Thanks for posting your test shots. They look very good. If the issue is due to OIS then it is not an issue to me; I never use OIS. Do you remember if you used OIS on the Tennis shots? Thanks again for spending the time to educate us.

For event work it would be a huge issue. I'm hand held all the time at weddings and the OIS has saved my butt may a time.

Also, is OIS recommended for steadicam work? Or is it recommended to leave it off?

I can't see why it has anything to do with OIS. The white wall zoom in shot posted above wouldn't give any information to the OIS system to cause problem this would it? It's gyroscopic correction isn't it?

It looks to my eyes like they tried to tweak a lens designed to work well with 1/3 inch chips on this, and it's just on the edge of acceptability for some. It seems that as the elements are moving around in the lens it's just hitting thresholds of vignetting.

Personally, I don't think I wouldn't find this a dealbreaker on real world pictures of normal subject matter. Also taking safe areas into account when working in broadcast. Web video and DVDs shown on LCDs could have an issue.

It's actually the case that I add vignette quite often, having a lens which already does it is a little odd.

OIS does indeed add greatly to the vignetting when it's working, and it's easily shown with a lot of wide-angle converters. I have a widie that that just clips about 4 pixels off the top corners of the frame. With OIS turned on and the camera panned quickly the vignetting is much more apparent.

Under water housings show the same thing - no vignetting while stationary, but quite noticeable when OIS is on and the camera's moving.

tom.

Just got my camera and it also vignettes at about 10mm.

Top corners, both left and right side simultaneously.

I am beginning to think this is inherent in the camera's design.

NOT GOOD NEWS!

There's been a couple cameras here that have not had this issue.
How bad is it?
Please provide a short clip.

I'm going to be bummed if my camera which I receive tomorrow has this issue!

My believe is there is an adjustment for this that Sony is NOT doing a good job making sure
this issue does not appear. Out of the four reported owners here, including yourself, two
have reported vignetting.

I just did a test on a blank wall, in focus and it's *very* slight, but it's there.

Focus was close, near minimum (not macro).

I shot some test footage earlier with deeper focus and it was more pronounced. In both cases OIS was on.

I'll investigate more.

OK, very slight sounds better than Paul's camera where it's very obvious.

Here's what I found through a couple of quick tests:

Vignetting is worse at wider stops. This leads me to believe that this is something happening internally near the iris.

Vignetting is worse at deep focus.

Normally, vignetting caused in front of the lens (by filter or matte box obstruction, for example) is usually worse at tighter stops and shallower focus because the obstructing object is made sharper and more visible. Also, lenses technically get a bit wider at close focus a more creeps into frame. Pretty much the opposite is happening here.

I am awaiting permission to post attachments and I will put some stills up.

Eric,

Whose permission do you need?

Also, do you plan on returning, or living with this issue.
If it were mine, knowing that there are owners such as Chris who do not have vignetting problems, I'm not sure If I would keep it.

I guess that would depend on how bad it is and how easy it can be avoided.

I guess I need Chris' permission. It says I "may not post attachments."

I will not return the camera because of it. I will hope for a fix, but it's not a deal breaker.

Eric,

Is the problem evident in macro? If so, at what stops? I plan on using the camera with a redrock M2 35mm adapter. thanks

vince

Testing my camera right now.
NO vignetting issue whatsoever. Using 1920x1080 24" external monitor. Tried all different combos including focus distance which one owner mention it was worse when closer to infinite. Well, I tried every possibility. Not the slightest vignetting.

My jaw hit the ground with the sensitivity. For those who question this, be prepared to be "blown away" with how fast this thing is. It made my room with natural light peaking through with the blinds almost closed, look far brighter than what my eyes were seeing with no noise! Unreal.

So far. very positive. Although the component outputs are near the bottom right. I had to take it off the tripod to access them.

Eric, you mentioned that you are having vignetting issues with the OIS on. You haven't mentioned yet if it improves when the OIS is off. Could you check to see if the effect is worse due to the OIS?

Steven,

Does your monitor have any cutoff on the sides? Is it underscanned?

Try capturing some footage and watch it in an NLE, where you can see the whole frame, just to be sure.

Per my email to you, I thought I fixed this -- you may need to log out and back in again -- if you don't see a "manage attachments" button below the text input area when making a reply, please let me know by email. It may have something to do with forum permissions in that case.

Here are two full size grabs.

The soft one is deep focus, the sharp one is close focus.

Don't be alarmed by the noise - I had gain maxed and the 6-stop ND filter on to home in on a good wide-open exposure.

Chris - permissions are working (apparently). Thanks.

It beats me how something like this could have passed the QC.

Eric, judging from those stills it also exhibits a blueish hue on the right side. It though I saw that on Paul Joy's shots although it was on the left.

Try OIS off.
I thought Adam Wilt believe the issue was related to the focus mechanism rather than OIS.

Eric you are right, my monitor is underscanned. Not by much though, not as much as the safe area on the EX1 LCD outlines. At least using the component inputs. Although the camera's LCD is small, I see no issues. I will capture a test soon.

