Help! My UV filter is haunted!

NitroStitch

NitroStitch

Member
I took my new very first DSLR (Nikon D-5000) to WDW this past Saturday to experiment. ;

When I was shooting the Osborne Lights, I started to get weird smudges of light on the occasional photo here and there. We cleaned the filter and when that didn't work, went down to clean the lens. ; My next photo did me a favor - it was a nearly faithful ghost of the Christmas tree, upside down. ; Aha, it must be a ghost and not something on the lens or filter.

I used a Tiffin UV filter just for lens protection as recommended. ; Should I remove the UV filter for shooting the lights at night and just be extra careful with the lens (especially trying to avoid the Disney "snow")? Or is there a technique or pricier filter that would have produced a better result?

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Without seeing the other pics, my guesses are:

1) You need one of those multi-coated filters that will reduce reflections

2) You're seeing internal lens flares....which lens are you using? ; I know the old Nikon 50/1.4D was prone to it if you had light sources in the picture, esp. wide open.
 
Thanks! ; The lens in question is the 18-55mm AF-S DX VR Nikkor lens that came with the D-5000. ; Here are three more of my well-formed ghosts or flares from that gallery, if that helps with any further diagnosis. ; :-[

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It's fairly common to get that type of ghosting effect with night shots - and it is indeed a reverse reflection of the main image. ; Many lenses are prone to internal reflections like that - some are better than others. ; In general, it is best to take night shots without any additional filters on the camera that just add more surfaces to reflect off of...it won't always be the filter, or guarantee you won't get ghosting, but the less glass between the sensor and the scene the better. ; With that same principle, it is often best to take night shots using lenses with fewer glass elements...like primes instead of zooms. ; A lens with good multicoating will help too. ; Sometimes a smaller aperture can help too - the smaller the aperture, the less the edges of the lens glass come into play, which is where most of the reflected ghosting tends to intrude from. ; If all else fails, just try to consider the composition of the shot so that any reflected ghost images end up in nice, blank sky areas where they can be easily cloned out!
 
I'd concur with Roger. I had a filter on my old 50 1.4d and took it off the first time i took Christmas pictures.
 
Thanks everybody! ; I did end up removing the filter to take a few last photos, but was afraid to do that, after hearing so much about protecting the glass. ; I won't be able to invest in additional lenses for a while, but I'll definitely be looking at multicoating when I do. ; :)
 
I have the same problem with my 18-200VR Nikkor lens. ; The problem went away when I took the filter off. ; So, that told me right away that it was the source of the problem. ; The funny thing is that it's the same brand and type I have on all my other lenses but that one lens is the only one that has an issue with the ghosting affect when the filter is on
 
Weird how the ghost effect only happens with the blue lights of the big tree. Must be some strange optical property of the filter, reflecting only blue light and letting other wavelengths pass through.
 
I had the same problem on a couple of shots of the sleigh and reindeer at the New York end of the Osborne lights. ; I kept the filter on to protect the lens from the "snow".
 
Scott Kelby recommends removing the filter when taking night photos for that very reason. ; You also get the added benefit of better contrast and colors without the filter (see digital photography book volume 3). ;
 
wow, I have never had this happen and I always have a filter on.

I guess I'm lucky!
 
"Tim" said:
Scott Kelby recommends removing the filter when taking night photos for that very reason. ; You also get the added benefit of better contrast and colors without the filter (see digital photography book volume 3). ;
Click to expand...
;
Ah, more mandatory reading material! ; :) ; I definitely won't be shooting night photos with a filter anymore. ; Hopefully they won't have the snow machines set to "overkill" next year...

It's interesting how we're only having the problem with some lenses and for me only blue light and only certain sets of lights. ; It's been an interesting learning experience, and I knew I'd get a bunch of helpful ideas and info here.
 
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