lens flare problems -- Lumix 14mm?

[bvogt]

I like to shoot star trails and other silly night time fun when i'm out in the wilderness. I'm currently using an EP-1.

The stock 14-42 lens gets gnarly lens flare for me when taking exposures > 30 sec. Anyone else have this problem?

I've turned to my old Canon FD 28mm which does very well, but of course I've lost wide angle.

I'd like to pick up the lumix 14mm 2.8, but I'm concerned it too might have this lens flare issue.

Anyone shooting long night time exposures with that lens?

 

[secretworld]

I don´t shoot what you do (no desert here and lots of light polution), but 14mm has ugly flare if a bright light is somewhere in or just outside the frame (like a bright halogen spot). Most of the time green blobs. But I do like the lens and for me it is not much of an issue. You are not using a UV filter on your lenses are you? When I do see some flare with my 14/15 it always disappears when I take of the UV.

 

[bvogt]

for long night exposures, I shoot with the bare lens. I've covered all the LEDs I can find, thinking it was light pollution from the camera body.

but I'm getting these flares where there are no light sources but stars.

 

[mfj197]

I've taken some stars with the 14 and no flare at all, but then it is quite resistant to flare. I hardly ever see flare in any of my shots and I quite often have the sun near, or in, the frame.

Michael

 

[bvogt]

the kit lens doesn't flare in day light, it seems to be related to long exposures.

Can anyone speak to long exposure work at night with the 14mm prime? I'm hesitant to spend hundreds of bucks is this is an issue with all of the electronic mirco 4/3 lenses.

 

[Geesix]

Do you have UV filter on? Sometime the light reflet on the filter and to the lens, that's what I noticed.
--
Nam

 

[technic]

Can anyone speak to long exposure work at night with the 14mm prime? I'm hesitant to spend hundreds of bucks is this is an issue with all of the electronic mirco 4/3 lenses.

I have no experience with this m43 equipment, but I know that some of the newer Canon EF(-S) lenses have internal flare problems for very long exposures because of a led that is part of the lens mechanism. This is mostly an issue with IR-converted cameras, because these LEDs have IR wavelength. I'm just mentioning this to point out that there can be quite unexpected causes for flare problems nowadays ...

btw, if flare from light sources just outside the frame is a problem, I guess one can find (or make?) a good lens hood for the 2.5/14mm.

 

[bvogt]

This sounds most likey -- my best guess was something in the internals of that 14-42 mm kit lens was causing the flare.

Thanks for that!

Any idea if the 14mm prime has a similar led? maybe it's something unique to zooms?

 

[mfj197]

No, the lens doesn't flare at night (no more than any other decent lens anyway). Here's a 15 second example:



I have had slight bloom around the moon in frame on a long exposure, or around streetlights, but the 14 is pretty good at suppressing flare overall. Certainly not seen any by starlight alone.

Michael

the kit lens doesn't flare in day light, it seems to be related to long exposures.

Can anyone speak to long exposure work at night with the 14mm prime? I'm hesitant to spend hundreds of bucks is this is an issue with all of the electronic mirco 4/3 lenses.

 

[technic]

Any idea if the 14mm prime has a similar led? maybe it's something unique to zooms?

don't know, from what I remember it is used by Canon for electronic communication inside the lens; so I guess any other (electronic) lens could have a similar issue, if not sufficiently shielded from the optical path. For normal photography one would never notice because it is IR; you only see if with IR photography or very long exposures.

 

[bvogt]

Fantastic. Thanks!! great to see an example.