Rainbow flare on EFS 18-55 kit lens *PIC*

[willg]

I tried a search but couldn't find anything...can anyone explain this flare to me and how i might get rid of it? i have a cheap filter on there and it happens with or without the filter
http://uploads.jzl.us/files/rainbow.jpg

[mrclark321]

Cool picture!!

[willg]

thanks...its cool except for the rainbows coming out of the lights

[Oilhunter]

Well, I'll be. My 15-85 does the same thing with low light or night photos. I guess when we use a "cheap" lense it is to be expected. Until I bought a couple of other lenses I thought it was a problem with the camera. I have tried all sorts of different "ideas" to get rid of them, but have had no luck. I just have decided that this lense can't be used in those situations, although I still use it some in bright sunlight and have pretty good luck with it.

[willg]

did you try a polarizer?

[tim]

Buy a better lens, no matter what you do that lens will still flare when there's a bright light source.

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=61115

[Citizensmith]

Even the best lens will have problems with flare from bright light sources on a dark background. And that isn't one of the best lenses.

[willg]

is there anything short of using a different lens that i could do?

[TTP]

I think that is a great effect.
You might be onto something! lol

[tim]

is there anything short of using a different lens that i could do?

Buy a better lens, no matter what you do that lens will still flare when there's a bright light source.


From earlier.

[deedas]

This is the reason I just bought a Tamron 28-70mm f/2.8. I'm really tired of the poor results I'm getting from the kit lens.

[willg]

the tamron is not wide enough to warrent it...i guess maybe i will look around for some used L glass eventually...but my next lens purchase is going to be telephoto

[tim]

28-75/24-70 is a common range. If you need wider there are a good range of wide angle lenses, personally I don't have anything wider than 28mm on my wish list right now... I use the kit lens in the rare situation that I want wide... which is almost never.

[pierrot]

Sure the 18-55 has a very special kind of flare under these shooting conditions, but do not expect to get flare-free pictures from any lens in such a situation.

No polarizing filter will help, as you're looking at the lights "right between the eyes" (0° incidence).

Just avoid photographying street lamps at night, or accept this kind of flare (although most of the lenses will not produce this kind of rainbow-like circles, let's be honest) ;)

[ron chappel]

I kind of like that pic to be honest :)

I wonder how your other lenses would handle those exact lights? The 18-55 does have quite good flare handling ability-compared to say,the 50/1.8.It's one of it's few good points.

I'm wondering if those type of lights are more a sensor effect than a lens effect?I suggest this because i remember in another thread someone had a problem with certain types of lights that allways (?) flared regardless of the lens.It was interesting because some lights in the pic were effected yet others consistantly weren't
..or i may have my wires crossed tonight so don't take my comments too seriously!,lol

[Simon Spiers]

:eek: I knew that lens had a use.
Looks like you found it for me:lol:

[willg]

i have read around and i think its a lens flaw...i might call b&h and see if they will replace it for me

[tim]

i have read around and i think its a lens flaw...i might call b&h and see if they will replace it for me

I don't think it's a flaw.

[pierrot]

As Tim, I don't think this copy of the lens has a flaw.

I already have seen such samples of halo in night scenes, even probably somewhere around here some weeks ago.

[Tom W]

I tried a search but couldn't find anything...can anyone explain this flare to me and how i might get rid of it? i have a cheap filter on there and it happens with or without the filter
http://uploads.jzl.us/files/rainbow.jpg

Part of the problem stems from the light source being considerably brighter than the surrounding area - you're metering for the total image, and this light just stands out at a brilliance many magnitudes brighter than the surrounding area. Most lenses will have some flare in this situation - some more than others, and generally, wider more than longer lenses.

The other part of the problem is that the front streetlight is probably a high-pressure or low-pressure sodium light. They put out a very narrow band of light color (orangish-yellow), and as a result, don't translate to images very well. Plus, they probably don't meter as accurately as normal wide-spectrum lighting. The narrow band of light has to be significantly brighter than its broad-spectrum "normal" light source, simply because the total light energy is concentrated in that narrow band. The same is true, though to a lessor extent, with Mercury-vapor lighting (the white-blue streetlights) which are better, but still have very uneven light output across the spectrum with several bands of luminance across the spectrum, interspaced by bands of no light output.

Anyway, to get rid of it, shoot when there is still a bit of light in the sky, just after sunset or just before sunrise. The additional ambient light will improve the balance between the streetlight and natural light and flare will be reduced. Removing the streetlight from the image would help as well, though they seem to put those things everywhere. It's hard to frame a city scene without a streetlight in the image.