Hello guys.

After using the xlh1 on two jobs recently, I have had the same problem accur on both jobs. Can somebody tell what this is and how i stop it?

http://media73.co.uk/why/forxlcinemaOnly.mov

The camera was in full manual mode, but the lens had the stabaliser switch on as i was going handheld. I have also had a lens flare problem when lighting was lower than the camera, whats the best way to solve this? when space is restricted? aka inside a vehicle? I did have a matt box fitted.

Any help on the above very appreciated as i cant work out what it is, new xl is only 2 weeks old.

cheers

ps. preset was panalook and these shots are not cc. heres a quick test footage clip for the client to view what we are doing.

http://www.media73.co.uk/MotorHouse/MotorHouse.html

Looks like typical lens flare to me. Only way around that is to change your angle.

So there is no other way? what if that IS THE best angle you need?

turn the image stabilizer off. Those flares are much more obvious as they move when the prism does its thing to correct for the motion. Capture good footage in camera, then stabilize in post...practice holding very steady, which is more about relaxation than rigidity. Mount the camera on a tripod, that will help even more.

beautiful pictures, BTW.

Maybe a stupid question but can't you just return it to the store were you bought it from? As I'm depending on my camera's bigtime every week I have contacts with a technician from Sony for quick repairs, also all my new cameras were allways bought at a local dealer were I could go to during the warranty period if something would be wrong.
I know this is not helping you much but I hope you will find a solution soon, these "dancing" reflections look like something I never seen before and are for sure not normal.

Nothing wrong with that camera and I've seen that sort of thing before. The dancing reflection is a lens flare which is definitely caused by OIS and is due to the angle in which the light is hitting the lens. As has been pointed out already by the replies above, there are a couple of ways to eliminate this issue.

1. Turn off OIS. Find a way to hard-mount the camera (tripod, bean bag, etc.)

2. Flag the incoming light with a lens hood extension such as a piece of cardboard.

3. Change the angle of the shot.

Again -- there ain't nothing wrong with the camera. See above posts from Bill and Cole.

That's very strange then, In almost 3 years time I never had this type of behaviour in my sony vx2100 and my panasonic dvx100b and I have filmed in comparable situations.

different stabilizing systems?

Yes there are different types of OIS... see http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showpost.php?p=705835&postcount=6

The Canon XL series lenses are the only ones using the VAP type as far as I know.

Well, I couldn't believe it but I got yesterday the same problem, it occured when I was filming the dancingpart in the evening at a wedding, the DJ had these different colored spots and suddenly I saw 2 "dancing" bright blue dots in my viewfinder. They came from a very bright blue spot that was shining directly in my lens, even if I pointed a bit lower to the floor so I could'n see the spot anymore the bright dots were still there almost like thery were dancing to the music :D, only if turned away from the blue spot so it didn't shine in my lens the dots dissapeared. There were similar, but other colored spots used by the DJ but they didn't cause a problem.

Interesting, I'm wondering if it's part of the coating on the prism perhaps that is reflecting just the blue wrong? Perhaps a light orange filtration + white balance would help take care of that.

The "dancing lights" issue is a confirmed side-effect of the VAP-type O.I.S. in certain conditions...

See http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=804 for more info.

The "dancing lights" issue is a confirmed side-effect of the VAP-type O.I.S. in certain conditions...

See http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=804 for more info.

Thanks Chris for the link, since this is the first time in 3 years that I have seen this problem I'm not that worried about it but it is interesting to know what is causing it.