GH2 Problem with Panasonic Leica lenses

S

svem

Active member
I have the Panasonic Leica 25mm f1.4 and Panasonic 45mm f2.8 lens. I like the quality of the lenses but I have been having a problem with using them in a certain situation.

Whenever I put on a filter (UV, ND) and the aperture is wide open and then when there is a bright light source, there is a weird reflection that shows up in the image. I did a wedding shoot recently and put on a Fotga Variable ND filter on both lenses (http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Fotga-46mm-s...era_Filters&hash=item27c7ddeb8d#ht_5292wt_932)

It was an outdoor shoot in sunlight. And in several of the shots there was something being reflected and showing up in the video image.

The problem goes away when I remove the filter.

Is this is an issue with the lenses or an issue with the filters? Does this happen with other lenses from Olympus, Canon or Nikon lenses?

Because if the issue is with Panasonic lenses, then I think I would have to consider changing from Panasonic to some other camera which I prefer not to do since I like the quality of the GH2. But this reflection thing is a real problem.

Anyone else having this problem? Is there a fix for it allowing the use of a filter?

Here is an example. I blurred out the faces and highlighted in red the reflection that shows up on the video:

Untitled-1.jpg
 
I use the lens hood that came with the lenses. But can't use lens hood when ND filter is attached. With UV filter I can use lens hood. But I believe the issue is still there with the reflection.
 
A flag, mattebox, or lens hood, will help with flare, but often do little to help with reflections caused by stacked filters.

A single ND would do better.
 
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This shows up when there's an unflagged bright light source in the frame (point lights, sparklers, in this case the sky). Note how it's an inverse shape to that overexposed sky portion. Happens on many camera and lens types, from GH to FS100 to BMCC... seem to notice it more with mirrorless and prismless cameras... my partially miseducated theory is that it's a kind of "ghosting" from the strong light reflecting off the sensor itself... not certain there's anything to that.

Simple solution is to avoid having strong light sources in the frame.
 
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Not to be disparaging, but you put a $15 filter on a $600 lens and the issue goes away exactly when you remove the filter, yet you question whether the issue is with the lens?

Again, not intending to belittle you, but this is a lesson that is sometimes best learned first-hand. I learned two very useful lessons from a similar experience:

  1. Use filters as seldom as possible
  2. If filters must be used, then high quality multicoated filters are mandatory.

Extra tip: There are no filters to remove reflection caused by another filter stacked on the lens. Light must pass through all filters and the problematic filter will cause reflections no matter what. As others have mentioned, you can use a hood to reduce reflections, but using high quality multicoated filters have much more of an impact on the final result.
 
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Jive said:
Not to be disparaging, but you put a $15 filter on a $600 lens and the issue goes away exactly when you remove the filter, yet you question whether the issue is with the lens?

Again, not intending to belittle you, but this is a lesson that is sometimes best learned first-hand. I learned two very useful lessons from a similar experience:

  1. Use filters as seldom as possible
  2. If filters must be used, then high quality multicoated filters are mandatory.

Extra tip: There are no filters to remove reflection caused by another filter stacked on the lens. Light must pass through all filters and the problematic filter will cause reflections no matter what. As others have mentioned, you can use a hood to reduce reflections, but using high quality multicoated filters have much more of an impact on the final result.
Click to expand...

+1
 
svem said:
I did a wedding shoot recently and put on a Fotga Variable ND filter on both lenses

The problem goes away when I remove the filter.
Click to expand...

I am quite certain that you are seeing refraction, light bending and reflecting inside the variable ND filter. (That ND is two panes of glass.) I have seen this on both my Nikon and Panasonic lenses; it is an equal opportunity phenomena. If you use vari-NDs, and I do — a lot — you have to be careful where you point that thing.

