Purple images

yarn · 07-06-2008, 11:16 AM

Hi, I'm new to this forum, new to the K10D, but not new to photography or DSLRs. My K10D is new out of the box. Tried it in the shop... Fine. Went to the Italian and French Alps and started taking photos from the car (fun). Camped. Not very cold... between 7 and 25 degrees C. I was using the standard 18-55mm lens in good light. A bit of wet weather. I was cautious to protect the camera from excessice moisture but...

Has anyone ever had an image taken show up in preview as pure bright purple? or just black?

This problem seemed to clear up when the sun had hit and made the temperature much nicer but I was surprised that a brand new camera, especially with all the sealing that Pentax had boasted about would suffer so much in just slightly moist conditions... Altitude was around 1350m also so it couldn't be that.

It did work but I had to turn it on and off and on and off etc. a few times before it started behaving... I'm a bit worried there's a dodgy seal somewhere.

Any ideas anyone?...

Ian

lithos · 07-06-2008, 11:29 AM

Purple...the whole image, right, not just the edges stuff in the image?

Sounds like a white balance issue, if it's the whole frame. Chances are a dud seal wouldn't affect colour in that way. I'm guessing the white balane was set to "Fluorescent" if you're getting purple.

I'm not up to date with the K10D, but next time, set the colour balance to whatever light you're shooting under.

The all-black issue sounds like you're grossly under-exposing the shots, either with too low a shutter speed, too narrow an aperture, or a low ISO setting.

jeffkrol · 07-06-2008, 11:30 AM

Originally posted by yarn

Hi, I'm new to this forum, new to the K10D, but not new to photography or DSLRs. My K10D is new out of the box. Tried it in the shop... Fine. Went to the Italian and French Alps and started taking photos from the car (fun). Camped. Not very cold... between 7 and 25 degrees C. I was using the standard 18-55mm lens in good light. A bit of wet weather. I was cautious to protect the camera from excessice moisture but...

Has anyone ever had an image taken show up in preview as pure bright purple? or just black?

This problem seemed to clear up when the sun had hit and made the temperature much nicer but I was surprised that a brand new camera, especially with all the sealing that Pentax had boasted about would suffer so much in just slightly moist conditions... Altitude was around 1350m also so it couldn't be that.

It did work but I had to turn it on and off and on and off etc. a few times before it started behaving... I'm a bit worried there's a dodgy seal somewhere.

Any ideas anyone?...

Ian

Bad batteries.. maybe

yarn · 07-06-2008, 11:40 AM

lithos,
All pictures taken were in the sameconditions with exactly the same settings... The camera was being RANDOM. Not predictable things like underexposure or white balance settings... sorry I know about those things and it wasn't them...

jeffkrol:
Bad batteries... Yeah ok, I'll have to try with a different battery. Only have one though.

Thanks to you both to responding so fast!!!

Ian

shadeless · 07-06-2008, 12:22 PM

you should know that although the body is sealed, the kit lens is not. there is a good chance that moisture came through the mount and not a damaged seal.

the da* lenses are the only ones that are sealed. with all other lenses you should be careful not to expose your camera to moisture.

[edit]
another reason for your completely purple or black pics could *maybe* be a defective sd card. if you have a spare card, try shooting with that one.

(but i would guess the most likely reason for your problem was the moisture and not a damaged card)

yarn · 07-06-2008, 12:26 PM

Originally posted by shadeless

you should know that although the body is sealed, the kit lens is not. there is a good chance that moisture came through the mount and not a damaged seal.

the da* lenses are the only ones that are sealed. with all other lenses you should be careful not to expose your camera to moisture.

[edit]
another reason for your completely purple or black pics could *maybe* be a defective sd card. if you have a spare one, try shooting with it.

It is a SMC Pentax DA lens....

What does that mean? Sealed or not sealed?

eman · 07-06-2008, 12:26 PM

It also could be a possible faulty memory card. Try another card with a fully recharged battery to see if it still happens.

yarn · 07-06-2008, 12:28 PM

Originally posted by yarn

It is a SMC Pentax DA lens....

What does that mean? Sealed or not sealed?

I think it's going to be a case of 'see if that solves the problem' trial and error experimenting with all things until I manage to solve it... Or take it back.

yarn · 07-06-2008, 12:29 PM

Didin't mean to use my own quote there... LOL

reknelb · 07-06-2008, 12:34 PM

sounds like a bad sd card to me.

raz-0 · 07-06-2008, 12:41 PM

Well, there ahve been a number of folks who have had issues with getting purplish pictures in the cold, but we are talking much colder than 7C. More like 15F (-9C).

