Lens flare

Which Canon lens would be most suitable (in terms of resistance to flare and image quality) when shooting in the

following circumstances:

 

Available space about 7.5mx5m total, ceiling height 3.2m. Shooting against white background (roll of white paper 8"

wide, lit with 2x600Ws monolights to 1.5 stops above the subject). Subject (either full length body shots, or products

not exceeding 4"x4" in size), lit with large softboxes.

 

The thing I am concerned with are lens flare and/or loss of sharpness/contrast due to internal reflections.

Sounds like a studio.

Wouldn't either using a gobo or black card eliminate the concern for flare? Of course, it might be hard to find ones large enough.

 

According to photozone.de, the lenses scored highest for resistance to flare are: 35L, 50 1.4, 85L, 24-70 and 24-105.

Use hoods.

Mark - hood is not going to help in a situation where you shoot basically against enormous light source...

Pretty much all EF lens are OK in this department, i.e. display none or only very minimal <b>internal</b>

flare/reflections (after all, all air/glass surfaces are coated...) so any good quality lens (such as the 24-70/2.8 L)

would be fine for people and many product shots pretty much regardless of the sensor size used. You may also

consider something like the 45 T/S lens - a pretty universal beast. External flare (such as light source in the frame)

is

very easy to control in a studio and should be a non-issue. You know, there are lens hoods, gobos, flags,

pieces of strategically placed black carton :-)))

I shoot into the sun with the 35/1.4 all the time. Almost no flaring.

A lot will depend on how you spread the light, softboves, umbrella`s, reflecters or other modifiers such as light tents etc, direct mono`s may cause hot spots,the primes more likely to be less problematic as there are less elements usually to bouncr light around, hoods do work with stopping stray side reflections on large elements and does improve contrast, I never shoot anything without one if possible. I use a material for high key (just haven`t replaced a paper roll) bur even a 50 1.8 has been fine, what have you tried so far? :)

BTW This could be a Q in the `lighting` forum and maybe get some setup ideas on reducing flare in studio..

 

Good luck

It is a common error to underestimate the usefulness of hoods. Flare can come from any spill of light that isn't blocked off in a studio, and hoods are designed as efficient blockers (at least on primes - effectiveness with zooms varies). It is often much more noticeable in "low light" situations such as night cityscapes when many assume a hood won't help because the sun isn't shining - wrong!

 

If you are doing high key work you need to distinguish between flare and overexposure. Choosing lighting angles will help minimise flare. For example, the standard copy stand setup has the lights off at 45 degrees on each side, so the main specular reflections do not hit the lens. Lighting close to the lens axis would be much more problematic.

Thanks for all the answers - I just need to clarify: yes, I am aware of how to reduce light spill, block off unwanted reflections, overexposure issues etc. etc. What I wanted to know was lens performance, assuming all other problems are taken care of properly :)

I found the 24-105 one of the less good Canon lenses for flare, but it is probably fine for that situation.

 

A study of lens flare and ghosting with a bright light source in the frame with and without filters is here http://www.zen20934.zen.co.uk/photography/LensTests/Flare/index.htm

Lester - thanks. This is a good link.