Problems with my camera... any suggestions PLEASE?

[jondraperr]

Okay, so my Canon 50D frequently will give me a very odd orange/yellowish tinted gradient that takes up a good portion of the picture. Sometimes it is there and sometimes it's not.. but I don't like going out on a paid shoot knowing my camera has been acting up at my house. Let me know if any of you have a suggestion on how to fix it. Thanks.

Here are some sample photos (Neither have been edited at all.. only cropped to this size):

[Rson]

my guess is shutter issues. Warranty?

[jondraperr]

Really? Alright.. well yeah, I guess i'll take it in sometime later in the week. Thanks. If anyone else thinks anything different, let me know. Thanks

[Rson]

The reason I say shutter is that the gradiant reflects how the shutter opens and closes. might be sticking

[zeroendless]

Let me guess, you are shooting under flourescent lighting?? and the shutter speeds were 1/160s or higher?

[Rson]

Iso 800
Exposure 1/500
1.8 f/stop

[jondraperr]

in this case, yes it was. What about that setup makes it do that? And also, it does do it sometimes when i'm not in that situation.. but very rarely.. it's just been under that lighting. What's the problem with that lighting?

[swjim]

Fluorescent lighting shifts constantly with the AC cycle. Because of this it's best to try to use shutter speeds that give you a full or half cycle i.e. 1/125, 1/60, 1/30.

[jondraperr]

I see. Was unaware. don't shoot often under lighting other than when i'm trying to get a decent picture at night of something I want to sell. Well thank you very much. That helps a lot

[zeroendless]

Those were fluorescent lighting cycles you are seeing, the strips was due to shutter speed higher than the cycle time of the lights which is 60hz here in US, so technically the camera would capture image in normal lighting if pic is taken at 1/60s or lower, but it works for me around 1/160s… anything higher, it's a hit or miss, hince the good and bad pics.

Try shutter at 1/60s, i bet you won't see that tint banding...

[venchka]

Y'all know some stuff. I'm impressed.

[NDeedOne]

OH man. That's some good stuff!

[jondraperr]

thanks so much for the info. Tried it out on 1/125 last night and it worked great! I feel stupid now.. haha. Thanks again for the help

[zeroendless]

Don't be, you want to talk about silly?? i stomped in PMA preshow and questioned Chuck Westfall why my new camera crapped out, captured nothing but yellow tints overlay…well, he gave me a good lesson on that topic… :)

At last, i found a good use of Shutter Priority rather than intentional blur.

[linque]

I have the same issue when shooting my son's basketball games. I'm not sure what type of lights they use (sodium maybe), but I'll get a reddish/pinkish tint on some shots. Do sodium lamps have the same issue?