Can someone confirm/deny that this is normal please?

[jparman]

Shot this from my Oly E-420, which is about a year old. Under specific circumstances, especially low light, it is a noise monger. I shot this w/ the following settings

RAW format
Noise Reduction - OFF
WB - 5600K
ISO - 100
2 sec exposure @ f9.

What concerns me is the regular pattern of the noise (vertical striping). While images w/ better exposure don't initially appear to have the striping, upon closer inspection they all do (except when it comes to daylight shots.
Is this something that is "normal". If it is, then I'll try not to be as disappointed as I am right now.

[blackxfire]

People will want to know what lens you were using as well.
Why would you keep the Noise Filter off?
Stan

[Greg McCary]

I think you call this banding. I haven't had any problems with any Olympus camera I have owned. But banding can be seen if you miss exposure enough and shoot it at higher ISO's. I am surprised it is as bad as this at 100 ISO.

[jparman]

I was using a 14-42. Yeah, it's all the underexposed shots. It is MUCH more prevalent on the left than the right, which would lead me to believe that their is an issue. If not - I'll have to make sure that in lower light, I expose the left side before the right.

I was shooting w/ noise reduction off because it takes twice the time to process the image to save it to the camera. At which time, no additional pictures can be taken/saved. I guess (don't know the reality) that any image 'enhancement' that is done in camera as it is saved can also be done w/ software in post-processing - though I have no knowledge of the existence of aforementioned software (just getting started).

[Photo-John]

That looks like a bad sensor to me. I'm not a sensor expert or anything like that. But it definitely doesn't look normal - especialliy at ISO 100. Has your camera always done this? If it were my camera I'd take it in to an authorized dealer and have them take a look at it. You might also be able to send samples to Olympus and let them evlauate them. If you want, you can compare your images to my studio samples. You'll find those images here:

Digital Camera Studio Sample Photos >>

[xwingkiller]

this kind of looks like you might have that option turned on that automatically lifts shadows. i forget what it is called....its on the x20 and newer bodies.
anyways, if you take a shot like this of a mostly black scene, it will do this type of thing.