Best way to get rid of/avoid lens flare...
 

Hello,

I have recently bought a wide angle lens for my camcorder. I knew I would get this issue, but what way can I get rid of the lens flare from a window or light? Is there some kind of filter or lens I can put on? I know that hood can do some good, but it will not be sufficient enough. Any ideas? Thanks

Oh, and I am not sure if this is the best thread to be in...

A matte box aside from holding high end square filters can also have something called a french flag connected to it which can block the light hitting the lenses creating the flare.

Also a human hand comes in handy too...

Person holding a folder or something to shade the light from directly hitting the lens is the cheap option. Barring that, just get some ND for the window or something.

Making sure the lens is really clean helps, too.

Shading the windows was not really an option. I came to my friends house to record his baby boy for a while, and I do not think they would like be shading their house every time I am there.

The folder goes along with the french flag and hood, but I want to see if there is a way of getting rid of the flare when french flag and hood are not effecting it. Like when someone passes in the front of the window while recording him/her.

Lens is spotless.

Two other things to try:

-- Shoot from a different position so you're not backlighting the subject with the window.
-- Light up the interior to reduce the difference between the illumination inside and the brightness outside.

Well, sometimes lense flare can be fun!

But the wide angle adaptors are always more vulnerable to flare. As the others have said, a matte box with flags on the top or sides helps a lot, but in the end, it just comes down to the position of your camera in relation to a hot light source hitting the lense element.

If you don't like the look, you've either got to block the stray light, or angle your camera so the light source is at least a little behind the front of the lense.

No lense is immune to flare. However; the cheaper the glass, generally the worse looking the flare will be.