It also wasn't intermittent, but was consistant once the camera got cold enough.

If you get weird block purple, or total black at random, highest probability is a bad SD card.

yarn · 07-06-2008, 12:52 PM

Originally posted by raz-0

Well, there ahve been a number of folks who have had issues with getting purplish pictures in the cold, but we are talking much colder than 7C. More like 15F (-9C).

It also wasn't intermittent, but was consistant once the camera got cold enough.

If you get weird block purple, or total black at random, highest probability is a bad SD card.

Ok lots of SD card reckonings there and you've all just jogged my memory of some problems when putting the card into a card reader, someone's laptop and also other people's cameras to check it. It was doing weird stuff then too... Hhhhmmmmm... The plot thickens.

Jodokast96 · 07-06-2008, 01:02 PM

First guess for me was also a bad card. At the least, try formatting it.

flyer · 07-06-2008, 06:38 PM

Could be condensation on the sensor or on electronics.When the sun comes up and temp. start going up, it evaporates the moisture and clears the problem. According to me, that is the more likely cause, especially if the problem never re occured.

kenyee · 07-06-2008, 06:51 PM

I've seen this as well...I was in Seattle bracketing a skyline image and one of the images came out as you can see below. All other images on the SD card were fine. It was slightly cold/windy, but we're talking about 60F and windy, not -20F below.
I've never had any other corrupt images from this SD card so far in nearly a year of usage...

07-06-2008, 11:16 AM	#1
yarn Inactive Account Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Wales Photos: Gallery Posts: 7	Purple images Hi, I'm new to this forum, new to the K10D, but not new to photography or DSLRs. My K10D is new out of the box. Tried it in the shop... Fine. Went to the Italian and French Alps and started taking photos from the car (fun). Camped. Not very cold... between 7 and 25 degrees C. I was using the standard 18-55mm lens in good light. A bit of wet weather. I was cautious to protect the camera from excessice moisture but... Has anyone ever had an image taken show up in preview as pure bright purple? or just black? This problem seemed to clear up when the sun had hit and made the temperature much nicer but I was surprised that a brand new camera, especially with all the sealing that Pentax had boasted about would suffer so much in just slightly moist conditions... Altitude was around 1350m also so it couldn't be that. It did work but I had to turn it on and off and on and off etc. a few times before it started behaving... I'm a bit worried there's a dodgy seal somewhere. Any ideas anyone?... Ian

07-06-2008, 12:22 PM	#5
shadeless Forum Member Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Germany / BaWü Posts: 50	you should know that although the body is sealed, the kit lens is not. there is a good chance that moisture came through the mount and not a damaged seal. the da* lenses are the only ones that are sealed. with all other lenses you should be careful not to expose your camera to moisture. [edit] another reason for your completely purple or black pics could maybe be a defective sd card. if you have a spare card, try shooting with that one. (but i would guess the most likely reason for your problem was the moisture and not a damaged card) Last edited by shadeless; 07-06-2008 at 12:27 PM.

07-06-2008, 12:52 PM	#12
yarn Inactive Account Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Wales Photos: Gallery Posts: 7 Original Poster	Originally posted by raz-0 Well, there ahve been a number of folks who have had issues with getting purplish pictures in the cold, but we are talking much colder than 7C. More like 15F (-9C). It also wasn't intermittent, but was consistant once the camera got cold enough. If you get weird block purple, or total black at random, highest probability is a bad SD card. Ok lots of SD card reckonings there and you've all just jogged my memory of some problems when putting the card into a card reader, someone's laptop and also other people's cameras to check it. It was doing weird stuff then too... Hhhhmmmmm... The plot thickens. Last edited by yarn; 07-06-2008 at 12:53 PM. Reason: spelling!

