Is my new S2 defective??

[scsi_guru]

Just rec'd my new Fuji S2 from Tallyn's and was taking some test shots around the room. Took some ISO 1600 shots and everyone exhibits the pattern shown below. Is this a defective camera? ...or am I doing something wrong? The lens is a Nikkor 28-105 and the shutter speed is around 1/90th sec..at f3.5...

Thanks for any info!

http://webpages.charter.net/petrella/images/sample1.jpg

[Seachicken]

Looks a little like the track noise people have been talking about.

I think I had this once in one of my pictures.
This (http://www.s2pro.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=32&papass=&sort=1)
is straight from the camera.. and this:
http://www.andrewfinch.com/tracknoise.jpg
has been manipulated to reveal what's in the shadows. The noise is not visible in the prints, unless I try to bring up the shadow detail. Mine was at ISO100, and it's not in every image.. in fact this is the only time I've come across it. My image has a wide range of tone in there and what I'm seeing is perhaps what is at the 'bottom of the barrel' of the sensor.

Your problem looks related, but much more severe, and it's in every image. I haven't used ISO1600 much, but none of my pics have had problems.

Is this an unmanipulated image straight from the camera, or has it been manipulated like the one above to reveal what's in the shadows of an underexposed image?

If its the former, I'd definately take/send it back to the shop.

Andy.

[scsi_guru]

Thanks for your quick reply! Yes...this is an unmanipulated photo except for resizing for quicker web loading. I also see this same pattern but not as severe at the lower ISO's. To me, it appears like a bad CCD but I could be wrong. I'm planning to call the dealer on Monday for an exchange. I can't imagine that a severe problem like this is not a bad camera. Any other suggestions??

[Seachicken]

No, I can't think of anything else.
It's surely a faulty one - it happens.

Shame you got such a bad introduction to this awesome camera...

I just posted (http://www.s2pro.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=64) an image of mine shot at ISO1600. More or less as it was from the camera. No sign of this type of noise.

Send it back and don't let it spoil the fun you're going to get from the new S2 (well if you decide to go that route)!

Andy.

[scsi_guru]

Thanks! Like I mentioned I'm going to call the dealer on Monday. I bought it from Tallyn's and I know they're an awesome dealer from all the great posts here and DPREVIEW (http://www.dpreview.com) I certainly hope my next one is defect free. I wonder if the dealer could test out the camera before they send it to me??

[scsi_guru]

Here's a crop of one of my photos taken at ISO 800. The vertical banding is quite obvious. Does this appear to be a CCD problem?

http://webpages.charter.net/petrella/images/crop.gif