Weird lens issue on EX1 - is this normal?

[John Hewat]

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

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.

[Alexander Kubalsky]

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

[Jason Davenport]

Looks like just a lens flare.

[John Hewat]

Originally Posted by Alexander Kubalsky

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.

Originally Posted by Jason Davenport

Looks like just a lens flare.

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

[Bruce Rawlings]

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.

[Alister Chapman]

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

[Vincent Oliver]

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.

[John Hewat]

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!

[Kenny Cowburn]

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

[David Cheok]

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.

[James Miller]

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

[John Hewat]

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!

[Dave Morrison]

Lens flare, without a doubt.

[Warren Kawamoto]

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.

[John Hewat]

Originally Posted by Warren Kawamoto

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?