07-06-2008, 06:51 PM	#15
kenyee Veteran Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Boston, PRofMA Photos: Albums Posts: 3,026	Like this? I've seen this as well...I was in Seattle bracketing a skyline image and one of the images came out as you can see below. All other images on the SD card were fine. It was slightly cold/windy, but we're talking about 60F and windy, not -20F below. I've never had any other corrupt images from this SD card so far in nearly a year of usage... Attached Images

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07-06-2008, 11:29 AM	#2
lithos Inactive Account Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Brisbane, QLD, AUS Posts: 3,261	Purple...the whole image, right, not just the edges stuff in the image? Sounds like a white balance issue, if it's the whole frame. Chances are a dud seal wouldn't affect colour in that way. I'm guessing the white balane was set to "Fluorescent" if you're getting purple. I'm not up to date with the K10D, but next time, set the colour balance to whatever light you're shooting under. The all-black issue sounds like you're grossly under-exposing the shots, either with too low a shutter speed, too narrow an aperture, or a low ISO setting.

07-06-2008, 11:30 AM	#3
jeffkrol Veteran Member Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Wisconsin USA Photos: Gallery Posts: 8,434	Originally posted by yarn Hi, I'm new to this forum, new to the K10D, but not new to photography or DSLRs. My K10D is new out of the box. Tried it in the shop... Fine. Went to the Italian and French Alps and started taking photos from the car (fun). Camped. Not very cold... between 7 and 25 degrees C. I was using the standard 18-55mm lens in good light. A bit of wet weather. I was cautious to protect the camera from excessice moisture but... Has anyone ever had an image taken show up in preview as pure bright purple? or just black? This problem seemed to clear up when the sun had hit and made the temperature much nicer but I was surprised that a brand new camera, especially with all the sealing that Pentax had boasted about would suffer so much in just slightly moist conditions... Altitude was around 1350m also so it couldn't be that. It did work but I had to turn it on and off and on and off etc. a few times before it started behaving... I'm a bit worried there's a dodgy seal somewhere. Any ideas anyone?... Ian Bad batteries.. maybe

07-06-2008, 11:40 AM	#4
yarn Inactive Account Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Wales Photos: Gallery Posts: 7 Original Poster	lithos, All pictures taken were in the sameconditions with exactly the same settings... The camera was being RANDOM. Not predictable things like underexposure or white balance settings... sorry I know about those things and it wasn't them... jeffkrol: Bad batteries... Yeah ok, I'll have to try with a different battery. Only have one though. Thanks to you both to responding so fast!!! Ian

07-06-2008, 12:26 PM	#6
yarn Inactive Account Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Wales Photos: Gallery Posts: 7 Original Poster	Originally posted by shadeless you should know that although the body is sealed, the kit lens is not. there is a good chance that moisture came through the mount and not a damaged seal. the da* lenses are the only ones that are sealed. with all other lenses you should be careful not to expose your camera to moisture. [edit] another reason for your completely purple or black pics could maybe be a defective sd card. if you have a spare one, try shooting with it. It is a SMC Pentax DA lens.... What does that mean? Sealed or not sealed?

07-06-2008, 12:26 PM	#7
eman Junior Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Canada Posts: 44	It also could be a possible faulty memory card. Try another card with a fully recharged battery to see if it still happens.

07-06-2008, 12:28 PM	#8
yarn Inactive Account Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Wales Photos: Gallery Posts: 7 Original Poster	Originally posted by yarn It is a SMC Pentax DA lens.... What does that mean? Sealed or not sealed? I think it's going to be a case of 'see if that solves the problem' trial and error experimenting with all things until I manage to solve it... Or take it back.

07-06-2008, 12:29 PM	#9
yarn Inactive Account Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Wales Photos: Gallery Posts: 7 Original Poster	Didin't mean to use my own quote there... LOL

07-06-2008, 12:34 PM	#10
reknelb Veteran Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Buffalo, NY Photos: Gallery Posts: 323	sounds like a bad sd card to me.

07-06-2008, 12:41 PM	#11
raz-0 Veteran Member Join Date: May 2007 Location: Central NJ Posts: 470	Well, there ahve been a number of folks who have had issues with getting purplish pictures in the cold, but we are talking much colder than 7C. More like 15F (-9C). It also wasn't intermittent, but was consistant once the camera got cold enough. If you get weird block purple, or total black at random, highest probability is a bad SD card.

07-06-2008, 01:02 PM	#13
Jodokast96 Veteran Member Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Erial, NJ USA Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 2,134	First guess for me was also a bad card. At the least, try formatting it.

07-06-2008, 06:38 PM	#14
flyer Veteran Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Ste-Anne des Plaines, Qc., Canada Posts: 2,013	Could be condensation on the sensor or on electronics.When the sun comes up and temp. start going up, it evaporates the moisture and clears the problem. According to me, that is the more likely cause, especially if the problem never re occured.