Hi all,

Just got my camera back from Sony with 1.11 firmware and the assorted fixes. And I shot some quick footage with it plugged into my TV. Very quickly I noticed something that I have never seen before. Appearing on the screen was a very distinct green light. After a little closer inspection I saw there was also a red and blue light as well.

I have no idea whether the strange effects are just naturally occurring - with light reflecting off such and such creating this weird effect...

But I must have shot in those exact conditions a million times and never seen this strange effect.

If the strange coloured lights moved around on the screen, then perhaps I would just assume it is some response to the lighting... but they stay still in the middle of the image.

I've linked to a highly compressed video in which the coloured lights are still obvious:

here's the video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8Vmm_4gkUQ)

Please give me your thoughts on whether it's perfectly normal and I'm just over-reacting, or whether it really is something unusual.

Thanks,
-- John.

just a guess but in the menus/camera section is the wide angle set to ON or OFF?

Looks like just a lens flare.

just a guess but in the menus/camera section is the wide angle set to ON or OFF?

Do you mean WIDE CONVERSION? It was set to OFF.

Looks like just a lens flare.

But wouldn't a lens flare move across the screen because of the curvature of the lens?

Dark sofa shot against bright window is pushing your luck. Looks like lens flare - how about re-shooting with a french flag keeping the light off the lens.

Lens flare. Notice how it cuts off as you pan beyond the window to the right.

No question, it is lens flare. You are shooting into a dark space and there is sunlight coming through the windows.

Now if it was a bright red light and at night, then that could be Rudolph passing by.

Well that sounds promising. I guess it just confused me because the haze of light doesn't really move. I've captured a thousand lens flares and they always shift across the frame as the lens moved - this one just sat still...

Well thanks for putting my mind at ease! I became convinced that Sony had done something terrible to my camera!

I do agree that shooting a backlit dark couch is not the best idea, BUT

to me it looks more like a smear on one of the lenses in the optic because it stays put in mid frame....

I had a similar issue after a long day out in the rain with a BETA, the lens misted up on the sweetspot on one of the inside lenses

try looking into the lens in all focal positions in a well lit area

get outside on a sunny bleubird day and shoot into the sun, pan through the sun, zoom in and out near the sun, not directly into it, but with the sun just out of frame, but so that sunlight is still falling on all the glass, but not the chips(compensate for high light with the shutter, so you can have the apperture fully open)
You could also do this indoors with one source of light in front of a dark background.(candle in a dark room)

Do these tests with ND filters in all 3 positions and prefferably without any other filters in front of the lens

you got to change one variable at a time untill you find the source of the problem.

It doesn´t look like normal lens flare to me

good luck

Its flare. And it looks like either you have a filter on or there is light leaking through where it shouldnt be. Its not normal.

Hi John,
With the camera off shine a bright light into the lens and have a look for any marks on the lens all the way back.

Just in case the lens had been stripped down and rebuilt with a blemish/mark.

James

I had no filters (not even ND) during the shooting.

Shining a torch into the lens I can't spot any marks, but my eyes aren't so good these days.

I'll take it out and point it at (near) the sun right now.

Is this something that could have happened as a result of the lens alignment test that Sony did whilst doing the firmware update?

What do they actually physically do to the camera?


EDIT:

Here's the response from the Sony repairer in Melbourne who just watched the clip I uploaded. I just picked up the camera from him yesterday.

"WOW, I have no idea what could be causing that issue. I would have guessed and said you have either a faulty filter on the front of the lens or a smudge on the lens element. It seems unrelated to the work you have just had done, seems rather odd ?"

He goes on to say that I'll need to bring it back in next year.

"Unrelated to the work you have just had done..."??? Is that a fact? Or is that so that I will now be forced to pay for these repairs?

I'll stress again, that I have never seen anything like this through the camera until I got it back from them!

Lens flare, without a doubt.

Lens flare. At first I was puzzled that the hot spot didn't pan in the opposite direction of the light source, but then I realized that the entire area behind your sofa was backlit. Lens flare it is.

Lens flare. At first I was puzzled that the hot spot didn't pan in the opposite direction of the light source, but then I realized that the entire area behind your sofa was backlit. Lens flare it is.

That makes a lot of sense. I described the situation to the Sony guy and he, and a couple other posters on here, have said that it doesn't appear to be normal, and that it would suggest a blemish on the lens.

Should I rule out any problems/damage to the camera and just assume it's a normal lens flare?

Lens Flare for sure. Remember you lens can act like a prism and have different color shifts throughout the rainbow. Also there is anti-glare coating on the lens to reduce this, but you can still get multi-color flares. You might have hand a finger print on the lens that helped cause the size and color.

Otherwise, I'd submit your video to the Ghost Busters and have them come remove the ghosts from your house. ASAP!

You might have hand a finger print on the lens that helped cause the size and color.

That's what worries me - I don't. I cannot for the life of me spot any weird blemmishes on the lens.

So it's safe to say that nothing is wrong with the sensor?

And that there may be some unidentified blemish somewhere on the lens?

I'd just clean your lens and learn not to let flares / light get on the lens. A clamp on french flag on top of the hand rail can flag any problem. If you are shooting into the light like a sunset, then you need to watch and adjust you camera - center the sunset - until it does not flare. Flaring is natural - now if you get this horrible look shooting something for real, then it shows you are not protecting you lens with a mattebox and or flags.

I'd go shoot a bunch of tests and see if you this happens.. screwing around you can get lots of stuff to look bad.. which is what your test shot was... dark underlit couch with crapping backlight flaring the camera in different colors... no control and you get uncontrolled outcome. Good luck. Shoot serious tests.

As a side, I was sloppy shooting serious tests, and had the sun hit my lens and like many other discovered with shallow near focus - lots of spots and dust inside the lens. The solution, do not have focus close to the lens. Shoot f.4-f5.6 with focus at least 5ft away from camera. Shooting f.20 with focus 0 to infiniti will reveal spots especially when the sun is on the lens. Shoot in the sweet spot and problems are less.

John,

It is simply lens flare, just go out into a real world shooting situation and shoot some footage. If the flare is on all your shots then you have a problem, if not then put your time to creative use.