Weird digital flare?

[Anorakus]

I did some shots at a wine-tasting evening the other night. I wanted to see if it was possible to shoot in available light, and I pushed the settings on my camera/lens to the limit... I was using a Canon EOS 5D and 50mm f/1.4.

This one taken at 1/40, f/1.4, ISO 800:

I didn't notice any flare in the viewfinder at the time, but there's a whole load going on towards the bottom of the frame... green dots (evidently reflections of the naked lights) and some trippy brown spirograph patterns!

Is this normal for shooting in very low light at a high ISO?

I was using a Hoya digital series UV filter on the lens.

Another shot without bright naked lights, same ISO and similar shutter/aperture settings is fine:

Thanks,

A.

 

[mole2k]

It's the UV filter.

I've found those sort of reflections when shooting in low light or with strong lights pointing towards the lens of the camera, you just need to take the UV off when shooting in conditions like that.

 

[Deleted member 3428]

The flare is caused by the light reflecting off the sensor onto the back of the lens and back onto the sensor I read somewhere.

 

[Oli R C]

I would suggest it was the UV filter over anything else. Try to setup similar conditions and recreate the effect. Then experiment with/without filter.

 

[Yv]

My guess is a combination of both, the filter and just normal reflections between lens and sensor that can occur with bright lights in dim conditions.

I cant actually see the 'trippy brown spirograph patterns' tbh, but if they look a bit a like finger prints, that could be light bouncing off the focus screen from the view finder - the mirror blocks most of this but some can sneak through and play havoc but its usually more obvious on longer exposures, especially with light from behind you too.

the green dots look like they could probably be cloned carefully out.

 

[Oli R C]

I THINK the brown patterns are on the lady's handbag (maybe a design on the bag?) Also, there are somemore of the green dots a little higher on her arm. Possibly from the lights in the far background.

 

[Yv]

hmm, ok, just saved and opened the pic, increased the brightness and can see them, a sort of diamond spirograph swirl, one for each green light flare - definately think the filter might have something to do with it, but also, make sure both filter and front lens element are spotlessly clean too

 

[CT]

The 'do' looks like a riot!

Nice shots - good colour.

 

[Anorakus]

The 'do' looks like a riot!

Yeah, it got a bit rough towards the end.. someone looked at someone's wife 'funny', there was a bit of pushing and shoving and then it was like WWIII broke out

Nice shots - good colour.

Thanks dude I ended up putting the camera on manual mode, as the light sources were confusing the hell out of the meter.

I've always been interested in photography using available light. It's pretty tough focusing at such a wide aperture, and holding the camera steady enough to get away with 1/40 sec or slower... Nevertheless, the results I got with the 5D are better than anything I've ever got with film, flare notwithstanding Being able to correct the colour cast in DPP etc. is a real bonus - I used to shoot on fast B&W film, or get used to a yellow/orange tint, as using filters to try to correct the colour cast would soak up what little light there was.

FYI, I applied the default tungsten white balance to these pics using the Adobe Raw plug-in.

A.

 

[CT]

FYI, I applied the default tungsten white balance to these pics using the Adobe Raw plug-in.

What I normally do under tungsten light is either take a custom wb shot and set the wb from that, or set the wb in degs Kelvin.... around 280.