Eric, you examples are not as bad compared to Paul's.
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/attachmen...2&d=1195761898

I wonder if this issue is similar to the inconsistency we found in the HVX imaging blocks not always being centered on the lens. This didn't show up until we started focusing in on 35mm adapters on the HVX.
In the Panny case it sounds like it was due to manufacturing tolerances not being strict enough. Similar issue perhaps?

OK...
Here's the deal.
I've got it... vignetting
Now I'm wondering if they all have it and some are not looking hard enough for it.
Hmm...
Is it bad enough to return, will it effect normal shots, it's hard to say.
I know one thing, Sony is going to have their "ear full" on this one.
This should of NEVER left QC!

Sorry to see you've got the same problem guys, I really hoped mine was a one off . Please let us know how you get on if you go the Sony support route, I'm interested to know if Sony are going to fix it or just decide that it's within tolerances.

what a shame!

Paul.

Thanks Paul.
Good question.
I'm not sure if I want to give the camera up.
When they figure out how to address this situation.
I will send it to them.
It's now aparent, you just can't order another camera.
I believe the percentage pf cams with an issue here are probably 75%.
I have a feeling it may be higher as everyone gets theirs.

Here's a quick look at my vignetting.
Please overlook focus and white balance. I was focus at a far distance near the end.
Also, to make the vignetting more obvious, I only reduced the image brightness.
It only happens between 10mm - 25mm.

Yours doesn't look so bad Steven, it seems the sensors are biased to the right side and hence only showing the effect on the right. Eric's on the other hand looks almost as bad as the one I had.

In both cases the OIS will definitely make it worse, I looked over some of the hand held footage I shot and I can see the vignetting moving around in the corners.

bad QC or bad design ? ...in your opinion ?

I didn't go through this entire thread but has anyone talked to Sony about this yet? Has there been a response?

I don't have one to play with, and I hate to toss in an idea where I can't test it myself but...

my question is... could this be sensor heat noise??

The way I check the Canon 1Ds is to just put the cam on a tri-pod, open the shutter for a couple minutes with the lens cap on and let the camera take a picture... The picture comes out as black and if the camera suffers from
thermal noise the noise shows up as a purple vignett where the sensor is
suffering from heat....

If the sensor is OK then the picture just stays as black .....

Just maybe a test needs to be done on the EX1 to make sure its not thermal
related...

might even slightly warm the camera up with a hair dryer from about a foot away from the camera during the test??

I captured it after the camera was only on for two minutes.
I don't believe it is due to heat.

This is very discouraging as I was about to place my order but am going to hold off since they are still trying to fill preorders. I still want this camera but would like to hear a response from Sony on this issue. It seems obvious that this is not affecting 100% of cameras The Air show footage looked great and did no show any of this...I hope this is just a small % of the cameras and there is a fix.

Jason, the problem is, that there have not been many of us on this forum that have received this camera and 75% are showing the problem. Well at least reported.

We are going to hear from a lot more soon.

I've called Sony Tech @

1-800-883-6817
Enter 252 to direct to the department.

The tech that helped me was very professional. He had just got off the phone with someone else who had the same problem.

They will be contacting Sony Japan with our issues.

Has anyone been able to see it on the EX1 LCD? I know the LCD is small, but I can't see any vignetting on this LCD.

That was one of the tech's question.

I don't believe it's internal processing since it happens between 10mm-25mm focal length.

I'm holding onto the cam unless I'm told otherwise.

Could someone who can view Mac created mov files please check this out and see how bad the vignetting shows itsef. Carol said you really have to look to see it. Unfortunately, I have a PC. MAybe perform a screen capture during its worse section.

http://www.clamcamvideo.com/CLAM0004_01_1.mov

Steven, yeah I hear you it could be just starting. Once others start to call in to report the issue. I am glad that someone at Sony is going to try and escalate this to find out if this really is a QC issue or somthing greater. I am hoping it is a first run issue or something that can be fixed easily enough. Bottom line is a 7000.00 + camera should not be having this issue. I had a friend that bought a Centruy Optics knock off for his FX-1 and his footage is very similar but much worse with the blue tint in all four corners. I hate to think this really is an issue of the 1/2 in sensors tolerance being the cause. Time will tell. I hope Sony find this is still the issue they had with the preproduction models and a Firmware upgrade will fix the issue??One can hope it is that easy!

I hope it's only a firmware issue. But based on how it's directly related to a specific focal range (10-25mm), it does not seem that firmware can not fix this issue. Hope I'm, wrong!

Here's two screen caps, Steven. One where the vignetting in the upper right is worst and one just before the vignetting shows up.

It is _very_ subtle.

Carroll Lam

Carol, your camera is by far better than mine.

Does anyone have a clue what's going on here?

Carroll,

What was the aperture on those shots?

Try a wide open aperture and a deep focus - that's where my vignetting starts to show.

Tonight I could actually see it while viewing the EX1's LCD.
Due to the LCD is so small, it is hard to see, but it's there.

When viewing the files tonight, I see it in all four corners. Mine's just worse in the top and bottom right corners.

Steven, mine is like that, too, all four corners, worst on the top.