BTW, I recently saw an interesting article by Shane Hurlburt about the effect of shooting with pola filters.

http://www.hurlbutvisuals.com/blog/2012/08/polarizing-filters-powerful-filmmaking-tools/

I launched into shooting a documentary with vari NDs without giving it much thought. Yes, you can easily control DOF with the vari ND, but it also kills reflections, and not just the usual water and glass reflections. It even kills reflections on skin! (Take a look at Hurlburtʻs article and see.) That can seem a little unreal, but, it gives the image a look, and I like it.


Happy shooting.

Jeff
 
What you're seeing is a reflection of light bouncing off the sensor and hitting the filter and bounciing back. It has nothing to do with the quality of the filter. It happens with ALL filters on ALL lenses on the GH2. I discovered this early on. I've always kept UV filters on my lenses, but reluctantly, I had to abandon that practice with the GH2. Now I shoot with naked glass.:beer:
 
If this reflection will still appear even with more expensive filters, how do you get shallow depth of field in an outdoor sunny scene without a filter? Can you make the shutter speed faster to keep the aperture more open? Say like 1/200th when shooting at 24p while also keeping the aperture open?
 
This problem has been driving me crazy, glad to see a thread on it. I'm using older Nikkors with my GH2, and high end 4x4 filters in a matte box. I shoot outdoors a lot and want to shoot fairly wide open to get good shallow depth of field, and the only way to do that is to use ND's. I usually use a good Pola with my ND. I get ghosting/reflection off of lots of things, so avoiding them is nearly impossible and I can't limit myself to only shooting at trees. Shooting at a crazy high shutter speed is not an option and will kill the 24p look I want. I'm wondering if it's the reflection off of the sensor or my lenses. I'm leaning toward it being my lenses since they probably don't have a good anti-flare coating on them. Might be time to invest in some lenses...
 
Repeat: It's the filters, not the lenses. While it's true some older lenses might have internal reflections, that's not what we're talking about here.
 
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Well I haven't seen this while shooting with a F900, HVX, RED, or anything else I've put filters in front of. This makes me think it has to do with:

A) Light bouncing around from the sensor to the rear lens element and my cheapo adapter
B) Light bouncing off the front of my lens onto the filters in front of it

Just trying to find a solution, and not pointing the camera at anything shiny isn't a good one for me.
 
Actually, lenses can also cause reflection issues if they don't have good anti-reflective coatings. For example, some Canon FD lenses had the higher quality "Super Spectra Coating" (indicated by "SSC" on the lens) while others did not.
 
I had this same problem with my GH2 while trying to get a vari ND to work with 3 different lenses. Here's the thread link...
http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthrea...ncing-ghosting&highlight=GH2+vari+ND+ghosting
Filter was high quality, lenses are high quality. No one seemed to have a real solution to it. The vari NDs are two planes of glass, so as far as I can guess the light is getting trapped in there and you're getting a ghosted image on the frame when a strong light source is in view. When I use a single ND filter on the 50mm I don't have this problem. Maybe the solution is not to use the vari ND? Go all single or mattebox? I haven't played around any further to figure it out, but I also like to shoot outside and wide, so it would be nice to have it worked out where it could be done without all the refraction.
I'm glad someone else posted about this. I was beginning to wonder why more people weren't having this issue as vari NDs are considered a must have for DSLR shooting.
 
So I bought a better quality B+W 46mm UV Haze MRC 010M Filter to try on the Panasonic Leica 25mm 1.4 lens and the same problem still occurs.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/11985-REG/B_W_66030559_46mm_UV_Haze_010.html

The aperture is wide open at f1.4 and when pointed at a light bulb or some bright light source it reflects that light bulb onto the screen.

When I take off the filter the problem is not there.

This is very disappointing.

I want to use filters to protect the lens and also ND filters to get shallow depth of field in bright sunlight situations. But this problem prevents me from using filters in these situations.

When I had my Canon t2i some time back I don't remember having this issue with filters and wide open apertures and bright light sources.

Can anyone with both a Canon DSLR and GH2 confirm there is a difference? Or do they both have this problem?

If the Canon doesn't have this problem I am going to consider switching back to Canon to resolve this issue.
 
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