shooting against the sun at DVinfo.net

Marius Boruch · July 17th, 2008, 10:01 AM

what filter(s) to use while shooting against the sun (ie. sunsets) in order to avoid those reflections of light on glass elements?

Eric Pascarelli · July 17th, 2008, 11:26 AM

"Clean" or filterless will give the best results. Putting a filter on will just add more reflections.

And make sure your lens is nice and clean - give it a good cleaning right before you shoot the shot.

Dave Morrison · July 17th, 2008, 11:35 AM

It's pretty much impossible to avoid. Zoom lenses have SO many air-to-surface internal reflections given the number of elements inside. Fixed lenses have far fewer problems but they aren't immune either.

Greg Voevodsky · July 17th, 2008, 11:48 PM

add a nd.6 or nd9 grad for one. Tiffen 4x4 filters are good. You will not be able to shoot a clear sunset - way to bright - but with clouds, smog, haze - you can. The auto iris tends to under expose 1 to 2 stops... and be very contrasty compared to my sony pd150. I have to goto manual and add a few stops and have custom profiles boosting shadows for any detail. This camera does not like sunsets like the old PD150. However, it can be done.

Justin Carlson · July 18th, 2008, 12:02 AM

This is a sunset I shot this evening.

http://homepage.mac.com/justin.carls..._timelapse.mov

I used two filters. A B&W screw-in circular polarizer and a B&W screw-in graduated nd.6 filter.
Iris: Auto
Shutter: SLS 4
WB: 5000
Gain: -3
Built-in ND: 2

When this clip starts out the iris was at about 9.5 and by the time the sun just disappeared it was at 1.9 and the sky naturally got dark after that. The clip goes for another 40 seconds as it gets dark... but I didn't export that.
Hope this helps.

Marius Boruch · July 18th, 2008, 12:25 AM

Jason,
you still have that violet dot in lower right corner;that's wat we are taking about how to eliminate it;

Justin Carlson · July 18th, 2008, 12:36 AM

As far as I know, you can't eliminate it. It's just a by-product of using filters. The best you can do is find a area that will minimize that lens flare the most.

Greg Voevodsky · July 18th, 2008, 09:58 PM

Sunsets are very tricky... if you center the sun - you will have less flares. Overall, the ex1 is very good at flare control vs the SonyPD150. if you can tilt or angle the filters in some mattboxes, you can sometimes remove the flare if it is from the filter. Otherwise, in post the trick is to do a picture in picture of a clean spot of sky nearby (or black in the ground) and move and overlay the pic over the flare - add some feather blur to the 20x20 pixel box and you are set. This will not work with a moving camera, but with a non moving camera, it can work as long as nothing is moving through the flare - birds, clouds etc...

July 17th, 2008, 10:01 AM	#1
Marius Boruch Major Player Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 421	shooting against the sun what filter(s) to use while shooting against the sun (ie. sunsets) in order to avoid those reflections of light on glass elements?

July 17th, 2008, 11:35 AM	#3
Dave Morrison Major Player Join Date: May 2002 Location: West Central Florida Posts: 762	It's pretty much impossible to avoid. Zoom lenses have SO many air-to-surface internal reflections given the number of elements inside. Fixed lenses have far fewer problems but they aren't immune either. __________________ EX1, Nikon D750 http://www.morrisonphotographics.com http://www.heritagefilm.com

July 18th, 2008, 12:02 AM	#5
Justin Carlson Regular Crew Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Vancouver, Canada Posts: 173	This is a sunset I shot this evening. http://homepage.mac.com/justin.carls..._timelapse.mov I used two filters. A B&W screw-in circular polarizer and a B&W screw-in graduated nd.6 filter. Iris: Auto Shutter: SLS 4 WB: 5000 Gain: -3 Built-in ND: 2 When this clip starts out the iris was at about 9.5 and by the time the sun just disappeared it was at 1.9 and the sky naturally got dark after that. The clip goes for another 40 seconds as it gets dark... but I didn't export that. Hope this helps. __________________ Justin http://www.carlsonmedia.ca

July 18th, 2008, 12:36 AM	#7
Justin Carlson Regular Crew Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Vancouver, Canada Posts: 173	As far as I know, you can't eliminate it. It's just a by-product of using filters. The best you can do is find a area that will minimize that lens flare the most. __________________ Justin http://www.carlsonmedia.ca

July 17th, 2008, 11:26 AM	#2
Eric Pascarelli Major Player Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Los Angeles, CA Posts: 498	"Clean" or filterless will give the best results. Putting a filter on will just add more reflections. And make sure your lens is nice and clean - give it a good cleaning right before you shoot the shot.

July 17th, 2008, 11:48 PM	#4
Greg Voevodsky Regular Crew Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Portola Valley Posts: 105	add a nd.6 or nd9 grad for one. Tiffen 4x4 filters are good. You will not be able to shoot a clear sunset - way to bright - but with clouds, smog, haze - you can. The auto iris tends to under expose 1 to 2 stops... and be very contrasty compared to my sony pd150. I have to goto manual and add a few stops and have custom profiles boosting shadows for any detail. This camera does not like sunsets like the old PD150. However, it can be done.

July 18th, 2008, 12:25 AM	#6
Marius Boruch Major Player Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 421	Jason, you still have that violet dot in lower right corner;that's wat we are taking about how to eliminate it;

July 18th, 2008, 09:58 PM	#8
Greg Voevodsky Regular Crew Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Portola Valley Posts: 105	Sunsets are very tricky... if you center the sun - you will have less flares. Overall, the ex1 is very good at flare control vs the SonyPD150. if you can tilt or angle the filters in some mattboxes, you can sometimes remove the flare if it is from the filter. Otherwise, in post the trick is to do a picture in picture of a clean spot of sky nearby (or black in the ground) and move and overlay the pic over the flare - add some feather blur to the 20x20 pixel box and you are set. This will not work with a moving camera, but with a non moving camera, it can work as long as nothing is moving through the flare - birds, clouds etc...