to another format, e.g. TIFF, JPG, BMP the artifacts are still there.

I hope this is taken seriously by Adobe, as it is a critical issue for those of us who are affected. I can work around it by copying the files to my hard drive first, but it shouldn't have to be this way....

C

cayossarian

Participant

Same issue (Mac Pro, Panasonic GH4, SD is USB SD reader: Xit Photo reader").

Import directly from USB Xit Reader to LightRoom - Problem lines in all images
Copy from USB Xit Reader to HD, and import into LightRoom - Good Images
Import directly from USB UniTek MultiReader into LightRoom - Good images

The Xit SD Reader was a freebie that came with other gear I purchased. I looked it up and the manufacturer site says Xit is an SD/SDHC reader (SDHC reads up to 10 MBs). The UniTek SD/SDHC/SDXC reader supports up to 300 MBs. The MAC Pro USB 3 speed is (reported in practical terms) roughly ~350 MBs. The MAC SSD HD has reportedly been clocked at ~1200MBs.

Since everything OS related read both SD readers successfully, one has to believe LightRoom has a driver/import/buffering problem from certain, potentially slower, USB configurations on MAC. I don't know if LightRoom has this problem on Windows.

Barring LightRoom providing a fix, using a fast 3.0 USB reader might be the only solution (or, ugh, copy to the internal HD first).

Bill F.