Black corners on nikon d40 with 55-200mm vr lens

[TheMrW]

I am getting pictures with black bars in the corners. It seems to be related to the lens I am using, but I could be wrong. When shooting with another lens, the problem does not surface. Because of this, I do not think it is a sensor problem, but I could be mistaken. Any input would be greatly appreciated.

p.s.- sorry about the massive image. I figured it would more readily highlight the issue.

[mjs1973]

Welcome to the Forum. Are you running any type of framing action on your images using post processing software? I have never seen an image come out of a camera like this. It appears that it could be an affect applied in post processing the image.

[OldClicker]

I see that it has been through GIMP; does it look this way when just rendered by the Nikon software? - Terry

[Chris350]

I used GIMP on a mac, and while that's hardly definitive, I don't get that effect on my corners.
I looks like the image circle isn't completely filling the sensor to my eye, and hence is technically cause a vignette.

[Grandpaw]

It looks to me like your photo program is pulling in the corners of the picture in, revealing a black background. I don't think it is adding the black lines but is changing the picture to reveal the black background beneath. It is similar to when a photo is straightened and has a tapered area revealed at the edge. Maybe something in the program is set to compensate for a barrel effect and this is the result. If you do not crop after making the adjustment it will look like this, Jeff

[n8]

You mentioned it potentially being due to the lens...what lens are you using?

[Grandpaw]

You mentioned it potentially being due to the lens...what lens are you using?

He is using the one in the subject line, Nikon 55-200VR, Jeff

[TheMrW]

Thank you everyone! You all had very insightful responses.

I downloaded the Nikon NEF Codec so I could view the affected photographs within Window's photo viewer. They look perfectly ok!

I have been using UFraw to view my images (and then export to GIMP). Perhaps that is what is causing the problem? The app must not like something about the 55-200mm.

It's probably time to bite the bullet and grab something other than Gimp to use for processing. Any suggestions so I can avoid these issues in the future?

Again, thanks to all. I got so busy looking at my hardware that I didn't even think about the GIMP plug-in.

[n8]

Whoops, didn't even see that the lens was named already. I had that lens on my d40 for a while... never had any issues, but I haven't used gimp much. It wouldn't make sense that the lens would be an issue once the image hits the computer.