Hasselblad Biogon lens flare

Is anyone getting this type of flare in backlit situations? I'm using

an SWC903. I get similar effects if the sun is dead centre in the

frame. on an edge, or in a corner. It doesn't happen everytime. Will

changing aperture minimize it?<div></div>

That's about the worst flare I've ever seen on a SWC. I don't think changing apertures will do much except change the characteristics of the flare. 3 things I would check though:

 

1. Is your lens clean? (Filter too)

2. If using a filter, is it up to the quality of the Biogon optics (I.e., not a cheapo brand).

3. Is there any obvious dirt, dust or obstruction when looking through the lens?

Lens hood okay and attached correctly?

This looks like <a href="http://www.photo.net/mjohnston/column66/" >filter flare</a> to me. Because the light source is almost a point almost in the midle, it will most likelly cause defined rings instead of blured mirror image of the light source... You also have a small point in the field, bellow the small house that is also caused by this kind of filter flare.</p><p>Try doing the same image with and without filter to compare.

</p><p>

Why will you make an image like this one using a filter anyway? are you using multicoated lens? I dont think that the hasselblad multicoated lenses really need a filter, unless you are using a red or a polarizing filter to get some special contrast.

I think I was using either a red or orange Hasselblab filter and a hood. The lens and filter were both clean.

George, read the link from above. If it was in fact filter flare, it will happen even if the lens and the filter are perfectly clean. It has to do with the fact that the light reflects from the outside surface of the lens back into the filter and, then again, back from the filter into the lens. This will happen even with low intensity lights, like street lights on night shots.

Thanks for the link Alejandro. I was using the filter to bump up the sky contrast with B&W film. I'll try similar scenes with colour film unfiltered, then convert to monochrome with the PS channel mixer and bring in sky contrast digitally. That might help.

Excuse me folks, but I think back in Photography 101 they told me that anytime you shoot directly at the sun you will get a photograph of the sun! And that holds true no matter WHAT lens you are using. The cloud in this photo does not completely cover the sun, so you are going to get flare. Since you are using a 903, undoubtedly there was some delay amounting to seconds if you focused on a ground glass and then attached the back. During this time, the sun (or the cloud) moved just enough to expose the edge of the direct sunlight to the lens. Even if you were just using the accessory optical finder you probably didn't notice the sun/cloud had changed ever so slightly as you made your exposure.

 

Lens+Film+Sun-in-Center-of-Frame ALWAYS = FLARE.

 

ALWAYS, regardless of the lens used. The wide angle just helped you preserve more useable image than had you been using a long focus lens such as a 180 or 250. In that case, your whole center would have been blown away.

 

No filter or lens hood can protect you from DIRECT sun! Hoods are used to cut down the effect of OBLIQUE sun only.

Does the 903 or your Filter have a shiny metal ring? (My old SWC does).

It king of looks like a reflection of bright metal.

The only thing that will solve this problem is a lens cap! Put it on before making the

exposure.

CPeter,<br><br>I'm sorry to disagree with you again. Please do not get the impression i'm looking for occassions to do so (i'm not),but...<br>With the sun inside the angle of view, its direct light being what is reflected between lens elements, causing this type of flare, i'm afraid a lens cap will do nothing at all to help prevent this phenomenon.

Ah... Stupid...<br>What do you think, would learning to read help? <br><br>A lens <b>cap</b> would prevent this.<br>Sorry!

Look for sunset or sunrise images. There are a lot around in PN. Some of them have some flair, But none as bad as this one, and some others have none really visible. I may be mistaken, but I dont think that they took them with the lens cap on ;)

</p><p>There are even more drastic examples around. But I was looking yesterday to <a href="http://www.photo.net/photo/2300527&size=lg" >this</a> and <a href="http://www.photo.net/photo/915400&size=lg" >this</a> images of Jeff Grant, wich have a similar situation to the one of George: Sun in the frame, only partially covered by clouds... Actually, it would not be a bad thing to ask Jeff directly for advice.

Well, I finally caught Q. G. on one in that he didn't read my terse answer carefully before

jumping to respond . . . chalk one up for me, QG, usually you win, but I got a point here.

 

Now, what Q.G. did say that was to the point was:

 

"With the sun inside the angle of view, its direct light being what is reflected between lens

elements, causing this type of flare. . . "

 

And I we are in 100% agreement on that one. You can't point a lens directly into the sun

and not expect a prodigious amount of flare, regardless of coatings or filters. Even a

polarizing filter won't help because it does nothing to overpowering light sources aimed

directly at the lens.

 

In the case of sunset photos and those spectacular "ray" photographs where the sun is

hiding behind a cloud, the light is NOT being directly aimed at the lens. In a sunset, by

definition, you are looking at a greatly diminished amount of light being filtered and

colored by many millions of layers of atmospheric dust AND the angle of DIRECT light

from the sun is thousands of feet above the camera position. (You've probably seen those

dramatic white, sunlit clouds high above a sunset photo shot with a wide angle lens during

the fraction of a minute when the sun's direct rays are hitting the clouds perhaps two

miles above the earth.)

 

No lens can handle DIRECT sun without flare (and often multiple ghost images reflecting

the shape of the lens diaphram.)

 

I think Q.G. will agree on that . . .

Burn in the small flare spot left of center, the remaining flare really adds to the composition.