D700 Spooky Ghost Effect

Niepce

Hello everyone,

I just acquired a D700 with two lenses, a Nikkor 50mm 1.4D and a Tamron 28-300mm XD. Everything works fine, except... except after I took some pics by night, I noticed some very heavy lens flare/ghosting effects.

See for yourselves:


Here you can see the lights echoing in the dark sky, despite (because of?) the small aperture...
(50mm, f16, 8s, ISO 200)


On this one you can actually see the green pictogram duplicated on the building... :huh
(50mm, f5.6, 1/125s, ISO 2000)


And here is what it looks like with the zoom...
(28mm, f11, 8s, ISO 200)

Do you have any idea what causes this? Since it appears with both lenses, I can only guess it comes from the camera... Any thought? :scratch

jdorseydesign

You don't have a UV filter on your lens do you?

Davidoff

jdorseydesign wrote:

You don't have a UV filter on your lens do you?

That would be my guess as well. If you do, try to find a scene where you see that effect and then photograph it without the filter to see if it persists.

Niepce

Boy, am I stupid... Yes, I left the filter on...

I will try without it and keep you posted. Thank you both -- and sorry for the stupid question...

Davidoff

Niepce wrote:

Boy, am I stupid... Yes, I left the filter on...

I will try without it and keep you posted. Thank you both -- and sorry for the stupid question...

No problem. Hope it fixes it

Niepce

Ok, I did some test and it turns out it was the filter...

Here is WITH the filter


Here is WITHOUT the filter


There still is some flare when I point the camera to a direct light source, but I suppose this is inevitable...

Thanks for your help !

Qarik

what filter were you using exactly? brand..etc

Niepce

On this particular example it was a Kenko MC UV 52mm. Not a brand to recommend, I reckon!

Foques

that is an awesome tip to know for beginners.. and not..

insanefred

Niepce wrote:

On this particular example it was a Kenko MC UV 52mm. Not a brand to recommend, I reckon!

Kenko = Hoya MC

If you use a filter I recommend Hoya HD or Nikon NC... there are others out there. But night photography, NEVER use a UV, unless you are going for that effect.

Niepce

insanefred wrote:

Kenko = Hoya MC

If you use a filter I recommend Hoya HD or Nikon NC... there are others out there. But night photography, NEVER use a UV, unless you are going for that effect.

Well, I didn't know about that, but this is a tip I sure will remember!
As Oscar Wilde said: Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes.

ChiShutter

This is an issue that plagues me. I discovered the cause very early on, but I am terrible about remembering to take filters off lenses when shooting at night... and when I DO take them off they are guaranteed to be lost for ever.