Lens Flare in bright outdoors

D

DavidT

Member
Hi everyone,

I just got a used DVX100A, and it only has 44 hours on it, but the lens was very dirty, cleaning marks and smudges. I blew and dusted the dust away, and it made it a lot better, than i used a microfiber to clean it a little better. The lens appears clean, however if I go outside where the light is much brighter and I pretty much need to out an nd on, there is one spot where there is a spot caused by lens flare. Any suggestions on what this might be? Could I need a more profesional cleaning or could it be something internal? I live in Santa Barbara CA, and was also wondering if anyone knows of any place near me, that aren't in L.A. which is 2 hours away, and I don' have the time to get down there. Thank you, David
 
First of all, it's sad that the lens was that dirty to begin with. It's always a good idea to put a UV filter over the lens the SECOND you take it out of the box to protect the lens from situations just like this.

Anyway... it sounds like you bought it used, so you have no say over that now. If it's bright out, you'll need to use the ND filter. If this "lens flare" that you're talking about truly is a lens flare, then there's nothing wrong. If you point a camera in the general direction of a bright light (sun), there's going to be a lens flare. That's one of the main purposes of a matte box... to shade the lens from the bright light and stop the flare, among other things.

Go out to the same place you saw the flare, and place the camera in the same place so you see it. Then take a board, or large piece of cardboard, or even your body to shade the lens (cover the bright area so the lens is in the shade). Is the "flare" still there? if it is, it's not a lens flare, and could be something on your lens. If it goes away, then there's nothing wrong with your camera... just that it's pointed into a bright light causing the flare.

-brown
 
Hi Brown,

It's not just lens flare, its lens flare because of a smudge or possible scratch on the lens. I have the standard matte box that comes with it, but I see the "flare or what ever we want to call it, when im in bright conditions. If im indoors I can not see any noticible lens reflections, but when I go outdoors, when the light is at an f16 to 22, then the same spot has a spot. This is when I look through the viewfinder and the lcd display. also interesting, is when I zoom, the spot, gets bigger, then it zooms past it when zoomed all the way in. I believe it to be from cleaning marks or a scratch. possibly. Thanks
 
Hmm... I still don't fully understand what's going on here, but I'm not sure how much I can help without seeing what you're talking about. Can you post a screen grab of the issue? It would help, and we'd be able to get to the bottom of it for sure.

If there's something on the lens causing it (scratch, smudge, etc), you should be able to see it with the human eye - - - and it wouldn't change from outdoors to indoors (bright to darker) if thats the case. Are you SURE it's not there when you are under not so bright conditions? Maybe it IS there, but you can't see it as well because you it's hiding in the "dark"?
 
If you have a cheap uv filter, you can develop flare from the lens to the filter.
If you blew the lens to clean it, you could also have blown particles inside the
lens enclosure. I'd have the lens professionally checked if I were you.
 
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